Odd, I’m glad you sent in the story. More Goudge books are definitely going on my reading list.

Red Rocker, your last paragraph was beautiful. I couldn’t agree more.

One of the ways to survive in such periods of life is of couse to read «in between». And it so happened that I late in January picked from my bookshelf «Linnets and Valerians» by Elizabeth Goudge, one of her children’s stories which I had ordered from Amazon, but never read. It was nice and light reading, though not as impressive as Little White Horse. But it gave me a strong taste of longing to read more Goudge.

So I clicked again into Amazon (in Britain, it’s a shorter distance from Norway) and I was led to an address for used books. And I simply OK-ed everything I found, written by Goudge.

Last tuesday two of those books arrived and when I in the evening opened the first one, I immediately found «The Two Caves» with that wonderful Christian content and exciting ending. It made me jump to my feet. I rushed downstairs, scanned the text and sent it to John. And he answered as you have all seen in the essay above.

Not really a product of great thinking from my side, but it is a stimulating thing to be at the recieving end of the great thinking in your discussion above.

And yes, Arabella, since you mention it, I think it must indeed be just the right time to start noticing the delightful coming spring here in Norway. At least here at the western coast.

Yours
Odd
Bergen, Norway

One of the major sources of debate about HP is the motivation and character of Dumbledore: is he wise, kind and merciful, or is he brilliant, deceptive and manipulative? We have agreed that both interpretations are possible in that the text supports both interpretations, and that in the end we choose the interpretation which satisfies us. We could have – and I think we have had – the same dialogue about King’s Cross: did the conversation with Dumbledore really happen, or did Harry imagine it?

My point here is that we could interpret the words “all is well” simply, without looking for deeper meanings. And it would work. But we could also look at other writers who have used those words, and in similar contexts, to explain the nature of love and death. I personally find it infinitely more satisfying – both emotionally and aesthetically – to think that JKR thought of Eliot or Goudge or especially of Holland – and wrote those words with those meanings in mind. It adds something – history, meaning, resonance, significance, depth, knowledge, substance – something, to think that she smiled as she wrote those words, put them there perhaps for her readers to discover their significance for themselves. It’s like a message or a clue she left for us. It’s a link with the past.

I like Lily Luna’s reading of the scar-touching.

Although, having said that, it would be interesting to imagine a grandson of Voldemort who inherited his evil personality somehow setting off Harry’s scar again (old Voldemort seems pretty sexless, but young Riddle might have had some (loveless) dalliances that produced offspring unknown to him).

We also might consider Shakespeare’s “All’s Well That Ends Well” as an influence, perhaps an ironic influence, on the DH last line. Full disclosure: I’ve only read the Wikipedia summary, not the play itself. But the summary describes some familiar themes of disguises, unrequited love, and hate turning to love at the end (like Harry’s hate of Snape turning into love, as evidenced by what he names his son).

It’s just that those words have been used by others to denote ideas pretty similar to JKR’s, so we can’t help but wonder.

And for myself, the gesture of touching the scar, the thought that the scar hadn’t bothered him for so long very much suggests an automatic check, someting he does regularly, if not often, just to see, just to be sure. The fact that he does do it, even after so long, has the barest element of a hint that maybe one day the scar will hurt again, and all will not be well.

And C.S. Lewis wasn’t secretive about the imaginative key to his books.

And Bob Dylan was always honest in his interviews.

And the fact that Rowling said she was conscious of Goudge’s influence while writing only applied to … wait, she never did tell us exactly where and how Goudge directly influenced Harry Potter. Hmmm … maybe Rowling doesn’t tell us everything in her interviews.

The theme of spiritual purification runs through most of Goudge’s books although in THE LITTLE WHITE HORSE reconcilation of opposites (completing a purification of family conflict) is dominant. Anyone who hasn’t read her adult masterpiece THE DEAN’S WATCH, please scurry off and do so now!