Oz, Narnia and JKR (was Guide to children's literature and HP)

[r_e_d_queen at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 22807

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Edis Bevan <A.E.B.Bevan at o...> wrote:
> 
> This online article on a guide to children's literature has a
section on the HP books and why they may not be children's books.
> 
> The Politically Incorrect House on the Prairie
> Laura Miller
> SALON magazine 20 July 2001
> 
> http://www.salon.com/books/int/2001/07/20/lipson/index.html


Thanks for this link, Edis. A very intriguing article. At the end
there are links to related articles, one of which is:

Oz vs. Narnia
L. Frank Baum's sanitized, all-too-American world is infinitely less 
compelling than C.S. Lewis' dangerous imaginings.
By Laura Miller
12/28/00
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2000/12/28/baum/index.html

Here Miller reveals that L. Frank Baum's motivation in writing the Oz 
series was to create a modern fairy tale where anything remotely
moral or scary for children has been removed. She points out that
Baum, like many Americans, view children as pure and innocent -- in 
need of constant protection against the tragedy of real life.

This is in contrast to British authors like Lewis -- and JKR even
gets a mention:

"Many adults today think J.K. Rowling should have followed Baum's 
example instead of writing the death of a sympathetic character into 
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the first of several dark 
moments to come in the series, according to the author. Rowling, 
however, remains adamant that to pretend that loss, pain and fear 
aren't a part of life would be to weaken and trivialize her series,
and she need look no further than Baum's Oz books for a cautionary 
example."

I've read quite often (here in the States) that adults are dismayed
by JKR's unflinching approach to the tragedies of real life, and
whine that she needs to tone it down. My question for this group is:
Is this a uniquely American phenomenon? Are adults in the UK and
other parts of the world also clamoring for less violence in the 
HP series, or is it only Americans who want to wrap their children 
in a romanticized version of childhood that even the kids themselves 
scoff at?

In message 22379 Dave wrote:
>Maybe, since the Oz books also have an adult following (many of the
them like Harry too), it would make more sense to class these series
not as "Children's" vs. "Adults'" but as "Escapist" vs. "Realist"
fantasy, both of which can be "handled" by (older, at least) children
and adults alike.

I agree -- and propose that the New York Times set up such lists 
immediately.

Red Queen
(who has a life-long obsession with English fantasy.)

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"In this place it takes all the running you can do, 
to keep in the same place."  
- the Red Queen to Alice in "Through the Looking Glass"
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