When books are written

It’s curious that no one suspected Dumbldore was gay. We saw him on the first page of The Philosopher’s Stone and in the final chapters of The Deathly Hallows, and no one caught on. Not a whisper of suspicion; not a hint of scandal.

Dumbledore’s age has never been clearly explained. His friendship with Nicolas Flamel suggests that he, too, might be extraordinarily old. However, when he speaks of his parents, his sister, and his – still living – brother, he seems more bounded by the conventional three score years and ten.

So what are we to make of J K Rowling’s Carnegie Hall revelation?

This is a much more knotty problem than might first be supposed, because it raises the question that everyone who majored in English Literature will be well aware of: when does a writer (or other artist) let go of his work?

Received wisdom acknowledges that there are more things in the creative artist’s mind surrounding a work than make it to the page (or canvas). Given that, it’s a logical step to assume that there is legitimately more to be said about a work than has actually been made public. And this is where the debate begins.

There are those who maintain that once a work has been published, the author has no further legitimate input. Who knows what Shakespeare said in the pub after the first performance of Hamlet? Or what Michelangelo said in the bistro after Julius II had inspected the Sistine Chapel ceiling?

And that’s the point: Whatever J K Rowling says about her characters from 21 July 2007 on doesn’t really matter, because they don’t change the books. Should the books survive, it’s doubtful that her comments will be anything more than a footnote in someone’s obscure dissertation.

This does not prevent writers from having some fun, and perhaps this is what Jo is doing. William Faulkner (does anyone actually read Faulkner anymore?) was notorious for this. A visiting writer asking about a character in his interminable Yoknapatawpha series was told, “Well, his uncle was a bit that way. He ran off to join the circus when he was twelve. . ." The young writer went through the whole series again, but there was no uncle and no circus; just an old man having some fun.

So, is Dumbledore gay? Probably not, actually. Someone would have discovered it long before J K Rowling decided to have him come out of the Room of Requirement. Besides, I always thought he was rather sweet on Professor Sprout.

Harry Potter and the Spirit of Youth

Harry’s indomitable spirit is one of the keys to his appeal, and the appeal of the books. He is a real adolescent, moving from insecurity, to anger to adulthood, and along the way becoming determined, witty and even crusading.

Harry’s sense of justice and moral indignation is familiar to all teenagers who read the books – and to adults who remember this period of their lives. Things that are unfair outrage Harry. He is impulsive, and as Dumbledore rightly recognizes, needs the cool head of Hermione to keep him in check.

At the same time, Harry is a lover of tradition. He is uncertain of change – the exception being his conviction that anything is better than living with the Dursleys. To Harry, Hogwarts and Dumbledore are inseparable, and this is reinforced by his rescuer, Hagrid, who steadfastly maintains that Dumbledore is the best headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. This is most clearly demonstrated in The Chamber of Secrets when Harry’s loyalty is sufficient to summon Fawkes, the phoenix.

However, as Harry matures through the books, he is able to see the other characters in more than the black and white terms of childhood. J K Rawling underlines this when she comments that people aren’t all good or all bad. It is this, of course, what makes life tricky to understand, as our childhood notions would very much like to put people in tidy boxes.

The mutability of the Malfoys from absolute villains to disenfranchised parents concerned for their son, is an obvious case in point. Also critical is Peter Pettigrew’s instant of hesitation that allows Harry to escape.

Dumbledore’s eulogy for Cedric Diggory at the end of The Goblet of Fire is something of a climax to the series. He is praising those qualities of youth that Cedric exemplified, and his phrase, “fierce friend” speaks volumes about the nature of youth.

That youth should be dealt with honestly is one of the greatest sub-texts of the series. When adults do not, they succeed only in turning their children in copies, not improvements, of themselves.

Recognition of this is one of J K Rowling’s wisest observations and the way she communicates this to a youthful audience, one of her greatest accomplishments.