JKR, April 7, 2008

(x: http://www.gazette-du-sorcier.com/J-K-Rowling-recoit-le-Prix-James,1037)

1. [...]

No I knew what the plot was before Philosopher’s Stone was published. I think in the case of Snape... They’re very different, with Dumbledore quite deliberately, you find out little about Dumbledore’s own private life because his interactions with Harry are always about Harry, which sets up the fact that in the seventh book Harry thinks "but why did I never ask ?" He’s gone now and he’s never even thought of saying : "so how about you ?" you know, at the end of one of those conversations which I think is something that happens after the grief, the regret that he didn’t ask. And I think also that Dumbledore had always been such an almost god-like figure to Harry in some ways, that he felt he couldn’t ask him personal questions. Snape, on the other hand, I had to drop clues all the way through because as you know in the seventh book when you have the revelation scene where everything shifts and you realize why Snape was… what Snape’s motivation was. I had to plot that through the books because at the point where you see what was really going on, it would have been an absolute cheat on the reader at that point just to show a bunch of stuff you’ve never seen before, you know… "Oh by the way, in the background this was happening." So I did know. It was a complicated plotting process but by the time Philosopher’s Stone was finished, I definitely knew all the big things about Snape and Dumbledore because in many ways they’re the two most important characters in the seventh book… Well, other than the trio, Harry, Ron and Hermione.

질문이 뭐였는지 알 수 없다

-1권 출판 이전부터 두 인물의 플롯 구상은 끝내놓은 상태였어요. 조금 다르지만 덤블도어의 경우는 조금 의도적이었는데, 덤블도어의 사생활에 대해선 알기 힘들었죠 왜냐면 해리와 덤블도어의 대화(의역)는 언제나 해리에 관한 것들이었고, 7권이 되어서야 해리는 "근데 왜 나는 한번도 (그에 대해서) 여쭤본 적이 없었지?" 하게 만드는 것들이니까.. 덤블도어는 이제 죽었고 이제 다시는 "그럼 당신은 어때요?"같은 질문같은건 생각할 수 없으니까.. 님도 알겠지만 이런 대화의 끝은 왜 내가 묻지 않았을까 하는 슬픔과 후회로 끝나게 되죠.. 그리고 내 생각에 덤블도어는 해리에게는 어떤 의미로 늘 신과 같은 존재였을 테고, 해리는 덤블도어에게 사적인 질문같은건 할 수가 없었을 거예요. (중략) 이 두 캐릭터에 대해선 1권 작업이 끝나기 전부터 플롯 작업은 완료되어있었고,난 Snape와 덤블도어의 큰 사실들은 완벽하게 알고있었죠 왜냐면 그 두 캐릭터는 7권에서 가장 중요한 두 인물이니까. 음, 엄밀히 말하면 골든트리오보다도.

4. If you could meet one of the characters you’ve written, who would you choose and why ?

I have been asked this a lot and I’ve always answered "oops" [Jo look elsewhere] I’ve always answered quite *** but now it’s over I can say : Dumbledore. Definitely. Obviously, to apologize for outing him. [laughter, applause] D’you know what, I think he’d been fine with it. [more applause] Seriously he is for me… erm, I love Dumbledore, as a character, and in a sense I was writing what many of us need : someone who does seem to have all the answers. But I always knew that he didn’t and he’d made at least one terrible mistake in his life. It was when he was young and there were excuses for him. But yes I would love to meet Dumbledore, of any of them. I used to say I’d like to meet Hagrid, just, you know, this huge heavy Hagrid… but Dumbledore, definitely.

캐릭터를 만날 수 있다면 누구?

-이 질문 엄청 많이 받았는데 나는 그럴때마다 웁 하고 대답했고, 언제나 ***이라고 대답해왔지만 이제 끝났으니까 난 대답할 수 있어요! 덤블도어. 명백히... 그를 아웃팅한 사실에 대해서 사과해야하니까.(웃음, 박수) 내 생각에 그는 괜찮을 것 같지만(더 큰 박수). 진지하게, 그는 날 위한 캐릭터인데... 음, 난 덤블도어를 캐릭터로서 사랑하고, 우리 중 많은 사람들이 필요한 것에 대해 쓴 셈인데, 덤블도어는 모든 질문에 대한 답을 갖고 있는 사람이지않은가. 하지만 난 그가 하지않았던 것들과 그가 자기 인생에서 하나 이상의 끔찍한 실수를 저질렀다는 사실을 언제나 알고 있었어요. (?문장 어케해석해야하지???) 어렸을 적 일이고 그게 그의 면죄부가 될 수 있을 테죠. 하지만 쨌든, 난 덤블도어를 제일 만나보고싶네요. 이제까지는 해그리드를 만나보고싶다고 말해왔었거든요, 아시죠, 우리 크고 무거운 해그리드.... 하지만 명백히, 덤블도어요.

7. Where is it that Dumbledore being gay came out of ?

It’s just something I made up on the stage for a laugh. [laughter] I had always seen Dumbledore as gay. And, well he always had the best grooms [loud applause]. I had always, as you do when you’ve lived with a character for a very long time, you always know more than you tell the reader and that was a specific information… I have to say, it was not a very big deal to me. It is clearly a much bigger deal to other people than it was to me. Because after all, why would his sexuality be relevant ? Given the role he plays in the books, which was... there was always quite a big divide between him and Harry in terms of status. There was no point at which he was going to make camomile tea and say "let me tell you about my…" [loud laughter]. I will let the doubt ( ?) **a book full of sex ( ?). 

"I will be absent next week it’s gay pride". [laughter] But I think in the seventh book — he has, what I think a child would read as an intense friendship, a friendship through which he is lead astray, but which for me was always an infatuation. But Dumbledore meets this handsome, his dark twin in a sense, and he’s a very charismatic, brilliant young man. And whether or not that relationship was physically consummated or not I think is irrelevant, it’s actually about love. And I think that the sensitive, maybe sophisticated adult reader could see that Dumbledore, who had been a very, you know, a very moral student, a model student up to that point, who goes so wildly off the rail suddenly, to think "yeah, genocide, that’ll work !". You know — what did he feel for this person ? Well, as for me, it’s a step beyond friendship. And I think that a person of Grindelwald’s type would have exploited that being as it is. So for me the key was that it had nothing to do with sexuality, what it was, he was a man, a very brilliant man, being made a fool of by emotion. And I saw Dumbledore as someone who had once made that terrible error, would thereafter lead a life of unhappy celibacy not trusting his emotions, becoming one of those people who are strangely almost asexual. 

He’s such a cerebral person and an aesthetic person as well. Except for the boots, obviously. That little hint of bad boy... I told my editor years ago, and when I said it in Carnegie Hall – I should also say, I didn’t just decide to walk on stage at Carnegie Hall and say "Hey, Dumbledore’s gay !". It was an answer to a very wonderful question that I was asked. This young woman, possibly late teens, early twenties I should have thought at most, stood up and said "in reading HP books," — she listed various things the books had given her and one of the things she said was "it’s really given me the confidence to be who I feel I am". And then, she said : "Could you tell us anything about Dumbledore’s emotional life, because he seems to have a very empty emotional life". So it was in that context that I said what I said. And woke up next morning to find the ticker box news : « DUMBLEDORE IS GAY ! »

덤블도어의 커밍아웃을 했던 장소는(순간은) 어디인가요?

-무대에서요(웃음) 전 언제나 덤블도어를 게이라고 생각해왔어요. 그리고 음, 그는 언제나 최고의 신랑감(best grooms)이었죠 (큰 박수) 전 언제나, 음 아마 당신도 그럴거예요, 캐릭터와 아주 오랜 시간을 살아온다면, 언제나 당신이 독자들에게 보여주는 것보다도 당신은 캐릭터에 대해 더 많이 알고 있고, 그건 어떤 특정한 정보였던 거죠..정말 제겐, 그렇게 큰 문제가 아니었어요. 명백하게 다른 사람들에겐 좀 더 큰 문제이겠지만 저에겐 아니었어요. 왜냐하면 결국에, 왜 그의 섹슈얼리티가 연관되는 걸까요? 그가 책에서 맡은 역할을 생각하면.. 그건.. "지위"라는 측면에서, 언제나 그와 해리 사이를 크게 갈라놓는 것이 있었죠. 그러니까, 그가 카모마일 티를 타면서, "자 이제 내 구남친..." 같은 이야기를 할 순간 같은게 없었단 말이예요(큰 웃음). 전 사람들이 이 책이 섹스로 가득찼다고(문장 고장남) 의심하도록(문장 고장남) 두겠어요. "나 다음주 결근해! 다음주에 게이 프라이드 있거든." 하지만 전 7권에서- 어린이들은 그걸 아주 강렬한 우정-그를 잘못된 방향으로 이끌었던-으로 읽겠지만, 하지만 저에게 그건 언제나 우정이 아닌, 사랑의 열병(infatuation)이었어요. 

덤블도어는 그의 잘생긴, 어떤 의미에선 어둠의 쌍둥이를 만났죠. 그리고 그는 굉장히 카리스마있고, 똑똑한 청년이었구요. 이 관계에 섹스가 있었는지 아닌지는 저에게 상관없는 일이에요, 사실 이건 사랑에 관한 이야기니까요. 그리고 저는 생각했죠. 세심하고(sensitive), 어쩌면 세련되고 복잡한(sophisticated) 성인 독자가 그 덤블도어(see that dumbledore)를 본다면.. 덤블도어는 아주, 아주 도덕적인 학생이었죠, 그 포인트에 대해서까진 아주 도덕적인 학생이었어요, 갑자기 탈선하게 되어선 "예아 제노사이드, 말된다!!" 하기에는...(**해석 빻았을 수 있음) 그는 이 사람에게 어떤 감정을 느꼈을까요? 글쎄요 저라면, 이건 우정 그 너머의 것이었을거예요. 그리고 제 생각에, 그린델왈드 유형의 사람은 이런 상황을 이용해왔었겠죠(exploit)(**해석 빻았을 수 있음) 그러니까 저에게 요지란, 섹슈얼리티와 관련된 것이 아니예요. 요지가 무엇이냐면, 그는 한 남자였었죠, 아주 뛰어난(brilliant)남자였고, 감정때문에 바보가 되어버린 남자 말이에요. 그리고 전 언제나 덤블도어를, 한 때 끔찍한 실수를 저질렀고 결국 그 이후로 그의 감정을 믿지 않는, 그렇게 행복하진 않은 수도승 같은 삶을 살아오게 된 사람이라고 생각해왔어요.. 좀 이상할정도로, 거의 에이섹슈얼처럼 사는 사람들 중 하나로 말이죠. 

그는 금욕적인 삶을 살았고, 미학적인 사람이기도 했어요. 음, 그가 신고다니는 부츠를 제외하면요, 명백하죠.(버클달린부츠....) 배드보이에 대한 약간의 힌트라면... 전 제 에디터에게 수년전에 얘기했었고, 카네기홀에서 이야기했었고, 그리고 전 또 말해야하는군요, 전 카네기 홀 스테이지로 걸어나가서 "이봐요, 덤블도어가 게이예요!" 라고 말할 생각은 없었어요. 그건 단지, 저에게 주어졌던 아주 놀라운 질문에 대한 대답이었답니다. 한 젊은 여성이, 제 생각엔 아마도 십대 후반이거나 이십대 초반이었을 듯 한데, 일어나서 저에게, "해리 포터 책을 읽다가요-" 그녀는 책이 그녀에게 주었던 것들을 여러가지 나열해주었고 그녀가 말했던것들 중 한가지는 "이 책은, 제가 어떤사람인지 느낄 자신감을 주었어요" 그리고 그녀는 말했죠, "우리에게 덤블도어의 감정적인 삶에 대해 이야기해줄 수 있나요, 왜냐면 그는 굉장히 감정이 비어있는 삶을 살았던 것처럼 보여요" 제가 말했던 것들은 이런 문맥 속에 있는 것이었어요. 그리고 다음날 일어났더니 뉴스가 도배되기로는, <<<<덤블도어가 게이>>>>>

11. (Looking back to characters and events, is there anything you’d want to change ?

Hmm, loads. But not in characters and events no, not really, I think that the form should have been tightened up a bit.
The book that annoys me most in retrospect is five. The people who like Order of the Phoenix best form a weird sub-sect of the Harry Potter fandom and I occasionally stumble across one and someone says « My favourite is Order of the Phoenix » and I always think « Hmm, dark ! ». But that book I must admit I was feeling the strength of the pressure a bit during that phase, and I think it shows in the book. So there are things there I would like to go back a tie back a bit. But overall, no. Not really. I did plot them very… I plotted them well in as much that I knew what I was doing and where was the story going. The one thing, the difficulty I did sometimes have was I made a rule so tight it was sometimes hard to navigate around it myself. So not being able to Apparate in and out of Hogwarts was a pain in the back. Because it was necessary, I had to put that limit to make it a safe place. But finding a way to get in and out of Hogwarts was always a bit of a challenge. I was quite proud of Aberforth again, the tunnel. I like Aberforth. And his goat. [laughing] Yeah, Dumbledore pales into insignificance.

캐릭터와 사건들을 회고한다면, 바꾸고 싶은 것이 있나요?

-으음...캐릭터랑 사건은 괜찮은데, 음 형식을 좀 더 타이트하게 바꾸고 싶어요. 떠올려봤을때 절 제일 짜증나게 했던 책은 5권이예요.(그랬을 것 같더라...) 5권을 제일 좋아하는 사람들은 HP팬덤의 위어드한 sub-sect 들이죠 제가 가끔 우연히 발견하는데, 어떤 사람들은 <<제가 젤 좋아하는 책은 5권이예요>>라고 하거든요. 그럼 전 언제나 <<음, 다크하군!!>>하고 생각하죠. 하지만 그 책, 제가 꼭 인정해야만 하는것은, 전 그 구 사이사이에 있는 압박들의 힘을 느꼈었답니다. 그리고 책에 녹여내고 싶었어요. 돌아가서 좀 더 그걸 좀 더 조여내고 싶네요. 하지만 결국, 음, 아니에요. 전 그 줄거리를 굉장히..".제가 했던 것들과 스토리가 어디로 흘러갈지" 알았던만큼 해냈답니다.  제가 힘들었던 한가지는.. 제가 규칙을 너무 빡빡하게 짜놔서, 저 스스로 어떻게 풀어야 할지 가끔 힘들었던 거예요. 호그와트 안팎에서 순간이동을 금지해놨던게 좀 힘들었어요. 그건 필수적인거였어요. 왜냐면 호그와트는 안전한 장소로 한정지어놨어야했으니까요. 하지만 호그와트에 들어오고 나갈 길을 찾는건 언제나 엄청난 도전이었죠. 아, 애버포스에게 또 다시 자랑스러워요. 터널을 팠죠. 전 애버포스를 좋아해요. 그리고 그의 염소들도요(웃음). 네, 덤블도어가 하찮아지네요.(빛이 무색해지는군요) 

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전문~

1. [...]

No I knew what the plot was before Philosopher’s Stone was published. I think in the case of Snape... They’re very different, with Dumbledore quite deliberately, you find out little about Dumbledore’s own private life because his interactions with Harry are always about Harry, which sets up the fact that in the seventh book Harry thinks "but why did I never ask ?" He’s gone now and he’s never even thought of saying : "so how about you ?" you know, at the end of one of those conversations which I think is something that happens after the grief, the regret that he didn’t ask. And I think also that Dumbledore had always been such an almost god-like figure to Harry in some ways, that he felt he couldn’t ask him personal questions. Snape, on the other hand, I had to drop clues all the way through because as you know in the seventh book when you have the revelation scene where everything shifts and you realize why Snape was… what Snape’s motivation was. I had to plot that through the books because at the point where you see what was really going on, it would have been an absolute cheat on the reader at that point just to show a bunch of stuff you’ve never seen before, you know… "Oh by the way, in the background this was happening." So I did know. It was a complicated plotting process but by the time Philosopher’s Stone was finished, I definitely knew all the big things about Snape and Dumbledore because in many ways they’re the two most important characters in the seventh book… Well, other than the trio, Harry, Ron and Hermione.

질문이 뭐였는지 알 수 없다

-1권 출판 이전부터 두 인물의 플롯 구상은 끝내놓은 상태였어요. 조금 다르지만 덤블도어의 경우는 조금 의도적이었는데, 덤블도어의 사생활에 대해선 알기 힘들었죠 왜냐면 해리와 덤블도어의 대화(의역)는 언제나 해리에 관한 것들이었고, 7권이 되어서야 해리는 "근데 왜 나는 한번도 (그에 대해서) 여쭤본 적이 없었지?" 하게 만드는 것들이니까.. 덤블도어는 이제 죽었고 이제 다시는 "그럼 당신은 어때요?"같은 질문같은건 생각할 수 없으니까.. 님도 알겠지만 이런 대화의 끝은 왜 내가 묻지 않았을까 하는 슬픔과 후회로 끝나게 되죠.. 그리고 내 생각에 덤블도어는 해리에게는 어떤 의미로 늘 신과 같은 존재였을 테고, 해리는 덤블도어에게 사적인 질문같은건 할 수가 없었을 거예요. (중략) 이 두 캐릭터에 대해선 1권 작업이 끝나기 전부터 플롯 작업은 완료되어있었고,난 Snape와 덤블도어의 큰 사실들은 완벽하게 알고있었죠 왜냐면 그 두 캐릭터는 7권에서 가장 중요한 두 인물이니까. 음, 엄밀히 말하면 골든트리오보다도.

2. Question about an essay on HP ?…

Did you get credits for coming here ? I didn’t know about that until I saw your question, yesterday or the day before yesterday, I was a bit stunned by that, to be absolutely honnest.
…
So provoking !
Well, that’s incredible to me but that is the case, to be honnest with you, it really is. It’s very strange to think that you must have been pretty much the target audience, ten years ago, so you’ve really… you have been reading this book all through these ten years so you are… You are my people ! No, I don’t mean in any political way, I’m not trying to lead you to an uprise or something… Yes, it is odd to sit in this room and to think that Harry Potter would be examined in that particular way and in a room with people who are exactly the age that Harry was, really.

3. Do you think about the film when you write ?

Truthfully no, although I do... Not at all. But I do remember at one point... Well, the final battle scene here, in Deathly Hallows, you do become conscious of how much money you’ve just spent. In two pages ! And I do remember looking up once I reached the end of the book and thinking "*** will that be ?" Nine hundred thousand just to do the giants you know – well, more than that I’m sure — so, I do think the producer occasionnaly wonders whether I’m not just writing things to just — you know, *** themselves, but I’m not at all, it was really *** ?… and people often ask me do I see Dan, Rupert and Emma ? And to be honest no, the only actor or actress who has ever, ever intruded while writing was Evanna Lynch, who is absolutely perfect as Luna. And I must admit I have heard her voice in my head when I wrote the book. [Oooh…] I know ! I love Evanna Lynch she’s fantastic. She was a perfect piece of casting, she is… she won’t mind me saying this, she is completely cool with this, she is Luna ! She is very Luna-esque, in personnality, and looks really spot on for me she ***… she is very beautiful but in an unusual way. So I have occasionnally heard her very lovely voice when writing the books. But other than that, no, I don’t see Alan Rickman when I write Snape. You don’t like that answer ! *** It’s not that I don’t love Alan. But no, I very much see the characters that I’ve imagined, you know. It’s been seventeen years for me, so the actors for me are a very recent incarnation. I’ve lived with my imagination for so long.

4. If you could meet one of the characters you’ve written, who would you choose and why ?

I have been asked this a lot and I’ve always answered "oops" [Jo look elsewhere] I’ve always answered quite *** but now it’s over I can say : Dumbledore. Definitely. Obviously, to apologize for outing him. [laughter, applause] D’you know what, I think he’d been fine with it. [more applause] Seriously he is for me… erm, I love Dumbledore, as a character, and in a sense I was writing what many of us need : someone who does seem to have all the answers. But I always knew that he didn’t and he’d made at least one terrible mistake in his life. It was when he was young and there were excuses for him. But yes I would love to meet Dumbledore, of any of them. I used to say I’d like to meet Hagrid, just, you know, this huge heavy Hagrid… but Dumbledore, definitely.

캐릭터를 만날 수 있다면 누구?

-이 질문 엄청 많이 받았는데 나는 그럴때마다 웁 하고 대답했고, 언제나 ***이라고 대답해왔지만 이제 끝났으니까 난 대답할 수 있어요! 덤블도어. 명백히... 그를 아웃팅한 사실에 대해서 사과해야하니까.(웃음, 박수) 내 생각에 그는 괜찮을 것 같지만(더 큰 박수). 진지하게, 그는 날 위한 캐릭터인데... 음, 난 덤블도어를 캐릭터로서 사랑하고, 우리 중 많은 사람들이 필요한 것에 대해 쓴 셈인데, 덤블도어는 모든 질문에 대한 답을 갖고 있는 사람이지않은가. 하지만 난 그가 하지않았던 것들과 그가 자기 인생에서 하나 이상의 끔찍한 실수를 저질렀다는 사실을 언제나 알고 있었어요. (?문장 어케해석해야하지???) 어렸을 적 일이고 그게 그의 면죄부가 될 수 있을 테죠. 하지만 쨌든, 난 덤블도어를 제일 만나보고싶네요. 이제까지는 해그리드를 만나보고싶다고 말해왔었거든요, 아시죠, 우리 크고 무거운 해그리드.... 하지만 명백히, 덤블도어요.

5. [...]

About Pope Benedict complaining ? (laughter) Well. (more laughter) If it is the case, I’ll tell you what — see, you may know more than I do on this, I read that he had, when a cardinal I think, responded favourably to a woman who had written to him about the Harry Potter books being dangerous, but that’s as much as I know. If he has since said more than that I don’t know about it. Has he said more than that that I don’t know about ? I don’t know, you know, I was invited to a kind of symposium at the Vatican. It took a very circuitous route to get to me and I’m afraid to say it was to short a notice by the time I got the letter. So someone there is pretty open-minded about Harry Potter. I’ve always felt and I continue to feel that… Firstly, I’m vehemently anti-censorship. I think that it’s foolish and misguided to ban books. Secondly, I feel that… Now that the seventh book has been published I can say very openly, I think these are very moral books. They don’t promote a specifically Christian agenda, and I think that that, coupled with the fact that clearly they deal with folkloric mythical themes many people see as a cult, which I do not, but many do… but that has always antagonized a certain brand of Christians. And I’m fine with that (laughing). I am fine with that. I detest fundamentalism in any religion and that includes my own religion. As far as the Pope goes, I truthfully don’t know what his current opinion on Harry Potter is. So I can’t really ****.

6. Isabelle Connor : Did you ever seriously consider killing Harry in book 7 ?

Oh yeah ! Yes, of course, but I considered it way back in the beginning, not as the series went on. I never deviated, once I decided what the end was going to be, I never thought, "oh I will, I’ll kill him". But right from the beginning, it took seven years between having the idea for Harry and publishing Philosopher’s Stone, I did consider having him die, and I have said before that in some ways it would have been a neater ending. But he was, he is my hero. And I wanted my hero to do what I consider to be the most noble thing. And the most noble thing to me is when a – I’m going to say a man specifically, because it tends to be men who fight at war and it was people who come back from war, I particularly had in mind the idea of men who have been through a terrible trauma, and killed, and seen their friends killed, and yet had to come home and rebuild and that’s always seemed to me to be a phenomenally noble thing to do. 

And easier, arguably, not to come home, and not to espouse normality again. So I think some people were disappointed in the epilogue. In some ways it would have been neater to kill him. But I always had that ending in mind that Harry would have gone back and tried to do what he had learn to be the case throughout the books, which is that love was ultimately the greatest power. But I did think about it. And I was proud of the fact that people thought I might, because that meant – not for any *** reasons or commercial reasons or playing with people’s mind reasons - there was a genuine sense of mortality in the books, there was a sense that no one was definitely going to get through. The only person everyone seemed to think would get through was Hermione. I don’t think anyone seriously ever thought I could kill Hermione. So I thought I might.

해리가 7권에서 죽는 것을 진지하게 고려해보았었나요?

-오 네! 네, 물론이죠. (중략) 하지만 절대로, "오 좋아, 죽여야지"하고 생각한 적은 없어요. 하지만 아주 처음에, 해리에 대한 아이디어를 가지고 1권이 출판되기까지 7년동안은, 해리가 죽는 것에 대해서도 생각해보았었죠. 아마 다른 방식으로 예전에 몇 번 말한적이 있었을거예요 더 깔끔한(a neater) 결말이 있을 수 있다고. 하지만 그는, 그애는 제 영웅인걸요. 그리고 전 제 영웅이 제가 생각하기에 가장 고귀한 일을 하길 바랬어요. 그리고 제게 가장 고귀한 일이란, 음. 어떤 특정 인물상을 그려보자면.. 전쟁에서 싸운 사람, 그리고 전쟁이 끝난 후 돌아온 사람이라면, 어떤 끔찍한 트라우마, 죽음, 친구들의 죽음등을 거쳤을테고...그런 사람에 대한 생각을 했었죠. 그리고 그는 집에 돌아와서 재건(rebuild)을 하죠.... 이게 저에겐 언제나 엄청나게 고귀한 일로 보였어요. 그리고 좀 더 쉬운건, 집에 돌아오지 않고 일반성을 다시는 지지하지 않는거죠. 그래서 전 생각했어요.. 어떤 사람들은 에필로그를 보면 실망하겠구나. 어떤 의미에선 제가 해리를 죽이는 게 더 깔끔했을테니까요. 하지만 제가 언제나 마음속에 품고있었던 엔딩은, 해리는 돌아갈 것이고 그가 책에 나왔던 케이스들을 통해 배웠던 것들--사랑이야말로 가장 강력한 힘이다---을 시도할 것이란 거예요. 하지만 저는 생각했죠. 그리고 전 사람들이 제가 그럴 것이라고 생각한다는 사실이 자랑스러웠어요, 왜냐면 그건.. 어떤 ***한 이유나 상업적인 이유나 사람들의 추측을 가지고 노는 것때문이 아니라, 책에는 죽음(mortality)에 대한 genuine sense가 있잖아요. 아무도 통과(get through)할 수 없는 것이죠. 우리 모두가 get through할 수 있을것 같다고 생각하는 사람은 헤르미온느? 제 생각에 아무도 제가 헤르미온느를 죽일거라고 생각했을 것 같진 않지만요. 

7. Where is it that Dumbledore being gay came out of ?

It’s just something I made up on the stage for a laugh. [laughter] I had always seen Dumbledore as gay. And, well he always had the best grooms [loud applause]. I had always, as you do when you’ve lived with a character for a very long time, you always know more than you tell the reader and that was a specific information… I have to say, it was not a very big deal to me. It is clearly a much bigger deal to other people than it was to me. Because after all, why would his sexuality be relevant ? Given the role he plays in the books, which was... there was always quite a big divide between him and Harry in terms of status. There was no point at which he was going to make camomile tea and say "let me tell you about my…" [loud laughter]. I will let the doubt ( ?) **a book full of sex ( ?). 

"I will be absent next week it’s gay pride". [laughter] But I think in the seventh book — he has, what I think a child would read as an intense friendship, a friendship through which he is lead astray, but which for me was always an infatuation. But Dumbledore meets this handsome, his dark twin in a sense, and he’s a very charismatic, brilliant young man. And whether or not that relationship was physically consummated or not I think is irrelevant, it’s actually about love. And I think that the sensitive, maybe sophisticated adult reader could see that Dumbledore, who had been a very, you know, a very moral student, a model student up to that point, who goes so wildly off the rail suddenly, to think "yeah, genocide, that’ll work !". You know — what did he feel for this person ? Well, as for me, it’s a step beyond friendship. And I think that a person of Grindelwald’s type would have exploited that being as it is. So for me the key was that it had nothing to do with sexuality, what it was, he was a man, a very brilliant man, being made a fool of by emotion. And I saw Dumbledore as someone who had once made that terrible error, would thereafter lead a life of unhappy celibacy not trusting his emotions, becoming one of those people who are strangely almost asexual. 

He’s such a cerebral person and an aesthetic person as well. Except for the boots, obviously. That little hint of bad boy... I told my editor years ago, and when I said it in Carnegie Hall – I should also say, I didn’t just decide to walk on stage at Carnegie Hall and say "Hey, Dumbledore’s gay !". It was an answer to a very wonderful question that I was asked. This young woman, possibly late teens, early twenties I should have thought at most, stood up and said "in reading HP books," — she listed various things the books had given her and one of the things she said was "it’s really given me the confidence to be who I feel I am". And then, she said : "Could you tell us anything about Dumbledore’s emotional life, because he seems to have a very empty emotional life". So it was in that context that I said what I said. And woke up next morning to find the ticker box news : « DUMBLEDORE IS GAY ! »

덤블도어의 커밍아웃을 했던 장소는(순간은) 어디인가요?

-무대에서요(웃음) 전 언제나 덤블도어를 게이라고 생각해왔어요. 그리고 음, 그는 언제나 최고의 신랑감(best grooms)이었죠 (큰 박수) 전 언제나, 음 아마 당신도 그럴거예요, 캐릭터와 아주 오랜 시간을 살아온다면, 언제나 당신이 독자들에게 보여주는 것보다도 당신은 캐릭터에 대해 더 많이 알고 있고, 그건 어떤 특정한 정보였던 거죠..정말 제겐, 그렇게 큰 문제가 아니었어요. 명백하게 다른 사람들에겐 좀 더 큰 문제이겠지만 저에겐 아니었어요. 왜냐하면 결국에, 왜 그의 섹슈얼리티가 연관되는 걸까요? 그가 책에서 맡은 역할을 생각하면.. 그건.. "지위"라는 측면에서, 언제나 그와 해리 사이를 크게 갈라놓는 것이 있었죠. 그러니까, 그가 카모마일 티를 타면서, "자 이제 내 구남친..." 같은 이야기를 할 순간 같은게 없었단 말이예요(큰 웃음). 전 사람들이 이 책이 섹스로 가득찼다고(문장 고장남) 의심하도록(문장 고장남) 두겠어요. "나 다음주 결근해! 다음주에 게이 프라이드 있거든." 하지만 전 7권에서- 어린이들은 그걸 아주 강렬한 우정-그를 잘못된 방향으로 이끌었던-으로 읽겠지만, 하지만 저에게 그건 언제나 우정이 아닌, 사랑의 열병(infatuation)이었어요. 

덤블도어는 그의 잘생긴, 어떤 의미에선 어둠의 쌍둥이를 만났죠. 그리고 그는 굉장히 카리스마있고, 똑똑한 청년이었구요. 이 관계에 섹스가 있었는지 아닌지는 저에게 상관없는 일이에요, 사실 이건 사랑에 관한 이야기니까요. 그리고 저는 생각했죠. 세심하고(sensitive), 어쩌면 세련되고 복잡한(sophisticated) 성인 독자가 그 덤블도어(see that dumbledore)를 본다면.. 덤블도어는 아주, 아주 도덕적인 학생이었죠, 그 포인트에 대해서까진 아주 도덕적인 학생이었어요, 갑자기 탈선하게 되어선 "예아 제노사이드, 말된다!!" 하기에는...(**해석 빻았을 수 있음) 그는 이 사람에게 어떤 감정을 느꼈을까요? 글쎄요 저라면, 이건 우정 그 너머의 것이었을거예요. 그리고 제 생각에, 그린델왈드 유형의 사람은 이런 상황을 이용해왔었겠죠(exploit)(**해석 빻았을 수 있음) 그러니까 저에게 요지란, 섹슈얼리티와 관련된 것이 아니예요. 요지가 무엇이냐면, 그는 한 남자였었죠, 아주 뛰어난(brilliant)남자였고, 감정때문에 바보가 되어버린 남자 말이에요. 그리고 전 언제나 덤블도어를, 한 때 끔찍한 실수를 저질렀고 결국 그 이후로 그의 감정을 믿지 않는, 그렇게 행복하진 않은 수도승 같은 삶을 살아오게 된 사람이라고 생각해왔어요.. 좀 이상할정도로, 거의 에이섹슈얼처럼 사는 사람들 중 하나로 말이죠. 

그는 금욕적인 삶을 살았고, 미학적인 사람이기도 했어요. 음, 그가 신고다니는 부츠를 제외하면요, 명백하죠.(버클달린부츠....) 배드보이에 대한 약간의 힌트라면... 전 제 에디터에게 수년전에 얘기했었고, 카네기홀에서 이야기했었고, 그리고 전 또 말해야하는군요, 전 카네기 홀 스테이지로 걸어나가서 "이봐요, 덤블도어가 게이예요!" 라고 말할 생각은 없었어요. 그건 단지, 저에게 주어졌던 아주 놀라운 질문에 대한 대답이었답니다. 한 젊은 여성이, 제 생각엔 아마도 십대 후반이거나 이십대 초반이었을 듯 한데, 일어나서 저에게, "해리 포터 책을 읽다가요-" 그녀는 책이 그녀에게 주었던 것들을 여러가지 나열해주었고 그녀가 말했던것들 중 한가지는 "이 책은, 제가 어떤사람인지 느낄 자신감을 주었어요" 그리고 그녀는 말했죠, "우리에게 덤블도어의 감정적인 삶에 대해 이야기해줄 수 있나요, 왜냐면 그는 굉장히 감정이 비어있는 삶을 살았던 것처럼 보여요" 제가 말했던 것들은 이런 문맥 속에 있는 것이었어요. 그리고 다음날 일어났더니 뉴스가 도배되기로는, <<<<덤블도어가 게이>>>>>

8. You said that you always had all the backstories and everything plotted, I was just wondering what was your favourite backstory or storyline that you couldn’t fit in ?

Well I haven’t always had all of them planned. You know, some of the less crucial ones did evolve. But the big ones, the Dumbledore storyline, the Snape storyline were always there because you — the series is built around those***… Things I didn’t have room for... it’s more characters actually. I cut a character in book 4 I really liked, which was... In the first book, when Ron and Harry are on the train together, Ron says that there is a second cousin, who is a squib, who is a stockbroker… or was it an accountant ? [Several audience members : an accountant] Oh, she doesn’t know her own books ! [laughter] ** Yes, he was an accountant, and I had planned up to book 4 that his daughter would unexpectedly be magical so the Weasleys were kind of obliged to take her in and show her around. And she was brilliant. And she was a kind of nasty boil to Hermione. And I had a lot of fun with that, Hermione being ** to the brain **, and loathing this girl who is actually gifted. But it didn’t work. It just didn’t work. She… The function I had for her in the plot… she couldn’t fulfil it properly, so I had with regret to cut her. And I filled up Rita to fulfil her function. So I did miss her. ** [Oooh] [laughter] She wasn’t that good !

당신은 늘 모든 백스토리가 있고 모든게 구상되었던 줄거리라고 말했는데, 책에는 담지 못했던 것 중 가장 좋아하는 백스토리/스토리라인은 무엇인가요?

-음 모든걸 계획했던 대로 담아내진 못했죠. 좀 덜 잔인한 것들이 evolve하였고.. 하지만 가장 큰 것, 덤블도어의 스토리라인, snape의 스토리라인은 언제나 담겨져왔어요 왜냐면-이 시리즈는 그 ****에 의거하여 세워졌던 것들이니깐요...

담아낼 여지가 없었던 것들...모르겠다 문장 날라갔는데 내가 이걸 어떻게 채우냐.... 제가 4권에서 잘라냈던 캐릭터가 있는데, 그게... 1권에서, 론과 해리가 기차를 탔을때, 론이 자기한테 second cousin이 있다고 얘기하죠, 스큅이고 증권거래사인... 음 회계사였나?(사람들: 회계사요) 오 이 사람 자기 책도 모르나봐!(웃음) 그래요 그는 회계사였고, 전 4권에서 그의 딸이 놀랍게도 마녀였고 그래서 위즐리네가 그녀를 맡아서 데리고 다니는 것을 생각했었는데요...그리고 그녀는 뛰어나요. 그리고 헤르미온느에게 아주 못되게 굴죠(nasty boil). 그리고 전 아주 재미있었는데요, 헤르미온느가 뇌에*****. 그리고 실제로 뛰어난(gifted) 이 여자애를 혐오하게 되는걸요... 하지만 잘 안됐어요. 그냥 잘 안되더라구요. 플롯에 집어넣었던 기능이.. 잘 안 들어맞더라구요. 그래서 후회하면서 그녀를 걷어냈지요. 그리고 리타에게 그 역할을 좀 주었답니다. 그 애가 좀 그리워요. (우우우) 아니 그렇게 좋은 애는 아니예요!

9. James Graduin(?) [audience laughs at the name]

Why is that funny ?

You hear a lot of theories about books, while they were being written, even after you’d finished the last book*** I was just wondering what was your favourite rumour, did you hear something were you went like "wow".

You would be surprised ! My father-in-law, who is a very... who is a gruff retired vet from Aberdeenshire, he was, when he read about Dumbledore being gay in the paper, while I was still in America, still on tour, he read the whole article and he turned to my mother-in-law and said « yeah I always thought he was gay » Did you ? Didn’t mention that over Christmas dinner, did you ? The most off-the-wall theory I ever heard was that Dumbledore was Harry from the future. [laughter] That doesn’t work on any level. At all ! So that was really… I tried not to pull that face obviously [waves her hand before her shocked expression], but yeah that was a bit weird. There was a… when Neville visits his parents in St Mungo’s and his mother presses sweets wrappers on him, which I always saw as a poignant moment... There was a theory that she’s passing secret messages on the sweet wrappers. There have been loads of them. But Dumbledore being Harry from the future is definitely my favourite of all the insane theories. But then you have people, I had people as early as Prisoner of Azkaban, the third book. I remember a woman saying to me : "I think Snape loves Lily". I was "Oh my God what the hell did I give away ?". But so people, people got stuff very unnervingly right. Often. Yeah.

마지막권을 끝내면서, 당신을 "와우"하게 만들었던, 가장 맘에 드는 루머가 있었나요?

-놀랄거예요, 제 시아버지가... 그분 굉장히 무뚝뚝한, 애버딘셔 출신의 은퇴한 수의사신데.. 그가 덤블도어가 게이라는 걸 읽었을때, 전 그때 미국에 있었어요 투어하느라, 그가 기사를 전체 다 읽고 제 시어머니에게 와서는 "그래 난 그가 늘 게이라고 생각했어" 라고 했다는거예요. 세상에, 크리스마스 저녁식사 내내 한번도 그 얘기는 한 적 없었다구요, 아시겠어요? 제가 들었던 것 중 가장 the most-off-the-wall theory는 덤블도어가 미래에서 온 해리라는 것이었어요(웃음). 그건 말이 전혀 안돼죠. 안된다구요! (중략) 음 그리고...네빌이 성뭉고병원에서 부모님을 만날 때가 있는데, 그 때 네빌의 어머니가 네빌에게 사탕포장지를 접어주잖아요... 전 그걸 늘 가슴 아픈 장면이라고 생각했답니다...그 장면에 대해서 그녀가 네빌에게 사탕봉지에 비밀메시지를 적어서 건넨다는 이론이 있었어요. 오, 꽤 많았어요. 하지만 역시 덤블도어가 미래에서 온 해리라는 썰이 insane 썰 중 제가 제일 좋아하는 썰이네요. 하지만 음.. 3권 초반에, 어떤 사람들이 있었냐면. 어떤 여성분이 저에게 말했어요. "Snape가 릴리를 사랑한다고 생각해요" 전 그때, "오 세상에 뭐야 내가 뭐 흘렸나???" 하지만 사람들은 가끔 의도하지 않은채로 사실을 맞출 때가 있죠. 가끔요. 네.

10. Do you have any plans for any future books, either related to Harry Potter *** or completely different ?

Well, I definitely will continue to write, but I enjoy not having a deadline at the moment, because it’s been ten years
I do feel that Harry’s story is now done. ["Ooooh"]
Well, I always felt that I had a large plot for Harry, that ended when he was seventeen, and I think you could say that the world...
I’ve always said that I would not say "never" to an eighth book but mentally - I didn’t say that before the seventh book coming out because you would be able to see about Harry, Harry survives, but, I don’t want to rule it out completely because I don’t know how I’ll feel in ten years time. But I would really be looking at ten years before I could honestly go back.
For my own mental health. Because it’s been horrendous saying goodbye to him.
For seventeen years, this was THE constant in my life, Harry. Through 17 quite turbulent years. And to actually finish it was… well it’s elating. Fifty percent pure elation, fifty percent devastation. I couldn’t, I kept thinking I’m not going to write in that world again. It hit me very hard. So I do need to... it’s like an old boyfriend, we can’t be friends at the moment, we need a break, and then, when time has gone, we can have a coffee, be formal, but I have said I might write an encyclopaedia. In fact I am intending to write an Encyclopaedia which would hopefully incorporate a lot of back story I couldn’t… or flesh out back story that wasn’t in the books. And that would be the for charity.

다음 책 계획이 있나요, HP와 관련된 책일까요 아님 완전 다른 책일까요?

-음, 계속 작업을 하겠지만, 하지만 전 데드라인은 없는 삶을 즐길거예요. 왜냐면 십년동안.. 해리의 이야기는 다 했다고 생각하니까요. 음, 해리를 위한 큰 플롯이 있었다고 생각했어요. 그리고 그건 그가 17세일때 막을 내리죠. 하지만 그 세계에 대해서 말할 수 있을거예요.. 전 언제나, 8권은 절대 없을것이다. 같은 이야기는 하지 않았어요 하지만 정신적으로.. 7권이 나오기 전에 그런 얘기는 하지 않았죠. 왜냐면 여러분은 해리를, 해리가 살아남는 것을 보게 될 것이고, 하지만 전 그걸 전부 rule out하는걸 원치는 않았거든요. 왜냐면 제가 이후 십년동안 어떤 기분일지 모르니깐요. 하지만 십년 전을 되돌아본다면, 전 솔직하게 되돌아가고 싶을거예요. 이건 제 정신건강을 위해서랍니다. 그 애에게 작별인사를 하는건 너무 끔찍하기 때문에요... 17년동안, 해리는, 정말이지 제 삶의 "연속" 이었어요. 17년의 꽤 정신없는 시간동안요.. 그리고 그걸 정말 끝낸다는건... 음 좀 고무적이네요. 오십퍼센트는 순수하게 elation이고, 오십퍼센트는 devastation이예요. 못하겠죠, 이 세계를 다시 쓰지 않을거라고...생각을 하고 있지만. 그게 절 굉장히 괴롭게 해요. 그래서 그래야해요... 마치 제 오래된 남자친구처럼요... 우린 지금은 친구가 될 수 없으니까, 약간 휴식기를 가져야하고, 시간이 지나면, 커피 한 잔 할수 있을거고, 공식적으로 굴고. 하지만 제가 백과사전을 쓸 수 있을거라고 얘기했었죠. 사실 전 백과사전을 쓸 생각을 하고 있거든요. 제가 책에 담아내지 못했던 많은 백스토리들까지 다 엮어낸 것 말이예요.. 자선 목적으로 말이죠.

11. (Looking back to characters and events, is there anything you’d want to change ?

Hmm, loads. But not in characters and events no, not really, I think that the form should have been tightened up a bit.
The book that annoys me most in retrospect is five. The people who like Order of the Phoenix best form a weird sub-sect of the Harry Potter fandom and I occasionally stumble across one and someone says « My favourite is Order of the Phoenix » and I always think « Hmm, dark ! ». But that book I must admit I was feeling the strength of the pressure a bit during that phase, and I think it shows in the book. So there are things there I would like to go back a tie back a bit. But overall, no. Not really. I did plot them very… I plotted them well in as much that I knew what I was doing and where was the story going. The one thing, the difficulty I did sometimes have was I made a rule so tight it was sometimes hard to navigate around it myself. So not being able to Apparate in and out of Hogwarts was a pain in the back. Because it was necessary, I had to put that limit to make it a safe place. But finding a way to get in and out of Hogwarts was always a bit of a challenge. I was quite proud of Aberforth again, the tunnel. I like Aberforth. And his goat. [laughing] Yeah, Dumbledore pales into insignificance.

캐릭터와 사건들을 회고한다면, 바꾸고 싶은 것이 있나요?

-으음...캐릭터랑 사건은 괜찮은데, 음 형식을 좀 더 타이트하게 바꾸고 싶어요. 떠올려봤을때 절 제일 짜증나게 했던 책은 5권이예요.(그랬을 것 같더라...) 5권을 제일 좋아하는 사람들은 HP팬덤의 위어드한 sub-sect 들이죠 제가 가끔 우연히 발견하는데, 어떤 사람들은 <<제가 젤 좋아하는 책은 5권이예요>>라고 하거든요. 그럼 전 언제나 <<음, 다크하군!!>>하고 생각하죠. 하지만 그 책, 제가 꼭 인정해야만 하는것은, 전 그 구 사이사이에 있는 압박들의 힘을 느꼈었답니다. 그리고 책에 녹여내고 싶었어요. 돌아가서 좀 더 그걸 좀 더 조여내고 싶네요. 하지만 결국, 음, 아니에요. 전 그 줄거리를 굉장히..".제가 했던 것들과 스토리가 어디로 흘러갈지" 알았던만큼 해냈답니다.  제가 힘들었던 한가지는.. 제가 규칙을 너무 빡빡하게 짜놔서, 저 스스로 어떻게 풀어야 할지 가끔 힘들었던 거예요. 호그와트 안팎에서 순간이동을 금지해놨던게 좀 힘들었어요. 그건 필수적인거였어요. 왜냐면 호그와트는 안전한 장소로 한정지어놨어야했으니까요. 하지만 호그와트에 들어오고 나갈 길을 찾는건 언제나 엄청난 도전이었죠. 아, 애버포스에게 또 다시 자랑스러워요. 터널을 팠죠. 전 애버포스를 좋아해요. 그리고 그의 염소들도요(웃음). 네, 덤블도어가 하찮아지네요.(빛이 무색해지는군요)