Re: The Identity of R.A.B.--My Speculation

On 5 Sep 2005 21:00:19 GMT, Troels Forchhammer
<Troels@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>My point, however, is precisely that it is pointless to even attempt
>to squeeze the events down into a specific time-line, and that while
>doing so will make it easier for people to keep track, it also
>invites conclusions based on coincidences that depend on a
>consistency that doesn't, IMO, exist.


I agree. I've always seen the HP world as existing in a relatively
timeless "now". Naturally, it has its own internal time frame (e.g.
Hagrid was born before Harry, Merlin existed before Hagrid, etc.), but
I suspect that Rowling meant the books to simply happen in "the
present", whenever that happens to be for the reader. Attempts to tie
them to a "real" present, an actual Muggle date, is a mistake, IMO.
With the exception of the mention of the video game (something she
probably now regrets), JKR has done a good job of keeping actual
modern dates out of her Potterverse. When, 20 or 50 years from now,
someone reads the books, I assume they too will imagine them as
happening "now", not back in the 1990's.


.

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