[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Adult readers who are dismissive about Harry Potter

[Kathryn Cawte]

> Melanie from Texas wrote: My question is: Do any of
> you get Attitude from literary types who "don't do
> Potter"?


K

You know what really annoys me when people do that? When it's people on an
HP group! One group I know which is *specifically* for HP fanfic and
discussion just had a massive fight because some of the members believed
that HP couldn't possibly stand up to any kind of literary analysis and
anyone who said that they could was classed as 'not having read many books
in their lives'. The assumption was also made that if you thought HP was
good then you must automatically be denigrating every other 'classic' or
'work of literature' and that you were somehow sitting at home obsessing
over the books and stroking your first edition copies of HP. Now I have no
problem with people who think HP is a plain and simple straightforward kids
book with no depth (as one person told me - unlike Narnia which is
apparently a work of genius), that's their opinion and they're entitled to
it even if I do disagree with it vehemently, but I really dislike the
snobbish attitude a lot of people have about HP where they assume that if
you enjoy them as more than just an escape to childhood you must be immature
and incapable of appreciating 'real' books. I was moved to wonder why
someone with that attitude would join an HP fanfic group and was told that
fanfic is different because there's a lot out there with wonderful depth to
the characterisation and intriguing plots - none of which is evident in the
books but is all a fannish creation. *shrugs* Now personally if I thought a
book simplistic I wouldn't go searching online to see if its fans were
better writers than the author - but that's just me.

I really don't understand why a liking for one book has any relevance on
your ability to appreciate other types of book. I like Shakespeare, I like
Dickens, I adore Austen, I love Harry Potter, I am addicted to crime fiction
and I have been known to read trashy romances on occasion. My liking for any
one of these types of book impacts on the others only in that I may be able
to see influences from one genre in another.

*grumble* Rant over.

K