Dragons, Produced and Tickled, and Other Pleasantries

[pippin_999]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, Barry Arrowsmith <arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:

> Ascribing what many of us perceive as the character shadings, the  
> dualities, the contradictions and apparent complexities to authorial  
> intent may be a mistake; it could just  as easily be fan perversity.  
> Certainly herself expressed shock!horror at the number of Snape fans,  
> Draco fans, Lucius fans.  It was not intended to  be that way yet   
> somehow the readers (especially outside the younger age group) have  
> interpreted the textual descriptions to reach their favoured  
> conclusions. So for the time being what was probably intended has  
> been overlooked or discarded in order to add a little extra for any  
> particular reader. To take the simple and complicate it to make it  
> even more interesting is what many do while they can.
> 

Pippin:
But it's specifically to the younger age group that she addressed her
shock and horror -- take it from me girls, you can't save 'em, or
words to that effect. To those of us who aren't hoping to save anybody
but would like to indulge some rather less lofty impulses (and figure 
Snape, Draco or Lucius might  have more to offer than the heroes
since  they wouldn't be trying to save *us*) ...well, doesn't she just 
dare us to try to explain *that* in front of the kiddies. If you want to 
engender a fair amount of silence, try asking "Why do you like Snape?" 
face to face in mixed company.  Doesn't mean she doesn't understand
it. I think she understands it quite well.

Besides which, if Snape is the patsy,  herself as mystery author owes it
to the readership not to give him away -- until the end of Book 7.

Pippin