Comments | orthoclase: Harry Potter, JK Rowling, and literary criticism

orthoclase

Harry Potter, JK Rowling, and literary criticism

Jul 27, 2007 10:28

This is a public post...

This is not mine. This is an essay written by a friend of mine, Subtle Science, that I feel is a definitive statement on J. K. Rowling's interviews about her works.

Essay begins here: ( Read more... )

Comments 13

It seems odd… lemon_ashwinder July 27 2007, 18:20:23 UTC

I've grown to adulthood without really considering the relationship of an artist to her art. I suppose I had other things on my mind, but I cluelessly believed that the conscious intent and action of the artist is what art is.

I was deeply shocked by JK Rowling's statements yesterday. How could she have written the character of Snape the way she did, yet brush aside the heroic character that is so obvious to many people so casually?

So Subtle Science's essay is a revelation to me, yet it does make a fascinating sense. I'm off to ponder why it happens and how it may have happened here.

Thanks for posting this, Orthoclase, and thank you for writing it, Subtle Science.

rattlesnakeroot July 27 2007, 19:29:21 UTC

Thank you for posting this, Orthoclase ( ... )

sander123 July 27 2007, 22:20:38 UTC

Hi I came over here per accident :) or fortune! I love your essay, I think the first one speaking of the "death of the author" was Barthes - a great scholar his books are exciting to read (when you are interested in things like that ( ... )

orthoclase July 27 2007, 22:25:04 UTC

I don't mind, but I should clarify that the essay isn't mine. It was written by a friend of mine and I got her permission to post it here.

I'm glad you enjoyed it and I will pass onto her your comments about it.

I assume that you won't mind if I friend you back?

billywiggy July 28 2007, 04:20:56 UTC

Thanks for posting this! It's like a breath of fresh air to me. It's strange that JKR can make this wonderfully complex, passionate, snarky and deep character and then dismiss him so easily. Maybe in a few years' time, when she has more distance between herself, the work, and all the hoopla - she will revisit the characters and revise her opinion?

One can only hope. (I wonder if she ever rereads her work?)

In the meanwhile - I will take this knowledge to heart and continue to believe as I have about the character of Severus Snape. His actions in the book are clear to my mind - and they are certainly the actions of a hero.

corvus_coronis July 28 2007, 07:25:51 UTC

I've added the link to my memories & will pass it on. It is my belief that JKR's intuition was developing Snape in directions that her ego wasn't happy with. Creative processes like writing will hold mirrors up to the creator & the world he/she lives in, and it is a measure of the artist's maturity how they respond to that & anyway, the point of the essay is right, once something is created it can no longer be controlled any more by the creator than anyone else. To Quote Kalil Gibran:

"Your children are not your children ( ... )

lemon_ashwinder July 28 2007, 12:44:40 UTC

Lovely, c_c!