Literary value and fan interaction - please help with my research!

[thinmanjones1983]

No: HPFGUIDX 162639

Hi all,

I'm working on a college paper (about 25 pages) in literature about the
Harry Potter books. The purpose is to establish if and how these books
can be evaluated on a literary basis and, more importantly, if and how
these values are affected by the communities surrounding J.K. Rowling
and the Harry Potter series. What I'm after especially is the
interaction between reader and writer, to see if the feedback from fans
and critics has had any influence on Rowling's work. It would be a
tremendous help if all of you took the time to reflect on this matter
and try to answer a few questions. Hopefully, your contributions will
form the empirical core of my paper and result in some nice scientific
research as well. Please try to be as concise as possible and to not
stray from the topic. Also bear in mind that english isn't my first
language, so feel free to correct any mistakes or to ask about
obscurities in my writing.

So, without further ado, here are the questions:

1. What do you think of the Harry Potter books and why? (I realise
nearly all of the members are likely great fans, but I'm aiming for
objectivity here. Don't hesitate to offer literary criticism if you have
any.)

2. How would you say the series compare to similar books in the genre
(e.g. works by J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Natalie Babbitt, Diana Wynne
Jones, Philip Pullman, Roald Dahl etc.) on a literary level?

3. Do you have any experience, personal or otherwise, of interaction
with J.K. Rowling? If so, what was the nature of the interaction?

4. Have you had any indications that Rowling changed something in her
books because of outside influence? If so, what kind of influence and by
whom?

Lastly I'd like to offer some food for thought and spark to a possible
debate (but please refrain from flaming of any kind). Most of you have
probably encountered some form of criticism against Rowling and/or her
books, more or less constructive and sensible. I've recently read parts
of a book by Jack Zipes (Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of
Children's Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter) where he
argues that children's literature represents one of the most significant
sources of commercial homogenization. He has some strong points though I
sometimes feel that he's too broad in his statements; what interests me
is his labeling of the Harry Potter series as sexist, conventional, and
too mainstream. However, he bases his arguments on the first four books
(Sticks and Stones was published in 2001) and points to the similarity
of the plot points in the different stories, as well as the lack of real
female heroes or villains. Hermione is categorized as more of a helper,
which is fair, but the appearance of Bellatrix Lestrange in OotP renders
this argument invalid. The stories diverge more from the formula in the
latest two books as well, interestingly enough; especially important is
the death of major characters at the end(s). So, what I'd like to hear
is what you think of Zipes assessments and also whether you think
Rowling's less conventional stories (i.e. in OotP and HBP) is an
improvement or not. Hopefully we can delve further into this if a
discussion gets going. There are other questions concerning this I'd
like to adress, but I feel this post is already a bit long.

All feedback and contributions are much appreciated, and since I'm
Swedish I'd like to encourage those that'd rather answer in Swedish,
Norwegian or Danish to do so. If necessary I can help to summarize and
translate those posts to facilitate discussion.

Now people, please chime in on this - in my opinion - fascinating
subject!

klotjohan