From: ALevine at Scholastic.com <ALevine>
Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 21:29:31 -0400

You've misunderstood my remarks, Kathy. I never said, nor implied that you shouldn't make the comparison between Dianna Wynne Jone's books and J.K. Rowlings books because "her book is selling so well". I said, "many writers besides J.K. Rowling have received greater acclaim, attention and sales than Diana Wynne Jones over the past few years." It is you who has dropped the words "acclaim" and "attention" and focused solely on sales (betraying, if I may say so, the prejudice behind your remarks.)

To restate my point again: Of course I think it's fair to compare the works of one author to another. It's a useful way of bringing out each author's strengths and weaknesses. But it isn't fair to DWJ -- an author who has a diverse body of work to discuss and debate -- to talk of her only in comparison to J.K. Rowling.

And to talk of J.K. Rowling and HARRY POTTER only in terms of how she compares to DWJ seems a skewed angle to me as well.
Received on Mon 24 May 1999 08:29:31 PM CDT