Why do we get so het up about Harry Potter?
junediamanti
june.diamanti at blueyonder.co.uk
Thu Jul 17 12:24:43 UTC 2003
No: HPFGUIDX 71149
--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sueeeyqbong" <sue at s...> wrote:
Anyhow I
> > I really do feel that people are taking the books way too
seriously
> sometimes, (myself included) and forget that we originally read
them
> for fun. And when people get so easily offended, participating in
> this discussion group stops being fun.
June: We read the books for fun, and post for fun, but because we
love the books and care passionately about "our" characters (by which
I mean our favourites) we get upset when people criticise.
> I am one
> of those people who finds much to criticise in the books, and yet
> loves reading them to bits, and enjoy them immensely. I probably
> enjoy them so much because I don't expect them to live up to high
> literary standards, and therefore I don't feel it a slur on my
> judgement when someone else also finds them lacking.
June: they are maybe not of the highest literary merit (though to me
that is always going to be a matter of personal taste) but they are
great stories - literature often loses track of the story element in
reading, look at any number of high-brow modern novels.
I for one
> though, am aware of feeling slightly self conscious at being a
grown
> up and yet loving to read children's books, and I definitely feel a
> bit defensive/ feel like I need to justify myself.. in front of my
> non HP reading friends. Does anyone else feel this way?
June: In other words - "Come in, the Doctor will see you now". I
know.
I think that
> this embarassment factor may be why a very few people get a bit
> defensive when confronted with criticism of the books - AS Byatt's
> recent opinions (which I thought really were unfair and cruel)
> haven't helped this much, either, but I just wanted to
say
please
> don't tar all of us HP criticisers with the same brush - some of us
> may find flaws in the books but still can appreciate the immense
> skill and appeal of JKR's work. And really enjoy participating n
> this discussion group.
> ------
> I know that feeling a bit embarassed at reading HP is silly (I'm
> anticipating getting responses telling me I've nothing to be
> embarrassed about here), and honestly, I KNOW I haven't...know in
my
> head, at least. I just can't stop having a slightly embarrassed gut
> feeling about it all. Does anyone else feel the same way?
June: For what it is worth, I used to be very embarrased about a lot
of things. A personal recollection: when I was 13 I read Animal
Farm and was absolutely slated by a bunch of thick trolls at school
who thought from the title that it was a baby book. I was utterly
mortified. But as you get older - you really care less about what
people think. No-one should have to defend their reading habits to
anyone. I am currently reading or perusing the following: HP- O0P,
Black House, Stephen King; Porno by Irvine Welsh and Sadly I was an
Only Twin by Peter Cook (which caused me to laugh out loud on a train
journey so often yesterday fellow passengers looked nervous); also
reading in progress - I find I can only read a bit or so at a time
because they are "heavy": The Divine Comedy (Dante) and Paradise Lost
(Milton) - to support an ongoing theory I have that Dante mapped hell
and Milton gave us its history. OK this is perhaps a bit off topic
but what I am trying to demonstrate is fairly catholic tastes in
reading. I like stories best. Sometimes I want to be entertained,
sometimes I want to exercise my brain. Reading HP books in the
company of a board like this gives an excuse to do both - what's
wrong with that?
I say keep reading, comics, cereal packets anything - English
teachers have an uphill struggle these days to get kids to do it and
many say the HP series has really helped get the message across.
June
More information about the HPforGrownups
archive