[HPforGrownups] Nineteen years later

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 191536

On 12/16/2011 4:02 PM, Margaret Dean wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 7:50 AM,<sigurd at eclipse.net>  wrote:
>
>> . You cannot go back and undo the past. Even God can't do that.
> Oh really?  How would you know?<big evil grin>

Bart:
     God may be able to do that, but if an author puts God in a machine, 
that's cheating the reader, unless well foreshadowed or done with ironic 
intent.

     Which neatly outlines the problems inherent in the climax of POA. 
And the problems in writing about a magic based world; one pushes away 
the inherent self-contradiction with the explanation, "magic".

     The late Dr. Isaac Asimov invented a subgenre of science fiction 
called "science fiction mystery", by showing how the problem of 
"anything can happen" can be solved by clearly outlining the internal 
rules of what technology can and cannot do within the confines of the 
story, without detracting from the readability of the story. Rowling 
owes a lot to him in the Harry Potter novels, but still, Rowling had to 
watch out for the trap of using magic as a deux ex machina, although she 
may have stepped over the line with the Time Turner in POA.

     Bart