I didn't give Dumbledore's sexuality any thought at all until DH, when it becomes obvious from the text; it was certainly my reading of it. (The two other characters who jumped out of the closet at me were: Karkaroff (with his rather creepy obsession with Krum) and Slughorn.)
But I'm finding myself resistant to JK's interviews in general. If something's so important, Jo, put in the story! Which she did, in this case, so I shouldn't be complaining. But all this jazz about who marries whom: if it's not in the book, it's not canon, it's... it's like with law, there's the idea of precedent, which must be followed, and then there's persuasive precedent, which can sway a legal finding but is not compulsory. Jo's interviews to me are persuasive canon. If they support my own reading of the canon text, great; if not, it doesn't matter to me what her opinion is. So if my reading is that Dumbledore is gay, then he is, regardless of whether Jo says he is or not.
(I'm also resistant because I think she makes a lot of this stuff up as she goes; I think she's got a pretty good handle on Harry's life (and here, on Dumbledore's), but if someone asks what Seamus Finnigan's favourite colour was, she's just going to pull that out of the air.)
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winterfish
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Date: Saturday, 20 October 2007 01:29 pm (UTC)But I'm finding myself resistant to JK's interviews in general. If something's so important, Jo, put in the story! Which she did, in this case, so I shouldn't be complaining. But all this jazz about who marries whom: if it's not in the book, it's not canon, it's... it's like with law, there's the idea of precedent, which must be followed, and then there's persuasive precedent, which can sway a legal finding but is not compulsory. Jo's interviews to me are persuasive canon. If they support my own reading of the canon text, great; if not, it doesn't matter to me what her opinion is. So if my reading is that Dumbledore is gay, then he is, regardless of whether Jo says he is or not.
(I'm also resistant because I think she makes a lot of this stuff up as she goes; I think she's got a pretty good handle on Harry's life (and here, on Dumbledore's), but if someone asks what Seamus Finnigan's favourite colour was, she's just going to pull that out of the air.)