The nature of Faith

[nrenka]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "nkafkafi" <nkafkafi at y...> 
wrote:

> Neri:
> OK, I'll rephrase my previous statement a bit. Building a theory is
> basically the act of deciding which canon details to sweep under the
> carpet and which to set above it. This choice is inevitable. There 
> are much too many suspicious and uncomfortable details in the HP 
> saga to ever be explained in just two books.

Which details are important and fundamental, perhaps (Dahlhaus' 
criteria, combined with 'studying what can be studied').  A 
survivable theory has to take guesses as to what matters and is thus 
likely going to be supported or expanded upon in some way.  Otherwise 
you end up in that uncomfortable limbo-land of "It hasn't been 
excluded, so it's possible", with things that are untestable and thus 
might be nice as speculation but cannot be made to relate to what we 
got.

> Neri:
> Faith doesn't have a lot to say about ANYTHING, unless we sincerely
> ask her for her opinion and really listen to her. If we won't, she
> doesn't give a damn. Why should she? It is not her, but you and I 
> who cling to our rickety theories in the middle of the bay with 
> Hurricane Jo looming on the horizon. If you believe the analysis 
> above will save you from drowning coming July 16th, cling hard to 
> it. But perhaps I should warn you that Faith was reading it over my 
> shoulder, and right now she's in the other room having an 
> uncontrollable laughing fit. She can be quite annoying, that way.

It seems to me that Faith is wary of some analyses of big themes 
because she's the person sitting there going "Do we really KNOW all 
of that yet?  That requires plugging a hole here, here, and here...I 
guess you can do it, but...".

For me, Faith is the incarnation of a peculiar mixture of the 
hermeneutics of faith (trying to understand an author on his own 
terms first, the Verstehen principle) and the belief in evidentiary 
standards--and its younger sibling, the idea that the more evidence 
you can make sense out of, the better you're doing.  Faith is a tough 
bitch of a taskmaster.  She really likes lots of footnotes.  She's 
not a New Critic, but she close-reads everything.  Some might fault 
her for her willingness to set aside lines of inquiry too quickly, 
but it's just because she's looking for what's more significant; if 
the author says Snape isn't a vampire, then Snape isn't a vampire. :)

-Nora gets in a Shakespearean mood