"The Redemption of Jake Barnes": One Possible Epilogue for "The French Connection"

[bluestocking79]

Oh, don't worry. I haven't gone crazy and self-indulgent and started scripting Severus and Hermione's adventures in Paris for the next 19 years. Actually, I didn't write this piece at all; it's a beautiful, Hemingway-inspired gift from bohemianspirit entitled The Redemption of Jake Barnes. I sent her "The French Connection" near Christmas for her perusal, and

Comments

[bluestocking79]

Isn't it? One of the things that I've found so amazing and wondrous is the way ideas grow and change and travel as they're shared and discussed. It's a beautiful thing!

[sander123]

I refuse to read it - although I'm sure it's amazing, I love open endings - for me it's a quality sign in original fiction and I hate the long-winded epilogues that tell you everything about the children and the children of the children :)

So I think it shows your strength as a writer that you don't indulge in the siren-call of a sequel (I'm sure you were pressured about it).

I refuse now - but don't ask me, what I will do, when I read the F.C again - unfortunately I'm not very rigorous about my principles ;)

[bluestocking79]

for me it's a quality sign in original fiction and I hate the long-winded epilogues that tell you everything about the children and the children of the children :)

Generally speaking, so do I. From the perspective of a reader, I resent the author's lack of faith in the reader, and from the perspective of an author, I don't want to limit the places where others can take those ideas. I did feel a certain amount of temptation to write an epilogue for the story, but the more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea. It's hard to let the characters go, but I feel like it is rewarding to do it.

don't ask me, what I will do, when I read the F.C again - unfortunately I'm not very rigorous about my principles ;)

Hee! I think that goes for many of us. I hate to tempt you further, but I have to tell you that this is a fairly open-ended epilogue! It doesn't tie everything together in a neat bundle; it's just a glimpse of what daily life could be like. No 'all was well' here!

[bluestocking79]

Mmm, that is very true with 'Severus Evans'--the real story starts after that initial romance. I've enjoyed that immensely, the way it grows richer with each installment.

FWIW, I completely agree about this piece being an 'illumination'--it doesn't really feel like an epilogue to me so much as a character study. And I dig that. *g*

[bluestocking79]

My story was not meant to be a collapse, just a glimpse at one of the possible realities.

Oh, I know. That's what's so exciting about it to me: it's a peek at one of an infinite array of possibilities. I love the way you describe the 'quantum' approach! That is how I like to approach it.

The praise is totally deserved! It was a wonderful, creative response to the story and I was delighted to share it. It thrills me no end to know that somebody found something I wrote interesting enough to inspire them in their own creative work. Like juno_magic said, it just feeds and builds and grows as people pass that creative energy back and forth. I think that's incredibly exciting.

[pythia_delphi]

Thank you for recommending I read this. As both you and bohemianspirit have rightly said, this doesn't read like an "Epilogue" at all. Merely a snapshot of their lives at some future point. The scene is so prosaic, yet incredibly intimate. I haven't read much Hemingway, and certainly had no clue as to his personal life, but I was still able to make sense of this.

What Severus said about his hope for Jake Barnes' character being able to find love, of being worthy of love and acceptance despite his wounds, this is exactly what draws so many Snapefen together, isn't it? We yearn for his redemption, and write tales that, in the main, give him the happy ending that he so deserves; we want to make up for all the cruelty and abandonment he encounters in Canon.

A lovely vignette. When Hermione adds "And Bumby", that was just icing on the cake :-)

[bluestocking79]

I'm so glad you enjoyed reading this! I liked it for exactly the reason you pinpoint: it captures exactly what is sublime in the ordinary. I also felt like it captured what I hoped to show in "French Connection", in the way that Severus and Hermione are so comfortable in one another's presence that they hardly even need to speak in order to communicate--Hermione understands that Severus says in fiction what he can't say out loud, Severus understands the meaning of Hermione's little announcement without needing further explanation.

We yearn for his redemption, and write tales that, in the main, give him the happy ending that he so deserves; we want to make up for all the cruelty and abandonment he encounters in Canon.Well, I can't speak for everybody, but for me, this is it exactly. One of the cruelest things in canon, to me, was the way Snape was deprived of any sort of regard, affection or reassurance at every turn. One would hope that he found as least some of that with Lily as a child, but frankly, that's not what's in the