You know what I would love to see? A fic or a meta reading that seriously addressed the possibility that the Great Epic of the WW, the one with real scope and grandeur and all that, is not the Potter story at all, but the Fall and Redemption of the House of Black. I love the way the books hint at these vast pre-existing narratives in the background that seem to rival the surface story for emotional significance and compelling interest. And Harry's own journey out of narcissism and toward an adult sense of proportion might involve falling into a sort of fascination with -- or recognizing that his own story is a part of -- something bigger and more significant than his own immediate adventures. Not Hamlet, but an attendant lord . . . Much like Snape, maybe.
Behind your theory about Snape and the Blacks, I also sense a healthy resistance to the exaggerated role of Lucius in the fandom imagination. Lucius is the DE we've come to know best, but consequently there is a tendency to pile too much significance on to him, maybe -- Voldemort's right hand, the secret owner of the Riddle house, whatever. So to posit that Snape's strongest connection is with Narcissa and her family, that his affection for Draco flows through his affection for her rather than his connection to Lucius, and that he viscerally shares in the family's rejection of Sirius, redresses this balance and re-grounds Snape in a really interesting way.
Your speculations about Snape as not-quite-a-surrogate-Black create some incredibly rich characterization possibilities for Snape, I think. So: Snape, embittered half-blood, sort of lets himself dally with the idea of being considered an honorary Black, perhaps makes an investment in that role, only to find that he is never quite accepted, that they turn to him for help but don't quite honor him fully. (From Hamlet to Othello . . . is there a wound, here, that explains Snape's ultimate if conflicted loyalty to Dumbledore?)
And now I'm thinking of turning this back against the Potters, and Snape's feelings about James. Maybe, just as the purebloods hate the Weasleys for letting the side down, they hate the Potters for being egoistic, incompetent adventurers who can't deliver on their promises, who only spoil and ruin things for other people without creating a workable alternative. So James is the force that helped seduce Sirius away from his family but couldn't protect him in the end. Maybe he or Lily had a role in pulling Regulus away from the DE's, too, with similar catastrophic results. And Snape shares in the Black family loathing all things Potter. And now, here comes Harry, with the same unthinking self-absorbtion, the same tone-deafness to the Black epic, trying to make the story all about himself.
Hmmm. Now I'm sort of getting way out there, but it's fun to just brainstorm ideas about this kind of thing. This is a really, really provocative and interesting post.
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Date: 2005-09-08 03:37 am (UTC)Behind your theory about Snape and the Blacks, I also sense a healthy resistance to the exaggerated role of Lucius in the fandom imagination. Lucius is the DE we've come to know best, but consequently there is a tendency to pile too much significance on to him, maybe -- Voldemort's right hand, the secret owner of the Riddle house, whatever. So to posit that Snape's strongest connection is with Narcissa and her family, that his affection for Draco flows through his affection for her rather than his connection to Lucius, and that he viscerally shares in the family's rejection of Sirius, redresses this balance and re-grounds Snape in a really interesting way.
Your speculations about Snape as not-quite-a-surrogate-Black create some incredibly rich characterization possibilities for Snape, I think. So: Snape, embittered half-blood, sort of lets himself dally with the idea of being considered an honorary Black, perhaps makes an investment in that role, only to find that he is never quite accepted, that they turn to him for help but don't quite honor him fully. (From Hamlet to Othello . . . is there a wound, here, that explains Snape's ultimate if conflicted loyalty to Dumbledore?)
And now I'm thinking of turning this back against the Potters, and Snape's feelings about James. Maybe, just as the purebloods hate the Weasleys for letting the side down, they hate the Potters for being egoistic, incompetent adventurers who can't deliver on their promises, who only spoil and ruin things for other people without creating a workable alternative. So James is the force that helped seduce Sirius away from his family but couldn't protect him in the end. Maybe he or Lily had a role in pulling Regulus away from the DE's, too, with similar catastrophic results. And Snape shares in the Black family loathing all things Potter. And now, here comes Harry, with the same unthinking self-absorbtion, the same tone-deafness to the Black epic, trying to make the story all about himself.
Hmmm. Now I'm sort of getting way out there, but it's fun to just brainstorm ideas about this kind of thing. This is a really, really provocative and interesting post.