The proximity of the Potterverse (was: Re: Christians and LOTR)

[Anne]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Kathryn Cawte" <kcawte at b...> 
wrote:
>You couldn't
> plot the location of Isengard or Minas Tirith in the way we can 
guess at the
> location of Hogwarts. People reading LOTR can look out of a window 
(unless
> they live in New Zealand) and clearly see that they are not in 
Middle Earth
> and are not likely to bump into an elf or a hobbit walking down the 
street.
> But Harry Potter lives in our England. We know people that resemble 
the
> Dursleys or Dean or Seamus. It doesn't take much imagination to 
wonder if
> there are hidden places that we muggles can't access all around us. 
That
> makes it a threat to people who worry that kids can't tell fiction 
from fact
> in a way that LOTR really isn't.


That, IMO, is one of the most brilliant things about the Potterverse -
 the way JKR has created this parallel universe that pretty much fits 
inbetween the electrons of the regular, "Muggle" universe (number 
twelve Grimmauld Place, anyone?). I especially love that we *can* try 
to locate Hogwarts, that we know where King's Cross Station is, and 
all those other details that bind the Wizard World to our own. Now 
that I'm used to the Potterverse, I find myself feeling impatient 
toward novels that create self-contained worlds, because I have to 
take time out from reading them to consult "the map" frequently. I 
realize that's probably a failing of my own imagination, but I don't 
care, because I think the Potterverse is, overall, brilliantly 
conceived. I actually worry more about ADULTS who can't tell fiction 
from fact... 

Anne U
(just wild about Harry, and doesn't care what A.S. Byatt, narrow-
minded people or anyone else thinks)