[HPforGrownups] Re: I am so happy. There is a gay couple in canon after all.

[Kathryn Lambert]

No: HPFGUIDX 178215

Carol <justcarol67 at yahoo.com> wrote:          I agree with you. It seems to me that, since the last book came out,
JKR has been trying to control the interpretation of her characters
and to treat her speculations about the future of her surviving
characters (for example, Neville's future wife, who started out to be
Luna and is currently Hanah Abbot, or Ron's job, which started out as
Auror and then became a partner in George's shop) or her views on her
characters' personalities (e.g., the various remarks on Snape, whom
she seems to have trouble distinguishing from the chemistry teacher
who inspired him). Now we have Dumbledore's unrequited love for
Grindelwald, whereas in canon, all we have is an aborted friendship
and DD's five-year hesitation in going after Grindelwald. But that's
all there is, and the reader is free to posit other (equally
uncanonical) explanations for DD's hesitation. If it isn't in the
books, it isn't canon. And an author's intentions, or her personal
interpretation, should not take precedence over other interpretations
that consider the text and only the text (including gaps,
contradictions, and ambiguities--I'm not assuming a consistent text
with an-always reliable narrator). 

Sorry, JKR, but I'm capable of interpreting the books without your
help, as is everyone else on this list, and I really wish you would
just stop giving interviews altogether. Put your energies and
imagination into writing another book and leave the Potterverse alone.
I'm at a point where I don't even want the encyclopedia. (Read "Death
of the Author," JKR. Or if that's too extreme, try "The Intentional
Fallacy." Did Jane Austen tell people how to interpret her books? Did
the Bronte sisters? Did Herman Melville? Trust your readers, and let
your readers trust your text, or determine where it's untrustworthy by
comparison to other passages.

Carol, taking anything JKR says about her characters and her imagined
view of them with more than a grain of salt
   
  ***Katie responds:
  Amen, sister. I wish JKR would just stop talking. It seems like after 10 years of keeping mum, she has a bad case of verbal diarreah. Everything she says makes me wonder if she even wrote these books!! (Just kidding, but really!)
  I just had a conversation with my mother today about how JKR ruined Snape for us in DH, and how everything she has said about Snape since the book came out just makes it more painful and more unbearable. And now this! 
  I don't CARE who Dumbledore liked, loved, or slept with. It has NOTHING to do with the story. And I'm a big gay rights advocate, always happy to see gay characters...except...she DIDN'T CREATE ONE. All this backpedaling and trying to make us see the characters exactly the way she does is driving me mad. There is absolutely no evidence that Dumbledore was gay or loved Grindelwald. And, much like I feel Snape's story was wrecked by the whole Lily fiasco, I feel Dumbledore is lessened by having him be a lovesick puppy. YUCK. I also feel like if she had wanted to create a gay character, then she should have gone all out and not been afraid to make him gay in canon. Going back and saying it was so, don't make it so.
  And also, if she wanted to say all of this stuff...she should have said it in the epilogue, and given us some real meaty stuff, not that sickly sweet pap we got stuck with. Grr. I wish she's just shush. KATIE


   


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