Thank you! Honestly, I'm not sure that *I* rewrite as much as I should; I"m only just starting a couple of novels, and on these as well as everything else I work on, I tend to rewrite as I go. It's just shocking, though, that a published author of a long and complicated tale would claim never to reread nor rewrite her own work. It seems rather arrogant.
But - I know a lot of people like POA the best, but to me, looking back, that is where the rot began to set in. There were hints before (in her treatment of the Dursleys; in Dumbledore's statement about our choices "showing" what we are), but the extreme cruelty of the ending of POA has no parallel till we hit DH. At least, that's how it strikes me. I'm talking about Dumbledore's cruelty to Snape, the injustice to Sirius (who may be a jerk, but who was *innocent* - and, if Dumbledore has all this power, why couldn't that be proven, even without Pettigrew as prisoner? What about pensieve evidence? Veritaserum? Even questioning the kids separately about what they witnessed?), and the casual cruelty of Sirius and the three children, who spare no regard for the physical welfare of the man they have knocked out. And I was just repelled by the contrived plot and all the shouting. Up till hbp, it was my least favorite of the books.
Sorry for the rant - I guess my point was that the first three books are definitely tighter than the later ones, but, even there, contradictory and negative messages are obvious. And no, I don't think Rowling will be remembered after her death. Something about these books managed to capture the world's imagination; they are in tune with the Zeitgeist somehow, but I don't think they will last. In the end, what is original in them is (mostly) pretty nasty, and what is derivative - well, it's been done much better by other authors. And, as I said, some of her derivative messages are pretty negative, too.
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But - I know a lot of people like POA the best, but to me, looking back, that is where the rot began to set in. There were hints before (in her treatment of the Dursleys; in Dumbledore's statement about our choices "showing" what we are), but the extreme cruelty of the ending of POA has no parallel till we hit DH. At least, that's how it strikes me. I'm talking about Dumbledore's cruelty to Snape, the injustice to Sirius (who may be a jerk, but who was *innocent* - and, if Dumbledore has all this power, why couldn't that be proven, even without Pettigrew as prisoner? What about pensieve evidence? Veritaserum? Even questioning the kids separately about what they witnessed?), and the casual cruelty of Sirius and the three children, who spare no regard for the physical welfare of the man they have knocked out. And I was just repelled by the contrived plot and all the shouting. Up till hbp, it was my least favorite of the books.
Sorry for the rant - I guess my point was that the first three books are definitely tighter than the later ones, but, even there, contradictory and negative messages are obvious. And no, I don't think Rowling will be remembered after her death. Something about these books managed to capture the world's imagination; they are in tune with the Zeitgeist somehow, but I don't think they will last. In the end, what is original in them is (mostly) pretty nasty, and what is derivative - well, it's been done much better by other authors. And, as I said, some of her derivative messages are pretty negative, too.