Snapedom

Friday fic recs: Snarry and Severus/Charity

bohemianspirit

6/12/09 12:09 pm

"Snarry" is, for better or worse, firmly entrenched as shorthand for "Snape/Harry," but I refuse to call Severus and Charity "Sevarity." :-P I also don't get why the hell people pair Severus' last name with his partner's first name in these shorthand dealies; whatever happened to parallel construction? But I digress. ;-)


First, I want to direct you to an absolutely gorgeous Severus/Harry postwar fic. It was based--by request of the recipient, venturous (venturous1 on LJ)--upon the story I wrote for Ven for last year's Snapedom Summer Fest: Merry Meet Again. The author picked up where I left off and spun a fascinating tale of woundedness and healing, magic and love.

We Shall Meet in all Directions

Author: megyal (on LJ)
Pairing: Snape/Harry
Rating: PG
Summary: Right after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry's beleaguered mind continues to deal with comforting hallucinations and stark reality.


Second, I've continued to write drabbles for snape100 about Severus and Charity. My latest drabbles have been a series centering around Severus and Charity going out of the country on holiday for the summer (1993 is implied). Rather than link to each story on LJ, IJ, and DW versions of Snape100, I'll just provide the links on my fic archive.


The Summer Holiday series, in order:

* High Flying Lover
* Letting Off Steam
* Not Going That Way
* The Dunderheads Had Not Pained Him for Nineteen Hours, All Was Well
* Begin at the Beginning
* Whenever We Begin
* Ruminations on an Anonymous Correspondence
* No Escape from Reality

Future drabbles will also be archived on my IJ, linked on the sidebar under "Summer Holiday series - Severus/Charity."

• Tags:
  bohemianspirit, fan fiction, fic rec, friday rec

• Send your Patronus

• elethian

  6/15/09 08:27 pm (UTC)

  

  I also don't get why the hell people pair Severus' last name with his partner's first name in these shorthand dealies; whatever happened to parallel construction?
  
  Two suggestions, of which I think the first is primary:
  
  1. He's called "Snape" in the vast bulk of the text, so it sticks in most people's heads that way. He only gets addressed in speech a few times as "Severus" and he's only called that once in the narrative voice (i.e. Harry's voice) that I can recall (in DH when he sees SWM for the second time). Even fans often stick with "Snape" (witness this is not "severusdom" lol). I think it's only the truly obssessed who make the mental conversion to calling him "Severus" all the time. ;)
  
  (That said, I actually do have a mental division myself between Severus considered as a person and Snape as a book character under casual discussion.)
  
  2. Because "sn" as a word-starting phoneme plays well with others in English (unlike the person it refers to *koff*) and you get good mileage out of it in terms of syllable economy: it can fairly clearly refer to Severus without taking up its own syllble like "Sev" would (Sevarry, Sevaco, Sevirius...).
  
  Personally I do prefer parallel constructions and use "Severus/____" more often than not when writing, although sometimes I use "smush names" as shorthand. Spoken aloud, I do often say Snarry particularly, but some things sound confusing said aloud (Sirry), some I plain don't like whether written or spoken (Snily/Snevans/Sevily), and some that are okay written (IMO) come off too silly when spoken (Snaco, Snack -- I actually think the food implications of "Snack" are pretty clever, but a lot of people think it's extra king-size silly and roll their eyes).

  • Reply
  • Thread

  • bohemianspirit

    6/27/09 11:13 pm (UTC)

    

    I understand what you're saying, as far as general discussion goes. And for a casual reader, who won't think twice about it, I can see referring to him as "Snape" simply because that's how he's named most of the time in the books. But anyone who starts to really look at the books and question the underlying assumptions--are things really as they are being presented to us?--is bound to start questioning the way in which almost all other characters in his generation get referred to fairly often (if not always) on a first-name basis, and Severus Snape alone is called "Snape." It just reinforces a sense of marginalization, distancing, contempt, and outsider status, a sense of disrespect, being seen as less than human, "not really a person," if you know what I mean.
    
    Granted, that makes sense from the POV of the "Harry filter," but it doesn't make sense from the POV of fans and writers who view the character empathetically and/or sympathetically. It irks me enough in general discussion--maybe not to the point of being "truly obsessed," lol, but as the proverbial grain of sand in the shoe that annoys me whenever I encounter it. (Then again, I tend to be the kind of person who, once I notice something, wonders how long it's going to take the rest of the world to catch up with me and see a thing the way I'M seeing it. ;-)) But my point here is that is makes no sense, whatsoever, when someone is writing of Severus Snape in the context of an intimate relationship, to continue to refer to (and think of?) him as "Snape." By the time the clothes come off, most people are on a first-name basis!
    
    Possible exception: Severus/Harry. I could see them continuing to call each other "Snape" and "Potter," though the subtext of those names would be rather different than during Harry's school years. And note that Snape/Potter is also parallel construction--but "Snarry," admittedly, has a nicer ring to it than "Snotter." ;-)
    
    In general, I prefer just to use the full first names (or first-last/first-last) in naming a paring, rather than using the cutesy shorthand mashups. But I suppose I'm going against the grain, there, in a culture with J-Lo and Brangelina, et al. Not even Susan Boyle is safe, having been dubbed SuBo. Alas, what times we live in...
    

    • Reply
    • Parent
    • Thread

    • elethian

      6/29/09 11:25 pm (UTC)

      

      almost all other characters in his generation get referred to fairly often (if not always) on a first-name basis, and Severus Snape alone is called "Snape." It just reinforces a sense of marginalization, distancing, contempt, and outsider status, a sense of disrespect, being seen as less than human, "not really a person," if you know what I mean.
      
      I agree.
      
      is makes no sense, whatsoever, when someone is writing of Severus Snape in the context of an intimate relationship, to continue to refer to (and think of?) him as "Snape." By the time the clothes come off, most people are on a first-name basis!
      
      Yeah, I agree with this too in most cases (depends on the ship -- you point out that it's conceivable Severus and Harry could continue to think of each other as Snape and Potter, and I think the same is true e.g. of Severus and Sirius). Odd enough when the POV character is someone other than Severus; one written from Severus's POV in which he's still called "Snape" by the narrative voice just boggles the mind.
      
      "Snarry," admittedly, has a nicer ring to it than "Snotter." ;-)
      
      No kidding. ;)
      
      in a culture with J-Lo and Brangelina, et al. Not even Susan Boyle is safe, having been dubbed SuBo.
      
      ...DanRad...
      

      • Reply
      • Parent