HP: Mystery or Adventure?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 118116


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Renee" <R.Vink2 at c...> wrote:
> 
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lupinlore" <bob.oliver at c...> 
> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > The words "mystery" and "adventure" are often used to characterize 
> > the HP saga.  However, these two kinds of stories have quite 
> > different characteristics.  I wonder if much of the argument over 
> HP 
> > in fan circles has to do with whether one approaches it more as a 
> > mystery or more as an adventure?
> 
> <snip>
> 
> > Personally, I think HP moves between mystery and adventure.  
> However, 
> > it is likely that there are times when we think JKR is writing 
> > adventure that she is engaged in crafting a mystery, and also many 
> > times when we are sure we are dealing with a mystery of great 
> import 
> > when in fact JKR is giving us an adventure story.  Thus arise a 
> good 
> > many of our confusions and disappointments.  And thus arise a good 
> > many of our criticisms of JKR, that is we often feel she has 
> played 
> > dirty with mysteries when she was writing adventure, and we often 
> > expect because she was doing one thing in a particular 
> circumstance 
> > she will do it in another (i.e. if x is important why isn't y?).
> > 
> 
> Renee:
> You've got some very good points here. I hope I'm not making things 
> more confusing by adding a third genre to the mix: fantasy. Though 
> it's obvious the HP saga isn't a conventional fantasy tale set in 
> some never-never land, it contains elements usually not found in 
> mysteries or conventional adventure stories, such as magic and non-
> human sentient beings. Also, fantasy tales often make abundant use 
> of symbolism and archetypes, and it seems to me HP is no different 
> in this respect. It is, for instance, particularly strong in - 
> (medieval Christian) symbolism: phoenix, stag, unicorns and snake 
> (the basilisk). Harry frequently descends into the underworld to 
> resurface more or less victoriously. Many characters have symbolical 
> names. Etc. 
> 
> And it doesn't stop at mystery, adventure story and fantasy: the 
> books also have a satirical element demanding an approach of its 
> own, and I'm sure others could come up with different genres yet. In 
> short, to analyse and interpret the books the way they deserve, it 
> won't do to slap a label on them and then proceed to unravel them in 
> terms of that particular genre alone; they have to many layers. The 
> ideal interpretation, IMO, would be one that does justice to all the 
> different elements these books are composed of and succeeds in 
> harmonising them.  
> 
> Renee

Carol adds:
It's also a bildungsroman, a novel of growing up, which most
inconveniently requires the main character and his friends to grow and
develop and change, not at all in keeping with the requirements of
either a mystery or an adventure/epic/fantasy/heroic quest, where the
plot is more important than the characters.

Carol, with apologies for oversimplification