JKR's writing style (was:Would Harry forgiving Snape be character growth...

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 164323

> >>Pippin:
> > <snip>
> > Seriously, a theme is supposed to be the unifying idea of the    
> > work, so if you have unrelated ideas then it's pointless to talk 
> > about themes at all. 

> >>Lupinlore:
> Well, I guess that would apply if we were sure JKR is an           
> Aristotelian in her approach to her writing.
> <snip>
> Being a classics major, JKR could as easily be basing herself on   
> Vergil or Homer (or Aristophanes or Seneca or Menander or Ovid or   
> Juvenal) as Aristotle, and in fact is more likely to be doing so,   
> as they were practicing artists rather than philosophers putting    
> forth theoretical explanations of art.
> <snip>
> Homer stubbornly resists all attempts to find a "binding theme" and 
> instead, like many passages from Judeo-Christian literature (which 
> are assuredly much more relevant for JKR than any classical        
> reference), points in many different directions within the same     
> narrative.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Honestly, I think the answer is in your post here, Lupinlore:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/164309
> <snip>
> JKR is deeply enthralled to ordinary literary patterns -- indeed   
> slavishly so when it comes to basic narrative.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
IOWs, JKR ain't Homer.  And the story of Harry Potter is not really a 
complex one.  I think its simplicity can be its strength, but when we 
try to ram a whole bunch of contradictory and unrelated themes into 
the narrative it falls apart.  Because the foundation isn't there.

It's not that I think JKR sat down and said, "I shall write a story 
based on Aristotle's theories of story-telling."  But I do think that 
she's writing a fairly straight forward narrative.  And so I think 
any claims made as to theme need to be verified by text.

Of course, JKR could choose to swerve to a completely different theme 
(or two) in DH.  But, IMO, that would be bad writing, not Homer-
esque.  For that matter though, I'd bet that Homer's various themes 
were supported by his text.

Betsy Hp