start > 2007 > October > 21 > 001

I'm converted

Created by ceej. Last edited by ceej Sun, 21 Oct 2007 08:28:26 PDT. Viewed 537 times. atom feed
JK Rowling has now officially converted me to the "the author is dead; screw authorial intent; long live the text" school of litcrit. I used to find this idea vaguely disturbing, what with having aspirations to write and and being somewhat certain that I have intent when writing (usually). But now I'm converted. JKR in her post-book-7 interviews has messed up her own canon, taunted subsegments of her fandom, and half the time seemed like she's making shit up to be funny. Down that road lies Anne-Rice-level insanity, JKR. Careful, now.

It is amusing to contemplate the explosion of wankery and frothing from all sides on the Dumbledore revelation. Points to JKR for providing quality entertainment to the peanut gallery, but really. I'm ignoring everything she says. Not in the books? Not real. The books say that Lupin was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide, and Dumbledore was having a secret affair with Minerva, and that's the end of it. Well, actually, except that the Grindelwald subtext was fairly clear in book 7, so... she didn't need to say anything, did she? She keeps her mouth shut, and perceptive readers can decode it, and the fundies can continue to give her their money.

A friend said that some day she's going to look back and see what she really wrote in those books (some truly disturbing messages about death, suicide, and ambition) and she'll be horrified.

mrw : Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:43:39 PDT permalink
It could be worse, I suppose: she could release a "special edition" of Half-Blood Prince where Greedo shoots first.
kodi : Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:10:37 PDT permalink
Or she could explain that even though the books appeared to be about vampires, they were really about her spiritual journey to find Christ.
rawdon : Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:23:37 PDT permalink
I weighed in on the subject >>over here, mostly rebutting John Scalzi's post on the subject. In short, I hate it when authors come out and make pronouncements like this. If it ain't in the book, then I ain't buying it.

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