Countdown to Harry Potter 7: The Great Snape Debate
This quick read is a Borders exclusive publication (and I couldn’t even find it on the Borders website), so if this review interests you, you’ll have to head down to the nearest brick-and-mortar location to find it. Amy Berner and Joyce Millman have studied and analyzed the Harry Potter series meticulously to craft this book, The Great Snape Debate, which argues fairly persuasively for the innocence of Severus Snape following the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And to make things interesting, it argues just as persuasively for his guilt.
Each side of this flip book quite clearly makes the argument for either Snape’s guilt or innocence, and each uses various techniques. They study Snape’s place in the canon of the series. They examine him from a literary angle - how either his guilt or innocence would fit in with the classic techniques of storytelling. They discuss the possible ramifications of him being neither good nor evil, but a neutral character who is looking out for his own best interest. They even use the performance of actor Alan Rickman to argue both sides. (Although the movies are not canon, they use the fact that J.K. Rowling gave approval for the scripts of the movies to allow the admission of this contextual evidence into the proceedings.)
The “innocence” side concludes with a chapter by Orson Scott Card, where he offers his own experience in crafting a story to describe why he believes Snape is on the side of the angels. He examines evidence from all six books, crafting a compelling argument.
While I don’t necessarily see this book changing anyone’s mind, I think that both sides make for a highly entertaining read no matter what side of the issue you happen to fall on. The authors definitely give you something to think about.