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BESTSELLER LIST AND HARRY 4
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From: Hastings, Waller <hastingw>
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 16:48:23 -0500
Brenda Bowen wrote:
Well, a great deal of twaddle has been written in national publications by heavyweight literary critics with little understanding of or sensitivity to children's books. (Think of William Safire venting at the third Harry Potter books near-miss loss to Beowulf for the Whitbred Prize - he showed the depth of HIS knowledge by comparing Rowling's work unfavorably to the Wizard of Oz, stating that her books were poorly written (this in comparison to one of the sloppiest of classic children's writers!) and demonstrating that he really only knew Oz from the movie (the classic ruby slippers error).
That being said, I think the commentator has a point insofar as
*greater* good or evil we refer to the powers that order the universe (God and the devil in Christian terms). That is, Dumbledore and his cohorts do not seem to answer to a "higher power" - they ARE the higher power. The good guys are informed with a strong sense of moral obligation to defend the rest of the world against the forces of domination, but they do not appear to do so with the idea that they are thereby serving the plans of the deity, as do the more "adult" characters in Narnia, Middle Earth, and - one might add - in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials books. (Note I specify "adult" characters here, because child (or child-like, as with the hobbits) do not always seem as aware of higher powers at work.) And Voldemort is clearly very, very evil, but he does not seem to be an agent of the devil - more like the devil himself.
But there clearly is a powerful battle between good and evil taking place here - and it appears to be building toward a final conflict/Armageddon, judging from Dumbledore's organization of a loyal resistance at the end of the fourth volume (even though ostensibly there is nothing to resist yet, as Voldemort hasn't yet resumed power). And the conflict does seem to be working toward cosmic significance - just not in a cosmology that admits of conventional theology. It is like Rowling is getting ready to stage Ragnarok, rather than Armageddon - in either case, a final battle, but hers is in a world without the consolation of God behind it. (Somehow I'm sure this characterization will come back to haunt me.)
wally hastings hastingw at northern.edu http://lupus.northern.edu:90/hastingw/index.html
Received on Wed 06 Sep 2000 04:48:23 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 16:48:23 -0500
Brenda Bowen wrote:
Well, a great deal of twaddle has been written in national publications by heavyweight literary critics with little understanding of or sensitivity to children's books. (Think of William Safire venting at the third Harry Potter books near-miss loss to Beowulf for the Whitbred Prize - he showed the depth of HIS knowledge by comparing Rowling's work unfavorably to the Wizard of Oz, stating that her books were poorly written (this in comparison to one of the sloppiest of classic children's writers!) and demonstrating that he really only knew Oz from the movie (the classic ruby slippers error).
That being said, I think the commentator has a point insofar as
*greater* good or evil we refer to the powers that order the universe (God and the devil in Christian terms). That is, Dumbledore and his cohorts do not seem to answer to a "higher power" - they ARE the higher power. The good guys are informed with a strong sense of moral obligation to defend the rest of the world against the forces of domination, but they do not appear to do so with the idea that they are thereby serving the plans of the deity, as do the more "adult" characters in Narnia, Middle Earth, and - one might add - in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials books. (Note I specify "adult" characters here, because child (or child-like, as with the hobbits) do not always seem as aware of higher powers at work.) And Voldemort is clearly very, very evil, but he does not seem to be an agent of the devil - more like the devil himself.
But there clearly is a powerful battle between good and evil taking place here - and it appears to be building toward a final conflict/Armageddon, judging from Dumbledore's organization of a loyal resistance at the end of the fourth volume (even though ostensibly there is nothing to resist yet, as Voldemort hasn't yet resumed power). And the conflict does seem to be working toward cosmic significance - just not in a cosmology that admits of conventional theology. It is like Rowling is getting ready to stage Ragnarok, rather than Armageddon - in either case, a final battle, but hers is in a world without the consolation of God behind it. (Somehow I'm sure this characterization will come back to haunt me.)
wally hastings hastingw at northern.edu http://lupus.northern.edu:90/hastingw/index.html
Received on Wed 06 Sep 2000 04:48:23 PM CDT
