Letters to the Editor
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MoveOn.Rowling
The unspoken word, the unwritten line are what thrill and captivate us. Hemingway knew that. Now that Rowling's masterpiece is under an atomic microscope, I wish she had left Harry alone. On the practical side, it could be a problem for some parents to explain to younger children.
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What really bothers me about all this is the TIMING of the "revelation"
The book series is done, but there are still two more movies in the works, and now this "information" is bound to have some sort of influence (hopefully very subtle) on how the films are made and viewed. And of course the author has potentially "played into the hands" of those who already find the Potter books "objectionable" and now have one more "reason" to keep their kids from reading/viewing "Potter" and maybe actually forming their own opinions and conclusions. (Oh, the horror of it all...letting your kids learn to THINK!)
Had she played this game of "Ha-ha-gotcha" after the final film was in the can, well, maybe I wouldn't have minded so much. But doing it now? The phrase "shark jump" keeps playing over in my mind...
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For adults only
Are these books for children? Maybe the author could write one more book with illustration of butt f*ing so that she could indoctrinate the young readers into this lifestyle.
I think that the subject of sexuality is inappropriate in the context of desired readers.
What is happening to our society, is the water bad?
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I must be gay too!
I never took the Dumbledore relationship with the future Dark Wizard as anything but platonic. Boy, was I dumb! Looking back, I guess I must be gay, too, after all I passionately loved my friends as a youth. Spending lots of time with them (at a time where no one that age has a real job) and communicating with them even after we'd spent the day together - well, I must be a lesbian. Being very close to a person of the same sex automatically means you want to sleep with them, even if you're not aware of it.
But you know, Dumbledore is described as a flamboyant dresser! So how could I have missed it? More accurately, why would I care? Maybe there were other hints - but I bet they only look obvious to most readers in retrospect.
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Author's alterations
Years ago I went to a bookstore appearance of A.S. Byatt, author of Possession. An audience member asked if two characters were lovers. The two women lived together in the sort of platonic yet passionate relationship common in Victorian times. Clearly they loved each other, and one was "in love" with the other, but it was quite possible they were not physically intimate. (It was this sort of relationship I pictured as when I read about Dumbledore's teenage passion.)
Byatt's answer was "Yes, I think they were lovers." What struck me was the word "think". Didn't she know? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that her answer was exactly right, and illuminates what's wrong with Rowling's certainties.
An author's characters are her creations, but if they've truly come alive, they live lives apart from their creator. She may never know all the details of their lives, for who can truly know another person?
The unknown is what allows the reader to fill in the blanks with their own emotions and dreams. I wish she'd leave us to it!
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anonymous 08:47 AM
You are gayer than a fifty dollar bill.
Real hetreosexuals cannot stand the company of members of their own sex. That is why real hetreosexual men always fight and try to kill each other.
Thankfully, they do put something in the water.
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NEWSFLASH!
J.K Rowling discovers that not every gay person has purchased and read a Harry Potter book.
"Dumbledore is gay."
Print more books.
Profit.
That's what I call marketing.
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Thank You, Salon
For having the nerve, in this fiction-poor age, to run headline stories about literary issues instead of ones about oil prices, the greenhouse effect, and Iraq, at least every now and then.
I'm not quite sure who decided Salon was supposed to be a publication strictly about politics and world affairs. And this reader, for one, finds the questions raised in Traister's article both interesting and important.
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Ms. Rowling was asked a civil question in a forum designed to allow readers to ASK questions... and she gave an HONEST answer ...
she COULD have demured ... or LIED ... (doubtless she knew that that script notation was floating in the ether) ... but one of her most outstanding qualities has always been her respect for her audience ... an audience that has read along and aged along with Harry and the crew ...
She could have lied, but I suspect that would have been a betrayal of both herself and her audience.
Given the number of stories of gays and lesbians who "knew" they were at least "different" long before they knew what exactly "gay" meant ... and given the number and varying qualities of gays one meets going through school and elsewhere, I love that Dumbledore is gay ... and that it's not obvious.
I can only hope (and anticipate) that Rowling inspires in her devoted readers the desire to write ... she is an excellent role model ... writing a series as she has done requires extraordinary discipline and devotion.
People are still discovering, enjoying and eventually reappraising Shakespeare, Blake, Yeats ... Fitzgerald and Hemingway ... oh, and Tolkein and H.G. Wells, and C.S. Lewis ...
it's all good.
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Please Ask, Please Tell
While the commotion may be about Harry Potter and his gay mentor, the underlying story is the wonderful way in which younger readers internalize books, care about them, learn, from them, use them as stepping stones to becoming. All of us who write Young Adult fiction (though none of us with Rowling’s deserved success) are encouraged and intimidated by the way our readers demand more and more information about THEIR characters.
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An annoying plot point
If I had a chance to ask Rowling a question it would be: How does it happen that at the climactic moment when Neville kills the snake, he pulls Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat? When last seen, the sword has been confiscated (filched? reclaimed?) by the goblin who helped the trio get into Gringott's. Since goblins a clearly highly expert at guarding stuff, wouldn't it remain there? But it miraculously appears in Neville's hands for his great moment (and a satisfying moment it is too! -- in a way Neville's growth throughout the series is one of its more pleasing themes).
I know that the sword is supposed to be available when any stout-hearted Gryffindor is in great need (a little like Siegfried's sword in Wagner?) but that seems to me a little tenuous as an explanation...and surely such an important event needs a little more support. Any ideas?
AS a side issue, and just out of curiosity...what happened to Draco's parents? Who is Hogwarts' headmaster? (McConagall?) Who is the Minister of Magic? (Shacklebolt?)