Will HP become classic?

[Philip Nel]

No: HPFGUIDX 38177

Dear Bernadette

(and anyone else who happens to be interested in this question, of course),

Thanks for your kind words about the discussion questions.

You ask:

> Would it be inappropriate to ask what the name of the collection
> will be or who is putting it out?  As a Communications Student
> with a love for literary commentary, I'd love to see what
> Academia is saying about the HP books.

With apologies for being self-promotional, the editor of the collection is Lana Whited, and the publisher is the University of Missouri Press.  I *think* the title will be _The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter_.  It was going to be _Harry Potter and the Ivory Tower_, but one group of Rowling's lawyers nixed that (if I remember correctly, the group was her agent's lawyers) on the grounds that a collection of essays with this title might dupe fans into thinking they were buying an actual _Harry Potter_ novel & not a collection of essays by a bunch of academics.  But the editor and publisher should tell you enough.  My essay is on the U.K.-U.S. translations.

There's an essay on _Potter_ in the latest issue of the _Children's Literature Association Quarterly_.  If I had the issue in front of me, I could provide more specifics, but my issue is at home.  You may be able to find this in a library.  Here are links to more literary criticism: <http://www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/rowling/#lit_crit>.  Two of these will only be available to you if your college or university subscribes to ProjectMuse.  If not, _The Lion and the Unicorn_ is a print journal, too, & so can be found in libraries.  And:

Nicholas Tucker, "The Rise and Rise of Harry Potter" in _Children's Literature in Education_ 30.4 (Dec. 1999): 221-334.  Tucker's a bit ambivalent about Potter, but has interesting comments on Rowling's influences.
Jack Zipes, _The Troublesome Success of Children's Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter_ (2001) -- there's a chapter on _Potter_.  Zipes doesn't like Potter.

To be honest, a lot of the lit crit isn't that great.  My favorites are probably A. O. Scott and Polly Shulman's epistolary discussion of the first three _Potter_ novels, conducted at _Slate_ in 2000 <http://slate.msn.com/?device=&displaymode=&workarea=&id=2000111&entry=1003466>; and Joan Acocella's "Under the spell," _New Yorker_, 31 July 2000, 74-78.  Neither of these are "lit crit," incidentally.

> <<<One often sees papers and even entire panels on _Potter_ at
> conferences.  The "Harry Potter" panel at last year's MLA (Modern
> Language Association) conference -- the *big* annual conference
> for English and Language profs. in North America -- was packed.
> There were people sitting on the floor.  I'd guess that a room
> that holds one hundred was hosting about 150 people for that
> session.>>>
>
> Would it be possible for you to do a separate report about the
> panel and the things that were discussed there?  I'm sure I'm not
> the only Potter fan on this group who would find it very
> interesting.

Well, one of the essays at the MLA session -- "Harry Potter and the Spectres of Thatcherism" -- will be published in the edited collection I mentioned above.  I don't know if the other authors' papers have found journals or collections in which they'll be published, but I imagine that they will.  This is the program for this year's Children's Literature Association Conference: <http://www.wyomingseminary.org/chla/program.html>.  There are several _Potter_ papers and panels.  Here is the program for the 2001 Modern Critical Approaches to Children's Literature Conference: <http://www.middleenglish.org/mcacl/mcachlit01prog.htm>.  Its first panel was on _Potter_.  The titles may at least provide a glimpse of what academics (or, anyway, some academics) are thinking about.

Best,

Phil
--
Philip Nel
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Denison Hall
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506-0701
U.S.A.
-----------------------------------------
http://www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/
philnel at ksu.edu