Slytherins come back WAS: Re: My Most Annoying Character

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 180145

> Mike:
<snip>
> I refuse to put stock in any JKR interview, they're not canon, imo.
> I'm not going to be hypocritical and say, 'Obviously that's what JKR 
> intended, based on her interview' even if that would match my WW 
> view. What she intended and what she wrote are not the same.

lizzyben:

This is a pretty good policy IMO, but JKR herself says that her
interview statements should be considered canon & part of the
"official version" of the series.

"It gives me a certain satisfaction actually to say what I thought
happened ... and to tell other people that. Because I would like my
version to be the official version still, even though I've not written
it in a book. Because it's my world."

I think Carol posted about the "author is dead" school of thought,
which holds that the text is the only thing that matters, and the
author's own statements of intent/interpretation are meaningless. But
how can the author be dead when the author is alive & kicking &
insisting that her interpretation (or changing) of events is the only
correct way to view them? It's even worse because she sometimes
contradicts herself in interviews (e.g. saying both that Ron is an
auror & that he is working at the joke shop.) So.. are both versions
the official version of Potterverse reality?


> Mike,
> asking lizzyben what "ret-coning" means?


lizzyben:

Retcon is short for "retroactive continuity". This happens when an
author changes established past facts & events from the series. It
happens a lot in comic books & soap operas because they have so many
episodes, but it's usually seen as a cop-out and bad writing. For
example, "Dallas" brought a character back to life who'd been dead for
two years by claiming that the last two years of the series were just
a dream. 

Retcons occur in the fictional series itself. As if in HP8, Harry
complained that the Slytherins didn't return for the battle, and
Hermione told him "Oh, didn't you notice, they all came back with
Slughorn!" "So they're not all evil!" That would be a retcon. But here
the fictional series is already finished, and JKR is attempting to
change things that have already occurred in the novels, purely through
outside statements & interviews. So this is actually a post hoc
retcon, which I'm not sure has ever been attempted before. JKR's
breaking bold new ground here.


lizzyben