Just a little Snape musing...

[valis2]

rickfan37 did her own build-a-snape here and mentioned this really excellent point:

Here’s the Urbane!Snape myth again. I don’t know, and we’re given no clue in canon. I simply don’t believe he’s a closet opera buff and spends his spare time humming along to great arias, or that he can quote Dante or Shakespeare at will.

It really made me think of something new. I've always been a bit apprehensive about fics where Snape quotes Byron and listens to Bach.

I think what really is happening is that giving Snape these "pretentious" hobbies is a way for an inexperienced writer to "shorthand" their characterization of him, because in just a sentence of quoting/playing classical music, they set him up (in their minds) as a certain sort of character, aloof, mysterious, educated, etc. It's a short-cut.

The thing is, the sort of character they're trying to develop is not canon. Snape is a pure-blood, and would most likely know very little, if anything, about the Muggle world (his matchbox comment notwithstanding). And I'm certain that most pure-bloods wouldn't want to involve themselves in any sort of Muggle-world scrutiny.

So authors who attempt this short-cut are really doing canon a disservice, when what they really need to do is discover what would make him an aloof, mysterious, and educated character in Rowling's world.

Just my little musing for the moment.

Comments

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I read this one fic that was absolutely hysterical. It had a scene where Black and Snape were having an argument and it went a little like this:

Snape: I hate you so.
Black: Lo, these many years I have felt your ire.
Snape: You have not the first inkling of my wrath.

I swear, it was very nearly like this, and I nearly wet myself.

[straussmonster.livejournal.com]

Was it serious or parody? Because the unintentional ones are the best.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

It was serious. Hence my amusement.

That little bit was paraphrased, except for "Lo, these many years..." which really did appear in the fic. That was where I gave up reading it. I was laughing too hard to read much more, anyway.