Should JKR shut up? (was Re: I am so happy...

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 178236

 


>   ***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!)
><SNIP>


Alla:

I do not understand this  at all. It is not like JKR went on the 
stage and out of the blue started  screaming OMG Dumbledore is gay.

I mean, I do understand your view that  I snipped. Sure, I would 
prefer it being in the books as well, but she was  ASKED the question 
about DD's love life. It is not like she even said she  wanted to 
give a statement or something.

What was she supposed to  do, say it is a secret or something?



Julie:
I am 100% with you, Alla. I don't quite get this, and I am one  who was 
disappointed
by certain aspects of DH, and annoyed by some of the inconsistencies. But I  
still
don't think it's beholden upon JKR to shut up when fans ask her questions.  
If fans
didn't want to know, they wouldn't be showing up in droves or vying for  
tickets to
her appearances. And, yes, while some fans want to know how JKR sees  her
characters, I do know others prefer to stick with only what was  presented in 
the 
books and draw their own conclusions. 
 
The easy solution is to ignore the interviews. But I don't think it's fair  
to expect
JKR not to answer questions about characters she created, or to denigrate  her
for doing so. She cannot, nor do I think she is trying to force anyone  to 
see the
characters only and exactly as she sees them. That is something of a given  
when
you consider how tolerant she is of fan fiction. (Believe me,  many authors 
do not
accept that kind of infringement on *their* characters and universe, no  way, 
no how.)
 
BTW, I think if fans of that time had asked Jane Austen questions about how  
she
saw her characters and motivations, she would have answered them. To me  that
isn't "telling" readers how to interpret them, that is telling readers  how 
*she* (the
author) inteprets them. Jane Austin or Charles Dickens might even have  
written
"encyclopedias" about their characters/stories had such been requested by  
their
fans. Why wouldn't they? 
 
I'll say that I don't care that much about a Potterverse encyclopedia. I  
might not
even buy it or read it. But many fans *have* expressed great enthusiasm  over 
the
concept, and if JKR likes the idea herself and decides to do it, why not?  
Lots of
people will probably buy it and enjoy it, and more power to them. 
 
Julie, agreeing that we are all free to interpret fiction as we see it, but  
also believing
the author is equally free to interpret her own fiction, particularly to  
those who ask.
 



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