A good narrative strategy (was Re: All the World's Problems; )

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 126039


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lupinlore" <bob.oliver at c...> 
wrote:

Lupinlore:
> The WW as she describes it has a LOT of glaring faults, but it is 
also
> simpler, more personal, and filled with issues that, for all the
> greyness and murkiness we sometimes see in the books, are still 
quite
> a bit neater than those faced by the Muggle world.  Evil and Good 
are
> relatively clear in the WW world compared to ours, and it is 
possible
> still to have romance and heroism in a pure sense.
> 
> I suspect that JKR is often very disappointed and disapproving of 
the
> things she sees in the real world.  I in no way mean to mock her or
> belittle her for that, because a lot of people are less than 
enchanted
> with modern life.  But she has said firmly she does not believe in
> magic, and her depictions of Little Whinging hint that she has a 
less
> than favorable view of the kind of Middle Class ethos that dominates
> so much of the culture, society, and politics of the Anglo-American
> world.  We know that much of her own life, including her first
> marriage and, if the media are to be believed, her relationship with
> her father, has been filled with difficult and long-lasting 
problems. 
> 
> I suspect that the WW is very attractive to her because, for all its
> inadequacies, it is still a smaller, simpler world of romance and
> adventure and heros and magic where Good can face Evil in a literal
> way, and where a brave individual can make a fundamental difference
> through heroic action and determination to follow what is right.  To
> mix that with the "real" world, that is the stuffy, complicated,
> murky, Muggle world where romance and heros sometimes seem like 
things
> for childrens books; where individual initiative often seems to mean
> nothing against the iron wheels of economics and the quagmires of
> political interest;  where even in the pursuit of good and right
> collective action, organization, and professionalism are often more
> important than bravery and heroism;  where the society of Little
> Whinging is often the dominant factor; where Good and Evil are often
> difficult to define and once defined, to do anything with; might 
well
> seem to her to be a betrayal.

Geoff:
A rather belated reply to this post but I wanted to add twopennyworth
of my own.

I think that my view would parallel that of JKR which Lupinlore puts
forward as a hypothesis. I am often disappointed with the modern
world and the way in which thoughtfulness, beauty and pleasure are
trampled by the leviathan of global commerce. I rarely read or watch
so-called "real life" dramas when all I have to do is flip on the 9
o'clock news.

I am perhaps an idealist in that I like to have good and evil clearly
delineated for me; the good wear white hats and have a twinkle in
their eye while the bad wear black and hiss evilly. OK, so it's 
escapism
but I have over the years grown to love many books like this, both
for adults and children - although I think that distinction is an
arbitrary one. Those of you who read my posts will know that I am an
unashamed fan of the Lord of the Rings. I first met it a year or so
after publication and it took me away from the rather gloomy world
view of the 1950s. I was reminding a youth group member at church the
other day, that when I was his age, I seriously believed that I might
not make it to be 21, so brittle was the peace between the West and
Russia. Other books since then which have given me great pleasure are
the Narnia series and two of Alan Garner's books by which involve
children and magic ("The Weirdstone of Brisingamen"and "The Moon of
Gomrath") - short in comparison but strangely similar to the worlds
of Harry Potter and of Tolkien.

In gloomy circumstances, one looks for reading material which will
lift you out of the mundane into the heroic, where, in your mind's
eye, you can stand alongside Frodo as he faces Shelob or join Harry
as he dodges the Basilisk. There is a real place for the simple in
today's world; a place where you do not have to analyse the villains;
where your Dursleys are almost figures of fun. I suspect that, in
reality, I would not want to spend a fortnight with Aragorn trekking
from Bree to Rivendell across the Midgewater Marshes or put up with a
Potions lesson when Snape was in a testy mood but it is better for a
few hours at least than contemplating global warming or the problems
of the Northern Ireland peace process or why my tax bill has jumped
so much.

Let's face it, I just haven't got as far as my second childhood
because I'm not out of the first one yet. :-)