What do we lose?

[Randy]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "davewitley" 
<dfrankiswork at ...> wrote:
>
> I'm not sure if people are saying that the problem is that we've 
> changed, or the books have.
> 
> The plot is bound to advance through the series.  No doubt JKR 
could 
> have written a picaresque series, in which the random delights of 
> geographical exploration - with, perhaps, a little romance - would 
> sustain it to the end alone.  A sort of magical "Humphrey 
Clinker".  
> But, really, did we ever think that was what she was writing?  I 
> would have supposed the point Alan Jacobs makes, that everything 
is 
> converging on the climactic confrontation with Voldemort, is 
pretty 
> well what was to be expected once we realised that she wasn't just 
> updating "Billy Bunter".  The delight has to drain away before the 
> end (but not necessarily *at* the end): it's what was always 
> promised.
> 
> We, too, may grow old and world-weary.  We may start quoting TS 
> Eliot, a sure sign that second teenagerhood has been entered and 
> that second childhood is not far away.  But I think it's a bit 
rich 
> to blame JKR for this natural state of affairs.
> 
> The real loss, IMO, is not interest in Harry Potter, but *shared* 
> interest in *something*.  What's to discuss?  With whom?
> 
> David
>

My point is that we have all changed over the last 6 years.  You 
once could discuss 4 books at the same time and catch the interest 
of several different people.  Then it became a discussion of the 
latest book and comparing it to theories that had been postulated.  
Now that the possibilities are being reduced, the excitement has 
waned a bit because things might not be turning out the way we hoped.

Regardless, it becomes inevitable that people would start to look 
for something else to talk about.  JKR is bound to take her time on 
this last one, so it is hard to get excited about 2006 with no new 
book or movie. 

Since I started on these in 2000, I think it is just the seven year 
itch to try something new.

Randy