BB NOTE: Thanks to The Leaky Cauldron for this report of JK Rowling's appearance at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. Click the headline above for more info.During tonight's RCMH reading, JK Rowling said that Dumbledore is definitely dead, and that we all need to start moving through the five stages of grief. She needs to help us get past denial, she said, and thinks the next stage might be anger and we shouldn't go there right now. She specifically referenced Dumbledoreisnotdead.com, and said that Dumbleore will not "pull a Gandalf."
(The Web site in question has responded that "we don't think this really means anything!" and "Her declaration that Dumbledore is really dead is most likely one of those red-herrings that J.K. likes to throw us off the track with....But what if Dumbledore is really dead, but has arranged it so that he can come back? That would still fit with what she said tonight but still not discount any of what's outlined on this site!") (This has since been changed, but was copied directly at the time.)
J.K. Rowling also said that she had rethought the title of book seven while in the shower before coming out for the event (something like, "Oh, that would be better, wouldn't it?" popped into her mind), but that she wouldn't be sharing either of the titles.
Most of the response about Dumbledore followed a question by famous author Salman Rushdie, who stepped forward to the audience microphone with his son and introduced himself like any other fan. JKR said, "I don't feel this is quite fair," amusedly. "You're better at figuring out plots than most." (That might be a paraphrase.) Rushdie flat-out asked (along with whether Dumbledore was alive) whether Snape was "good" or bad." She did not answer, but said that "your opinion is correct," possibly to his assertion that Snape was intrinsically good (though it was unclear).
Other topics included Aunt Petunia, to whom JKR said there was more than meets the eye (and of course that we'd find out what in book seven).
2 comments:
If Dumbledore wasn't dead, it would be a betrayal of Rowling's main theme ...
It sure would, Chip. I've got a post about this over on my blog, but cut it a bit short, and was going to talk, specifically, about the role of the concept of mortality in the series, which is indeed central. Death is not something to be feared, in the books, except by those who are evil. And the good characters' deaths are almost uniformly sacrificial and victorious. Sad, harrowing, and necessary. Life is not to be wasted, nor death. And there is always a sign of hope.
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