Lit Crit on Harry (was: "Harry Potter's World")

[edisbevan]

No: HPFGUIDX 47366

"Tim Regan" <timregan at m...> asked about Elizabeth E. Heilman's 
collection "Harry Potter's World: Multidisciplinary  Critical 
Perspectives". I didnt see any responses from anyone who checked it 
out but there is a discussion of Literary Critics exploration of the 
Potterverse on the Popular and Political Cultures webpages at:

http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/2002-11-15-harrypotter.shtml

The overall discussion is well grounded in canon, see in particular 
her line on Hermione. It also cross-references a certain archive and 
gives a puff for a certain Harry Potter symposium. 

Edis

Citations:
The article starts:
>>>

Eliza T. Dresang, a professor in the School of Information Studies at 
Florida State University, is an expert on -- and a fan of -- the 
Harry Potter series. 

Dresang has visited some of the sites in England where scenes were 
shot for the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Days before 
the release of the second film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of 
Secrets, her ticket already purchased, she talked with PopPolitics 
about the complexity of the books, the strength of Hermione, and why 
Harry Potter is loved worldwide.

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>>>
(Interviewer) How will the series be regarded in the future? Is Harry 
Potter already considered a classic?

(Dresang) An unparalleled number of academics have taken an interest 
in Harry Potter. Already 20 to 25 full-length books -- not all 
scholarly by any means -- have been written. I like to say, as a 
colleague of mine from the University of Wisconsin once posited, that 
a classic is something that's infinitely discussible. Though
people  say you don't know for 30 years or so if something will
be a classic,  the fact that adult scholars can take issue with one 
another and  provide evidence from the books to support their 
arguments is quite  remarkable. I can't believe that that much
could  have been written in such a short period of time and people
aren't  going to continue with it. Yes, I believe the Potter
books  will be  counted among the  classics written for or 
appropriated by  youth.

(snip)

(interviewer) What happens after the last volume is published? It 
looks like a lot of fans might face withdrawal.

(Dresang) Definitely -- although young Harry Potter fans seem to have 
an insatiable appetite for rereading the books, and for re-viewing 
the movies, too, I'm sure. So they may just start over again when
the  last one is in place. It is a lesson that we all have to learn 
ultimately: All good things must come to an end. But that is nothing 
to worry about now -- there are three books and possibly five movies 
to go. By the time they're done, the original child readers may
have joined the legions of adults who are committed Harry Potter 
fans --  and that's when the classic status takes over!

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