Harry Potter: a great representation of our time?

[daelyn_duprer]

No: HPFGUIDX 77336

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Valli Porter 
<veritabatim at y...> wrote:

Valli said:
Often I think there are two factions among people who author books: 
the storytellers and the writers. I want to be a writer because I'm 
attracted to expression through language and "saying something," 
which isn't always conducive to story form. But often storytellers 
are the authors that capture the public. <snip> 
 Of course, our greatest books are written by authors who have both 
the knack for weaving a worthwhile tale in such mesmerizing words 
that we can't help but read. That is the highest definition 
of "literature" I can conjure. <snip>

Me:
Well said!  For me, books are often like trying on clothes.  I have 
to slip into the language and story of each one.  Both Austen and 
Tolkien, the first time around, were difficult for me, and I didn't 
understand their popularity.  However, I grew into them, and now 
both are among my favorite and most re-read authors.  Some 
other "classics" I have never enjoyed, but recognize their masterly 
use of language.  Some books I have enjoyed despite poor use of 
language but excellent storytelling.

Vallie: 
For me, J.K. Rowling's work is great because she is plainly a 
wonderful storyteller. And she doesn't drag us through the tale with 
the same sordid approach all of those MFA graduates did. She 
incorporates word play and a certain colloquial rhythm. She isn't 
constructing sentences that are impossible to diagram, and she is of 
course limited by the form she chose in writing the series (how many 
times do we have to joke that the most shattering events in Harry's 
life always happen in the first three weeks of June?). But I know 
that I love to lose myself in Jo's imagination. Sometimes I wish I 
could live in it instead of my own -- the Wizarding World seems to 
hold so many possibilities. If people in fifty or a hundred years 
want to lose themselves in the same way we all have been, then I 
don't doubt Harry will survive the harsh critic of time, even if our 
best simile for how his story is written is warm beer. 

Me:
The thing I love about HP is the way I am lost in her world, and 
long after I have put the book down I think about its characters and 
qualities.  My favorite books do this to me - I am consumed by them 
even when not reading.  Typically, poorly written books don't do 
this to me.  This is why I rarely read newspapers or magazines, and 
the Left Behind series was a torment.  JKR is a master storyteller, 
and while I wouldn't describe her as a master of language, she is 
certainly proficient, and her simplicity of style and ingenious 
wordplay is evidence that she is well familiar with her craft.  Ray 
Bradbury she isn't, but none of us care.  On occasion, I am jarred 
out of my 'suspension of disbelief' by what I consider to be a 
horrendous juxtaposition of words, but such moments are few and far 
between, and likely only noticed by Literature nuts such as myself.  
So, while I doubt JKR will end up in a Survey of English Lit course, 
I know for a fact this will matter very little to her admirers, or 
even to her status as a classic.  

<snip>
Valli: 
I just recently became and will remain,
 Veritabatim, who thinks Dumbledore and Lupin are the two characters 
off-limits to be ESE!, but she'll save it for a more sane hour of 
the day

Me: Long live Lupin!  I quite agree with you.
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