Literary Comparisons for HP (was Harry Potter: A Worthwhile Series?)

[Penny & Bryce]

No: HPFGUIDX 33704

Hi --

I've been enjoying the responses on this thread quite a bit; the 
discussions have really been stimulating!  :--)

GulPlum wrote:


> There is one basic and straightforward flaw in your entire diatribe:
> Lewis and Tolkein were language scholars whose deliberate and
> specific intention was to create Great Literature (capital G & L)
> with extremely strong religious sub-texts (in Lewis's case, it's not
> really "sub" anything). Both were scholars first, evangelists second
> (if not vice-versa), and story-tellers third.
> 
> Rowling's intention has always and consistently been to tell a story,
> and nothing more. She has no ambitions for her oeuvre other than to
> give pleasure to children, telling them a story they will understand
> in an accessible language. That her books have become a phenomenon is
> quite clearly an even greater surprise to her than it is to anyone
> else.

I certainly agree with your thoughts about the intentions of both 
Tolkien & Lewis.  From my limited knowledge of both authors, they did 
state these intentions publicly, and there isn't, AFAIK, any real 
dissent within the scholarly community as to the authorial intent of 
either of these authors.  I'm not sure you can really comment on JKR's 
"ambitions" per se though, and she's definitely said that she did *not* 
have a target audience (of any age).  She is a storyteller, and I think 
she'd agree with your assessment in that regard.  I'm not so sure she'd 
agree that her one & only purpose in writing HP is to give children 
pleasure.  I don't think she writes with a target audience in mind or 
with such a limited purpose specifically in mind either. I agree that 
her success has been surprising to her, and she's said as much many 
times.  But I think that's more because she expected only a limited 
"cult-like" following of her work, rather than the overwhelming 
international sensation that it has become.


> Both in terms of style and substance, to compare Rowling to Lewis and
> Tolkein is unfair to all three of them.

Agreed.  They are all 3 operating in a fantasy setting, and at this 
juncture in the HP series, that's about all that can be said.

 If anything, compare Harry
> Potter to the Famous Five, Jennings or even the Bobbsey Twins, in
> whose distinguished company he belongs and where, after the movies
> have come and gone, I am sure he will remain.

The Bobbsey Twins are "distinguished" company??!  Perhaps I'm selling 
the series short since it's been a good many years since I read one of 
them, if ever.  But, aren't they basically the equivalent of Nancy Drew 
or Hardy Boy mystery stories?  I looked up one site on the internet just 
to see if I could figure out why you would draw a comparison between HP 
and this particular series.  I confess that I'm still puzzled.  Here's 
the blurb in brief that I found:

> The twins enjoyed wonderful days filled with sunshine and love with their playmates, Grace, Nellie, Charlie and Dannie. Their dog, Snap and Snoop the cat got to go along on many of their adventures. They took trips to the country to visit Uncle Daniel and traveled to the seashore to stay at Uncle William's house. Some of their adventures included riding on a houseboat, camping on Blueberry Island and taking a trip to the west. Each new volume that came out usually had a short summary of the previous adventure, which helped in case the reader had missed the previous one.

This is like HP .... *how*???  I'm genuinely curious why you made this 
particular comparison.

I have seen comparisons drawn between HP & Enid Blyton, though I've 
never read any of Blyton so I'm not qualified to comment on that.  I'm 
well-known among these parts for my stance on the genre (or lack 
thereof) of HP: that it's *not* childrens' literature IMO.  So I don't 
agree with your point on any level really, but I definitely don't see 
the comparisons to be drawn between the Bobbsey Twins & HP.

If you're new & interested, we had some discussions on the topic of how 
to class HP within the last month (there were also discussions in April 
and August of 2001 I believe).  Many would agree with you that HP is 
just childrens' fantasy literature -- I would not.

I also note that making comparisons between HP and any completed series 
(such as Tolkien & Lewis) is unfair (and pointless) since HP is only 
halfway completed at this point.  I think it was Judy who mentioned in 
the last few days that she sees the possibility of HP being a Christian 
allegory, and I agree that this is one of many possibilities.  But, we 
won't know for sure until the end of series, a good many years away 
(sadly).


>One may as well include Ian Fleming
> and his James Bond books in that boat, as (unlike the films) there is
> a subtle continuity from book to book (although of course there isn't
> a clear running narrative). I'm aware that a significant proportion of
> the regs here are women and thus the Bond books wouldn't necessarily
> spring to mind - they are very much "boys' stories". :-)

Er ... I wouldn't be so sure about the assumptions you're making in 
terms of the number of males versus females in this group OR that women 
wouldn't necessarily be familiar with the Fleming books.  :)

Penny