Less than 1000 posts in a month - why now?

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 180164

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Hagrid" <aussie_lol at ...> wrote:
>
> Since this started, there have almost never been less than 1000 posts 
> in a month. So what happened since late Oct or early Nov to stop so 
> many posts?
> 
> We are continuing with chapter discussions of the last book.
> A lot of readers had unanswered questions from the final book.
> JKR interviews have added new insights into character backgrounds.
> 
> ... so to me it seems as though there is still fuel to keep posts 
> staying high until we finish the chapter discussions at least.
> 
> From your own experience, was any of the suprising or shocking 
> interviews turn you off JKR's writing? If so, seems like the "loyal 
> fan base" she has enjoyed will not hurry out for her future works.
>
Carol responds:

Speaking only for myself, I feel as if something inside me has died. I
didn't hate the last book--it was much more of an emotional roller
coaster ride for me than any of the previous books--and I had my share
of triumphs (Snape vindicated) and disappointments (Dumbledore) like
everyone else. Of course, I saw the flaws in the book, improbabilities
and inconsistencies, which somehow seemed more glaring than in
previous books, though all the books have them. (The later the book
occurs in the series, the more things the author forgets, and, to her
discredit, doesn't check.) But it was partly the reaction of certain
posters on this list, some of whom have dropped out, that I found
disturbing. Where was the fun we had had before? Surely, it wasn't
just the inability to speculate that had taken away our enjoyment. The
list itself seemed bitter and acrimonious. (I even found myself
believing at one point that JKR was evil and no child should be
allowed to read the books. Cold shower time, Carol!) And JKR herself,
acting as if she owns the characters she's sent into the world for our
enjoyment and our interpretation, drives me insane. Reading is a
creative process. It is not or should not be indoctrination,
brainwashing, with the reader seeing exactly what the author sees,
especially since the author's own interpretation is so inconsistent
and fluctuating. I think that she takes certain things for granted and
forgets that she hasn't put them into the text of the book. She
certainly forgets what she has actually said (and I'm not just talking
about making James fifteen when he's actually sixteen or the Charlie
Weasley mess, but things like the Death Eaters using Levicorpus when
only one of them did so and Ron knowing about the Hand of Glory that
Draco supposedly owned). But she doesn't understand that if it isn't
in the book, we have the right to speculate, and if it *is* in the
book, we have the right (and the intellectual need) to interpret and
to point out contradictions between one book and another or
improbabilities (even in a world with magic in it) or coincidences
that seem contrived.

I know that a lot of people were expecting something they didn't get,
and that disappointment has dampened our discussions. And, as Geoff
says, we seem to have a dearth of new topics and beat those we do have
to death, with the same people repeating the same points even though
the only people who'll be convinced are those who already agree with them.

A good book, or a good series of books, bears discussion despite the
inevitable flaws in the writing. A great book finds a place in the
hearts and minds of readers centuries or even millennia after its
author dies, differences of culture notwithstanding. The author's own
views matter little if at all. I don't think that the HBP books are
great books. Certainly, JKR is not a great author. I think, frankly,
that the Peter Principle has overcome her, and she's been raised to a
prominence she's not capable of sustaining. But, IMO, they're *good*
books. They've provided me many hours of enjoyment. I've spent far too
much time thinking about her characters and her world. But that's
because they're no longer her characters. They're outside her control
and have taken on a "reality" or existence of their own, which she
needs to recognize and honor. She needs to understand that no words of
hers outside the books will make readers who have formed their own
interpretation of the books and characters conform to her views or her
intentions, expressed or otherwise. Her possessive attitude doesn't
take away my pleasure in the books entirely, but it diminishes my
pleasure. I wish I could respect her, but I can't, because she doesn't
respect her own readers.

One more purely personal tidbit. Snape is dead, and while I believe
he's happy in the afterlife (yes, I do know he's a fictional
character), I can no longer think about him in the present. I wish she
had let him survive to be headmaster of Hogwarts or at least allowed
him to escape to a deserted island to put all of his marvelous
knowledge of Potions and DADA and spell invention into books that
would actually be useful to Hogwarts students. So much wasted
potential. It's a sadder loss, for me, even than the death of poor
Cedric at seventeen. The WW without Snape isn't the WW any more. For
me, I mean. I'm sure others feel otherwise.

Carol, for whom the joy and intellectual stimulation of posting has
diminished, along with the pleasure of rereading the books, thanks
primarily to JKR herself