It's out and it's over and it's fabulous, but I am trying hard to not turn this into a Harry Potter blog. So, this will be my last dedicated HP post. AND THERE ARE SPOILERS! So, please, do not read on if you have not finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or do not wish to know plot details.
A few discussions on some of my beloved listservs have piqued my interest. Primarily, the abhorrence of the epilogue and further loathing of all the JKR chats in which she answers questions regarding the characters' and the wizarding world's futures. My thoughts on this are kind of all over the place, so bear with me.
Some have great difficulty with the author "telling" them what happens to fictional characters or how they were supposed to interpret a book, much less forcing said conclusions on young readers' imaginations. By this I mean to refer to the Today show interview, Leaky Cauldron interview and numerous others. JKR has shared with us some Hogwarts students' future jobs, future love lives, and provided clarification about confusing plot points. Some argue that once an author writes text, it is surrendered to reader interpretation. I can't decide where to start, so I'll allow my discussion to be circular ("Well-reasoned," says the Ravenclaw common room portrait.)
1) I think it's okay to believe in the "reality" of fictional characters. This world of Harry Potter lives. It breathes. It is. I don't see it as my right to close the book and decide that this is where the author ends and my speculation begins. It's not my right to decide what happens to such a living story. And it does not dash my hopes and dreams to learn my curiosities are different than what actually happens. Maybe that's the hardest part to grasp. The utter trust and belief in a person to share a real story.
Hmmm, that's cryptic. A real story. Many have talked about the phenomena of the story taking over. Indeed, a few of my favorite authors have joined in the listserv discussions to offer their experiences. Often an author, and I don't want to say "just" or "merely", becomes a vessel from which the characters and story come. Stephen King, in his book On Writing, likens the process to an archaeological dig. The story, complete and whole, is there somewhere below the earth. It breathes. It is. The author's work, then, is to use his or her "tools" to dig and scrape and brush this already whole story as best she or he may. Who's to say JKR hasn't been unearthing an enormous dragon of a tale for us? Surely a metatarsal or two are bound to be overlooked or left out of the final published piece, but are still there, a part of the dragon.
1a) Aren't there hefty original drafts that are slashed ruthlessly to become a sellable novel? Doesn't she have crates full of character outlines and plot notes that will never be in any novel and merely serve to help JKR flesh out the story? Couldn't these factoids she's been "forcing" on young readers have been a part of those early cuts? Are they not part of "the real story" just because they were not in the final publication?
1b) And, technically, she hasn't been telling us what happens after the book, dictating our imagination, but rather filling us in on the nineteen-year gap before the epilogue.
1c) Even if all my previous reasonings are bunk, I still don't mind. I don't want this Harry Potter world to end. I'm dying for details. I've never been one to enjoy all the speculation and theorizing. Sure, I had a few theories and it's fun to formulate them. But just until the truth is revealed. That sounds very "Teacher, tell me the answer," but, well, I'm not the one diggin' up that dragon, am I?
2) Speaking of epilogues ... Michael D. Schaeffer writes: "Nothing is sillier or more gratuitous than a glimpse into the future of people who never existed in the first place." Re: people who never existed in the first place, I refer you to points 1, and possibly 1a, above. He later writes "it takes inspiration to write a good epilogue." My friend, it takes inspiration to write a good story. I direct you to Clive James:
"Until recent times the average writer could always tell himself that he was suffering for his art and the blockbuster bestselling author was merely cashing in on a formula ... But JK blew that consolation away. She was so obviously working from creative inspiration, and her global audience so obviously love the stuff. The profile journalists who write about JK's houses all over the world would dearly like just one of those houses for themselves, but the days are gone when they could delude themselves that a thick volume of chick-lit written a paragraph at a time before breakfast would get them off the piece-work treadmill ... Now they know that they have to come up with something inspired."
You don't get to cop out and say it's only media hype that has created our love of Harry Potter. I may be more inclined to pick up a book that is heavily advertised, but I'm certainly not going to read it if I find it uninteresting.
***It has now been several days since I first started drafting this blog and I've quite lost my fire for it. I've also just finished watching the five-hour BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, and find it is colouring my syntax. :) In closing, reading and living the evolution of Harry Potter has been a journey like no other, and I'm grateful. There's so much more I could discuss, but will leave it at this.
Happy Reading and Re-Reading!
UPDATE: some clarification about this whole Author as Arbiter discussion
a) I do believe, as one post said, JKR is AN authority on this world. THE authority? I'm still inclined to say "yes" but do believe there is stronger authority in an author/reader interaction.
b) Readings are always up to interpretation. However, HP as a story doesn't leave much up to interpretation, does it? It's pretty straightforward. The realism of it compels you to read it like a historical account of The Boy Who Lived. You can discuss the symbolism of certain parts and motivations of characters, but ... wow. I sound pretty rigid, don't I? Especially if I'm a fan of author/reader interaction, huh? The realism of it compels me to read it like an historical account of The Boy Who Lived. And, apparently, I'm pretty protective of that.
c) For further discussion on any HP point you ever wanted to critically examine - HogwartsProfessor
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