Troubles with Time by Steve Vander Ark
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Supposizioni, teorie, approfondimenti We know that book 2 takes place in 1992 because Nearly Headless Nick holds his 500th Deathday Party in CS8. There's a cake on the table of "food" that bears this inscription:
SIR NICHOLAS DE MIMSY-PORPINGTON
DIED 31ST OCTOBER, 1492
Obviously, if you add five hundred years to 1492, you can easily see that the party is taking place in 1992. So far, so good. This date has now been verified by Rowling herself. According to Warner Home Video, she personally edited and approved the timeline that they included on the DVD of Chamber of Secrets. As a result, that timeline is canon and we can "officially" state that Harry Potter was born in 1980, that he started Hogwarts in 1991, and so on.
So now we should be able to make everything in the books fit these dates, right? Unfortunately, it's not that simple. For one thing, Nick himself at one point in the first edition of Philosopher's Stone stated that he hadn't eaten in almost four hundred years (PS7). Now it's pretty clear that ghosts can't eat in JKR's universe (CS8), so that would call the 500 years into question. (UPDATE: As of 2004, this line was officially corrected to read five hundred years for later editions, thus eliminating this discrepancy.)
It gets trickier. There are a number of dates given (without years) that also give the day of the week. Harry's birthday, for example, is July 31. We know that because the newspaper article telling about the break-in at Gringotts gives July 31 as the date and Harry exclaims that he and Hagrid were at the bank that very day (PS8). The only day they were at Gringotts was on Harry's eleventh birthday. It's also clear that his birthday that year was on a Tuesday (PS3) and since we know that the second book took place in 1992-3, his birthday in book one must be in 1991. But July 31, 1991, was not a Tuesday, it was a Wednesday.
There are other specific days mentioned, and they don't really fit either. For example, PS1 takes place on November 1, the day after Harry's parents were killed. This November 1 is a Tuesday, according to the book. But there is no way that November 1 of any year and July 31 ten years later can both be Tuesdays. It's impossible. In 1993, Valentine's Day is on a Sunday, but that's the day that Lockhart sent his dwarves around handing out valentine cards between classes--but on Sunday there are no classes! The most glaring inconsistency comes in book four, though. In that book, both September 1 and September 2 are Mondays. (UPDATE: As of 2004, this was officially corrected for future editions, thus eliminating this discrepancy.)
So how do we make it all make sense? We can't, obviously. There is simply no way to fit every reference to a day of the week, a full moon, the birth year of Nicolas Flamel, or Nearly Headless Nick's 400 year fast with any "real" calendar. And we don't have to. It's a story, and it takes place in a different reality, a different world, a world created by Rowling. What a marvelous, magical world it is. The fact that days and dates slide around a little, not unlike the staircases at Hogwarts, doesn't take anything away from it at all.Sappiamo che il secondo libro si svolge nel 1992 perché Nick-Quasi-Senza-Testa fa la festa per il suo 500esimo Complemorte in HP CS8. C’è una torta sul tavolo del “cibo” che porta questa iscrizione:
SIR NICHOLAS DE MIMSY-PORPINGTON
MORTO IL 31 OTTOBRE 1492
Ovviamente, se si aggiungono cinquecento anni a 1492, si può facilmente osservare che la festa avviene nel 1992. Fin qui tutto bene. Questa data è stata verificata dalla Rowling stessa. Secondo la Warner Home Video, lei ha personalmente modificato e approvato la linea del tempo che loro hanno incluso nel DVD di Harry Potter e la Camera dei Segreti. Come risultato, quella linea del tempo è un canone e noi possiamo “ufficialmente” affermare che Harry Potter è nato nel 1980, che ha iniziato Hogwarts nel 1991, e così via.
Così, noi, ora, dovremmo essere in grado di inserire gli avvenimenti dei libri in queste date, giusto? Sfortunatamente, non è così semplice. Innanzitutto, lo stesso Nick a un certo punto di Harry Potter e la Pietra Filosofale afferma che lui non mangia da quasi quattrocento anni (HP PF7). Ora è abbastanza chiaro che nell’universo di JKR i fantasmi non possono mangiare (HP CS8), così questo chiamerebbe in causa i 500 anni. (AGGIORNAMENTO: Dopo il 2004, questa battuta venne corretta ufficialmente per far sì che dicesse 500 anni nelle edizioni successive, quindi venne eliminata questa discrepanza).
Diventa ancora più difficoltoso, poi. Ci sono molte date che vengono fornite (senza gli anni) che dicono anche il giorno della settimana. Il compleanno di Harry, per esempio, è il 31 Luglio. Sappiamo che, siccome il giornale dà come data dell’irruzione alla Gringott il 31 Luglio, Harry esclama che lui e Hagrid erano in banca proprio quel giorno (HP PF8). L’unico giorno in cui sono stati alla Gringott è stato il giorno dell’undicesimo compleanno di Harry. E’ anche chiaro che il suo compleanno, quell’anno, fosse di martedì (HP PF3) e dato che sappiamo che il secondo libro è ambientato nel 1992-3, il suo compleanno del primo libro deve essere nel 1991. Il 31 Luglio 1991, però, non era un martedì, ma un mercoledì.
Vengono menzionate anche altri giorni specifici, e neanche quelli si incastrano bene. Per esempio, HP PF1 si svolge il primo Novembre, il giorno dopo che i genitori di Harry sono stati uccisi. Questo primo Novembre è un martedì, secondo il libro. Non c’è nessuna possibilità che il primo Novembre di qualsiasi anno e il 31 Luglio dieci anni dopo siano entrambi dei martedì. E’ impossibile. Nel 1993, il giorno di San Valentino è di domenica, ma quello è il giorno in cui Allock manda in giro i suoi gnomi per consegnare i suoi biglietti di San Valentino tra le classi — ma di domenica non ci sono lezioni! L’incongruenza più evidente, però, si trova nel quarto libro. In questo libro, sia il primo Settembre sia il 2 Settembre sono lunedì. (AGGIORNAMENTO: Dopo il 2004, questo è stato ufficialmente corretto per le edizioni future, eliminando così questa discrepanza).
Come facciamo quindi a dare un senso a tutto? Non possiamo, ovviamente. Semplicemente non c’è modo di far rientrare ciascun riferimento in un giorno della settimana, una luna piena, l’anno di nascita di Nicolas Flamel, o il digiuno di 400 anni di Nick-Quasi-Senza-Testa con qualsiasi calendario “reale”. E non dobbiamo neanche. E’ una storia, e ha luogo in una realtà differente, un mondo differente, un mondo creato dalla Rowling. Che mondo meraviglioso, magico, che è. Il fatto che i giorni e le date sfasino un po’, non diversamente da quanto non facciano le scale di Hogwarts, non porta affatto via nulla alla storia.
[ORIGINALE]
We know that book 2 takes place in 1992 because Nearly Headless Nick holds his 500th Deathday Party in CS8. There's a cake on the table of "food" that bears this inscription:
SIR NICHOLAS DE MIMSY-PORPINGTON
DIED 31ST OCTOBER, 1492
Obviously, if you add five hundred years to 1492, you can easily see that the party is taking place in 1992. So far, so good. This date has now been verified by Rowling herself. According to Warner Home Video, she personally edited and approved the timeline that they included on the DVD of Chamber of Secrets. As a result, that timeline is canon and we can "officially" state that Harry Potter was born in 1980, that he started Hogwarts in 1991, and so on.
So now we should be able to make everything in the books fit these dates, right? Unfortunately, it's not that simple. For one thing, Nick himself at one point in the first edition of Philosopher's Stone stated that he hadn't eaten in almost four hundred years (PS7). Now it's pretty clear that ghosts can't eat in JKR's universe (CS8), so that would call the 500 years into question. (UPDATE: As of 2004, this line was officially corrected to read five hundred years for later editions, thus eliminating this discrepancy.)
It gets trickier. There are a number of dates given (without years) that also give the day of the week. Harry's birthday, for example, is July 31. We know that because the newspaper article telling about the break-in at Gringotts gives July 31 as the date and Harry exclaims that he and Hagrid were at the bank that very day (PS8). The only day they were at Gringotts was on Harry's eleventh birthday. It's also clear that his birthday that year was on a Tuesday (PS3) and since we know that the second book took place in 1992-3, his birthday in book one must be in 1991. But July 31, 1991, was not a Tuesday, it was a Wednesday.
There are other specific days mentioned, and they don't really fit either. For example, PS1 takes place on November 1, the day after Harry's parents were killed. This November 1 is a Tuesday, according to the book. But there is no way that November 1 of any year and July 31 ten years later can both be Tuesdays. It's impossible. In 1993, Valentine's Day is on a Sunday, but that's the day that Lockhart sent his dwarves around handing out valentine cards between classes--but on Sunday there are no classes! The most glaring inconsistency comes in book four, though. In that book, both September 1 and September 2 are Mondays. (UPDATE: As of 2004, this was officially corrected for future editions, thus eliminating this discrepancy.)
So how do we make it all make sense? We can't, obviously. There is simply no way to fit every reference to a day of the week, a full moon, the birth year of Nicolas Flamel, or Nearly Headless Nick's 400 year fast with any "real" calendar. And we don't have to. It's a story, and it takes place in a different reality, a different world, a world created by Rowling. What a marvelous, magical world it is. The fact that days and dates slide around a little, not unlike the staircases at Hogwarts, doesn't take anything away from it at all.
