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Harry Pottter
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From: drabkin <arcanis>
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 08:57:54 -0700
As a "real fantasy lover", I must say that there are many, many reasons why people enjoy fantasies, and many different ways in which they find enjoyment in them, and the "resonance" that's mentioned by Melody is only one of those ways.
One principal component to enjoyment of fantasy -- I'm answering this here as a librarian, a parent and grandparent, and a lifelong fantasy reader -is being able to enter into a complete universe very different from the workaday one we all share. The fantasy world is one that operates by consistent internal rules, and one in which every exotic element is made accessible and homely by the point of view of a character with whom the reader can identify.
"Harry Potter" is almost a perfect example of that. (So is "Howl's Moving Castle" -- but why compare them? They're only alike in being very funny. Different types of fantasy, different kinds of humor, different sensibilities.)
"Harry Potter" does several other things as well. Some adults may be bored by the orphan-child-hard-done-by kind of thing, but how many children can identify with the feeling of being odd-one-out in their family? How many children have ever wondered -- even if momentarily -- whether they were really the children of their parents? How many children have ever felt that their siblings are given preferential treatment? Right. (And why is Roald Dahl so popular? Right again. He is definitely not my favorite author -- I can't bear to read him, in fact -- but there are good reasons why children like him, and that's part of it.)
And then, there's the "school story" aspect -- another favorite kid fantasy here, of being away from all the parental drama and in a world where the kids are the important ones (the adults being secondary, accessories or caretakers as it were), a world that has its own
(kid-created) rules, maybe even a world in which the reader (whatever his/her social problems in the "real" world) can imagine him/herself independent and capable. Children who have never set foot in a boarding school often think of it as a kind of "kids' world" where it is possible to have the independence of being away from the parents, combined with the security of having rules, adult protectors to intervene in case of need, and regular meals.
And speaking of meals, let's not forget the role of food in "Harry Potter". This may sound really strange, but there are many children who love reading descriptions of food. My son (who was a skinny omnivorous child with insatiable appetite) read "Farmer Boy" three times because of its descriptions of food! This is not as uncommon as it may seem. Eating is as interesting to children as other physical functions -- interesting to adults, too.
I can't speak to the sports story aspect, knowing little or nothing about the appeal of this kind of reading, but obviously, many Quidditch fans have been following Harry's development in this particular form of sport, and when battery-operated broomsticks are developed, it may turn up in some future Olympics, who knows? (Big Grandma, are you ready for that?)
I'm a fantasy reader, and was first given an advance copy of "Harry Potter" by a friend who'd received it and thought I'd like it -- this was way before the book had received much notice. And without knowing anything about it, I loved it. It was fun -- it was a romp -- it had a little of everything, like a bag of its own Every Flavor Beans. It's true that some readers may have initially been attracted to the book because of marketing, but I very much doubt that marketing is responsible for its popularity. Word of mouth began it -- marketing is just building on what's there already.
I sent a copy to my niece, who is a ten-year-old girl who "hates fantasies" (she usually prefers reading horse stories, Dear America series books, and realistic friends-and?mily fiction) and she was captivated. She just started the second book in the series, and although she doesn't like the cover, she says she loves it. (She made me promise to get her all the books as they are published.)
Sorry about the prolixity, but I've been wanting to get into this discussion for a while...
Marian Drabkin
Richmond Public Library
Richmond, CA
Melody wrote:
Received on Sat 05 Jun 1999 10:57:54 AM CDT
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 08:57:54 -0700
As a "real fantasy lover", I must say that there are many, many reasons why people enjoy fantasies, and many different ways in which they find enjoyment in them, and the "resonance" that's mentioned by Melody is only one of those ways.
One principal component to enjoyment of fantasy -- I'm answering this here as a librarian, a parent and grandparent, and a lifelong fantasy reader -is being able to enter into a complete universe very different from the workaday one we all share. The fantasy world is one that operates by consistent internal rules, and one in which every exotic element is made accessible and homely by the point of view of a character with whom the reader can identify.
"Harry Potter" is almost a perfect example of that. (So is "Howl's Moving Castle" -- but why compare them? They're only alike in being very funny. Different types of fantasy, different kinds of humor, different sensibilities.)
"Harry Potter" does several other things as well. Some adults may be bored by the orphan-child-hard-done-by kind of thing, but how many children can identify with the feeling of being odd-one-out in their family? How many children have ever wondered -- even if momentarily -- whether they were really the children of their parents? How many children have ever felt that their siblings are given preferential treatment? Right. (And why is Roald Dahl so popular? Right again. He is definitely not my favorite author -- I can't bear to read him, in fact -- but there are good reasons why children like him, and that's part of it.)
And then, there's the "school story" aspect -- another favorite kid fantasy here, of being away from all the parental drama and in a world where the kids are the important ones (the adults being secondary, accessories or caretakers as it were), a world that has its own
(kid-created) rules, maybe even a world in which the reader (whatever his/her social problems in the "real" world) can imagine him/herself independent and capable. Children who have never set foot in a boarding school often think of it as a kind of "kids' world" where it is possible to have the independence of being away from the parents, combined with the security of having rules, adult protectors to intervene in case of need, and regular meals.
And speaking of meals, let's not forget the role of food in "Harry Potter". This may sound really strange, but there are many children who love reading descriptions of food. My son (who was a skinny omnivorous child with insatiable appetite) read "Farmer Boy" three times because of its descriptions of food! This is not as uncommon as it may seem. Eating is as interesting to children as other physical functions -- interesting to adults, too.
I can't speak to the sports story aspect, knowing little or nothing about the appeal of this kind of reading, but obviously, many Quidditch fans have been following Harry's development in this particular form of sport, and when battery-operated broomsticks are developed, it may turn up in some future Olympics, who knows? (Big Grandma, are you ready for that?)
I'm a fantasy reader, and was first given an advance copy of "Harry Potter" by a friend who'd received it and thought I'd like it -- this was way before the book had received much notice. And without knowing anything about it, I loved it. It was fun -- it was a romp -- it had a little of everything, like a bag of its own Every Flavor Beans. It's true that some readers may have initially been attracted to the book because of marketing, but I very much doubt that marketing is responsible for its popularity. Word of mouth began it -- marketing is just building on what's there already.
I sent a copy to my niece, who is a ten-year-old girl who "hates fantasies" (she usually prefers reading horse stories, Dear America series books, and realistic friends-and?mily fiction) and she was captivated. She just started the second book in the series, and although she doesn't like the cover, she says she loves it. (She made me promise to get her all the books as they are published.)
Sorry about the prolixity, but I've been wanting to get into this discussion for a while...
Marian Drabkin
Richmond Public Library
Richmond, CA
Melody wrote:
Received on Sat 05 Jun 1999 10:57:54 AM CDT
