Memoirs and confessions of a justified potions master

[tree_and_leaf]

All right, I'm going to take a leaf out of weymms' book, and post this first draft of a prologue to my Calvinist!Snape fic. it's probably too short to make any judgements on it, but all the same, any comments you might have would be appreciated.

Disclaimers: firstly, no offence intended to Catholics, or any other group of (mostly) reasonable people who Snape will doubtless damn at some point during the course of this. Equally, Snape has rather missed the point of Calvin's teachings (and of the Gospel, come to that), and I do know that not all Calvinists are like that. Those who know their Scottish literature will recognise a debt to James Hogg and his brilliant spiritual (or is it psychological?) horror story, Memoirs and Confessions of A Justified Sinner. I kiss the hem of his plaid.

Obviously, I am not JK Rowling and would not dream of asserting ownership over Snape, any of her characters who wil appear later (though, it has to be admitted, through a rather darkened glass).



One day, they will see the truth, and it will do them no good at all. It would do them no good if they saw it now. There is, indeed, an awful sublimity in this, which they assuredly cannot see.

Indeed, I wonder if this parchment will find a reader who can see it. But that is doubt, and unworthy of me. I only know that I feel myself led to set down this account, for the benefit of some future historian, in trust that the LORD who has brought me so far and by so strange a road will not abandon me, His servant, and will not see me forever put to scorn by the ungodly. Strange and wonderful are His ways, and incomprehensible even to the Elect. As for the fools and worldlings of both ‘sides’ who have surrounded me at every turn, they will be shown their error only at death, and the pain of that knowledge will be the first fires of the Pit in which they will burn. And I will delight in it, as all the saints delight in the damnation of the ungodly.

But understand? They will not understand. And it is true that I, too, do not understand everything, and hope, perhaps, to achieve some clarity by putting my thoughts in writing, as I was always used to do when working on intellectual problems, matters of magic, from the days of my youth. Always it have seemed too dangerous before to write of other matters, but now I see that that thought was faithlessness. For that faithlessness I have suffered, and yet the LORD, though He disciplines, never abandons His Chosen People. I have faith that He will hide this book, until it is found by the right person, and indeed I have ways to conceal it from the eyes of those who would do me harm.

This, then, is the story of Severus Snape, the chosen instrument, though unworthy, of the LORD, and of my struggles and wanderings before I came to accept that I am but a tool in His hand. My confession, if you will, in the Augustinian rather than the Papist sense, for I require no absolution. All I have done is walk, albeit often blindly, the path set before me. My testimony, certainly.

*

Comments

I will lay aside my dignity, and say, Squee!

[wemyss.livejournal.com]

Brilliant beginnings, Free and Tleaf!

[lunaedraconis.livejournal.com]

THAT IS CRAZY WEIRDGOOD.

*goes crosseyed with the possibilities*

[gramarye1971]

...you should know that the very thought of a Calvinist!Snape fic just makes me clap my hands with delight, and I fully intend to cling to your ankles and beg for more.

[eagles-rock.livejournal.com]

Wow. Just 'Wow'.

Yes, please. I had the joy of many years far-out Christianity (but I wasn't born into it) and I have a real love of hardcore religion. A Snape who knows that the Saved must laugh at the Damned - fantastic. And the 'path' - oh yes.

(Here from Wemyss's friends; hope you don't mind if I friend you.)

[aervir.livejournal.com]

J.K. Rowling meets James Hogg? Definitely literary crack!fanfic, but in the good way.

As they would say over at the Pit of Voles:

PLz rite more!1!

[harriet-wimsey.livejournal.com]

So cool! Oh wow, I can't wait to read more of this. And I'll have to tell my Calvinist former roommate.

[theentwife.livejournal.com]

Here from a mention in a comment in hp_essays.

I liked this and would like to see more. Your Calvinist!Snape was absolutely delicious.


Persephone

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, intriguing. I'm hooked on the idea of a Calvinist!Snape already.

One day, they will see the truth, and it will do them no good at all. It would do them no good if they saw it now. There is, indeed, an awful sublimity in this, which they assuredly cannot see.

Great opening. It draws you right in. The whole piece gives the parchment's author a distinct voice which is still recognisably Snape.

I really want to see where you go with this.

And, as I have the misfortune to have been born a cradle Catholic, any Snapean Papist-bashing will give me a good laugh.

Looking forward to the next installment.

MM

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

That is wonderful. Ive read Catholic Snape, I've read Jewish Snape, and I've always thought "You must be joking". The pomposity, the utter lack of sense of humour, the unassailable sense of superiority even whilst looking rather dubious - it's the only explanation that makes sense ;-) An excellent capture of Hogg's style, too.

Catholic Snape-

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Well - Sigune's Snape is Catholic, and I *love* her comic - have you seen it? Mine is Catholic, too, for the same reasons she gives, and a few more besides, but I don't think he's particularly religious - the man strikes me as a natural agnostic, full of pain and self-doubt. That said, a Calvinist Snape is a probable (and very scary) idea, also. But it's a different conception of the character from the one I have.

My reasons for Catholic Snape: he is (probably) celibate and seems to be living as a penitent monk (Sigune pointed those out); he is from a Northern mill town and has very typical Irish coloring, though the name's Danish; and finally, if he's from Yorkshire, that was (and still is, I think) one of the traditionally Catholic areas in England. If he's from Manchester/Liverpool/Birmingham - well, those towns also have substantial Irish Catholic populations. And the Jansenists are just about as uptight and righteous as the Calvinists, IMHO -

But I'm not trying to persuade you! Keep writing! (And heaven only knows what J.K.Rowling thinks -)

Anyway, Sigune's a good writer. And thanks for the link above, entwife, and, tree and leaf, please keep writing!