Comments on: Ms. Rowling Interview in El Pais (2/2008)

By: Arabella Figg

Arabella Figg — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:38:39 +0000

I remember the post DH “Dutch Interview,” posted on this site earlier, with some of its brain-twinking translations. I, too, shall wait for the whole.

However, regarding the strange magic answer, perhaps she was attempting to say that magic in stories is entirely of the human realm and its purity cannot be achieved by human characters; both bad and good use and abuse it, tainting its value. This would be versus true spirituality. Maybe?

However, I don’t think the Relgious Right find a sympathetic brother in Lewis. I think Lewis, a reasoned thinker, would be appalled.

Remus Loopy and Curious Black are giving Fullatricks looks that say “paps fritas, to you, baby!”…

By: John

John — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:57:55 +0000

Two interviewers and two different magazine articles: that explains a lot! Thank you, Meann. Please let us know when or if Accio Quotes is able get translations for one or both that aren’t as confusing in English as the Spanish would be to this gringo.

By: yvaine

yvaine — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:53:29 +0000

It looks like the El Pais interview is different from the article in XLSemanal which has the comment about the Ministry of Magic. It’s not unusual for several publications to sit in on one interview and do different pieces. We at AccioQuote will be looking into it. We’re keeping an eye out for the Q&A from the James Joyce Awards as well.

- Meann of AccioQuote.org

By: Travis Prinzi

Travis Prinzi — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 03:46:09 +0000

Two excellently-selected “favorite moments,” and perfect timing, as I was just in the middle of the “what is real” section of my own work.

I’m definitely looking forward to an official translation of the comment about magic, as this is really the first time Rowling’s begun to offer some kind of explicit theory for the need for magic in literature. Parsing that out will be interesting. As it stands, it doesn’t make a ton of sense. It’s almost an argument that falls in on itself, because what she’s saying about magic could be true of just about anything in which two people can make a choice about how to use something.

Good to see you back to regular blogging, John.