A slight problem with 1983

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 186060

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Philip" <philipwhiuk at ...> wrote:
>
> capndad1 wrote: 
> 
> > That means that in 2009 we are only about halfway through the 19 year
> interval before the epilogue.
> > 
> > Personally, I think it would have been much much nicer to have made the
> original date of Voldemorts' attack 1973, and thus finished the whole story
> this year.
> > 
> > Opinions?
> 
> Geoff:
> The dating for Harry is based on canon evidence from COS:

<snip>
 
> Philip: 
> As far the setting is concerned, I think that as the Harry Potter series was
> aimed at children, if not solely for them, the idea was to make it so that
> he aged at the same rate they did. Releasing 1 book per year - at least in
> the beginning, helps to support this theory.
> 
> Seeing as the only date evidence was a death-day date, it seems unlikely
> that she made any conscientious effort to place the story in the current
> time.

Heoff:
Well, yes. the idea is that each book represents one year of 
Harry's school life at Hogwarts.

I think that what you see of the Muggle world just underlines 
the fact that she was writing in the mid-1990s to early-2000s 
and from that point of view - which probably supports your 
thoughts.