Canon (was The darker side of HP)

[selah_1977]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C6661
From: selah_1977
Subject: Canon (was The darker side of HP)
Reply To: [Yahoo! #6627] Re: The darker side of HP
Date: 8/11/00 10:09 pm  (ET)

Heidi wrote:

"I am now curious to learn more about how Peter Pan - officially,
a story for children, and one of the few "new" fairy tales of the
post-Hans Christian Andersen era" was received...

I think it's safe to say that the HP phenomenon is unique. The most
shocking thing is the fact that for once, the hype doesn't even begin
to explain the value of the books.

The HP series (at least the first four books) will be classics--the
gatekeepers who decide upon the children's literature canon have decided
upon it.

I *wish* you guys could sit in on some of these conferences I've been
attending. Ph.Ds twice and three times my age will drone on about Lois
Lowry (excellent writer), Madeleine L'Engle (masterful), Walter Dean Myers
(one of my all-time favorites), etc. And then they get to J.K. Rowling
and her Harry Potter. Their faces LIGHT UP like flashlights. This
happened this week Wednesday--one of our instructors used SS as a
read-aloud example, and recited two pages from "The Keeper of the Keys"
*from memory*. I've never seen educators so excited about a book in my
entire life.

As for me, I've already asked my advisor about the feasibility of JKR
as a thesis subject. He was more than receptive and even suggested
two angles--JKR as cultural phenomenon (to be expanded into my kidlit
Ph.D. program) or a comparative lit study of JKR and LMM, or JKR and
Lewis Carroll. I'm still not 100% decided yet... All I know is that
she's in The Club.

This has happened before, but I can't remember if it was on this
scale. Many 19th century writers and poets were wildly popular--Lord
Byron and Dickens come to mind. Shakespeare (who was *not* Christopher
Marlowe or anyone else but William Shakespeare from Stratford-upon-Avon)
was Elizabethan England's Steven Spielberg.

Enough rambling... I'm tipsy from birthday dinner, and am getting
carried away!

Ebony AKA AngieJ