Rowling comments on CS Lewis

[Aberforth's Goat]

No: HPFGUIDX 28382

I was working on my JKR link page this afternoon when I ran into an article
I'd never seen before. In it the interviewer says the gate to platform 9 3/4
reminds him of the wardrobe in Lewis' first Narnia book. In her response
Rowling discusses the differences between HP and Narnia, hitting on several
topics we've talked (and tangled!) about here in HPfGU: humor, "preachiness"
(and intent behind writing), growing up, sexuality.

The issue of "growing up" particularly highlights the kind of change Rowling
intends to portray in her characters. As opposed to Narnia, where we see two
conversion expereinces (Edmund, Eustace) and many changes of a "character
building" variety, Rowling is more interested in the gradual changes brought
about by going through adolescence.

I've quoted her response below:

----------------------------
Rowling: Narnia is literally a different world, whereas in the Harry books
you go into a world within a world that you can see if you happen to belong.

A lot of the humour comes from collisions between the magic and the everyday
worlds. Generally there isn't much humour in the Narnia books, although I
adored them when I was a child. I got so caught up I didn't think CS Lewis
was especially preachy.

Reading them now I find that his subliminal message isn't very subliminal at
all.

Really, CSLewis had very different objectives to mine. When I write, I don't
intend to make a point or teach philosophy of life. A problem you run into
with a series is how the characters grow up ... whether they're allowed to
grow up. The characters in Enid Blyton's Famous Five books act in a
prepubescent way right through the series. In the Narnia books the children
are never allowed to grow up, even though they are growing older.

I want Harry Potter and his friends to grow up as well as older, though I'll
keep it all humorous, well within the tone of the books. I want them
eventually to be truly 17 and discover girlfriends and boyfriends and have
sexual feelings - nothing too gritty. Why not allow them to have those
feelings?

----------------------------

You can find the entire interview at
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0110/29/entertainment/entertain1.html. BTW, can
anyone date the picture in this interview? SMH doesn't date the article, but
my guess is that it's at least a year old, possibly pre-GoF.

Baaaaaa!

Aberforth's Goat (a.k.a. Mike Gray)
_______________________

"Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been
bravery...."