Readers in the WW (was: JKR and "Think of the Children!")

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 162043

Neri wrote:
> Heroes and Heroines of fiction books are generally not required to 
> demonstrate reading fiction on page, unless the specific work of 
> fiction has direct bearing on the plot. It appears that *being* in 
> novels excuses you from *reading* them. I mean, just think of any 
> favorite fictional heroes of you and try to remember what fiction 
> they ever read. Rare exceptions to this rule seem to be romantic 
> heroines of good breeding that have to appear refined, and/or 
> destitute heroines that dream of achieving renown through becoming 
> novelists themselves. Since both Harry and Hermione don't fit into 
> these categories, I really don't feel that not reading any fiction
on page should be counted against them.

Carol responds:
I seem to recall David Copperfield, Jane Eyre, and the four heroines
of "Little Women" all taking great pleasure in reading and/or being
read to. (Jo March also wrote rather trashy, melodramatic novels,
comparable to some of the fanfic we see these days.) Maybe the
behavior of child heroes and heroines has changed since the invention
of television and movies, and especially of computers and video games,
but being in a novel certainly didn't excuse nineteenth-century hereos
and heroines from reading them.

It would be interesting, IMO, to see Harry reading for pleasure before
he entered Hogwarts, but we don't even learn the titles of the books
on Dudley's untouched bookshelves, and once Harry does start reading,
it's only his school books (and books on Quidditch and we can safely
assume that he's read FBAWTFT). He doesn't need fiction; he has the
world of the WW open to him--a fantasy world come true, but by no
means a utopia or a paradise. And he actually takes the HBP's Potions
book to bed with him and views it as a friend, not as a schoolbook, a
remarkable development in itself. 

Hermione reads for information, not entertainment, but she's
incessantly reading. And Ron? A series of comic books: "The Adventures
of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle." (Probably he also reads books on
Quidditch, and I seem to recall his studying "Which Broomstick" rather
assiduously when he actually had the prospect of getting a new one.
Granted, that seems to be a catalogue or magazine, but it's still a
forme of reading for pleasure.) Mrs. Weasley reads Lockhart's books
(and actually finds his household hints useful). The books must be
popular since Lockhart, at least until CoS, is a celebrity. And at
Slughorn's party, a celebrated author wants to write Harry's
biography, which also hints at the tastes of the WW reading public
(other than the readers of the Daily Prophet, the Quibbler, and Witch
Weekly, all of which at least some Hogwarts students subscribe to). 

It seems that people in the WW do read (though not much fiction--I
doubt that Snape' vast collection of leather-bound books contains any
novels), and the books (or comic books) they choose to read tell us a
great deal about them. IMO, the absence of works of fiction when
virtually every other kind of book, from cookbooks and how-to books to
books on self-defense and the WW's one sport (and history and spells
and potions and astronomy and magical creatures) is available, reveals
as much about the WW as it does about the characters. Maybe the Muggle
world is their fantasy world, but they know too little about it to
make it worthy of anything more complex than a comic book. (Muggle
studies consists of electrical diagrams and the physics of lifting
heavy objects without a wand. What a tragic misunderstanding that
creates!) Possibly the Quibbler could count as fiction (though it's
not intended to be), and on another level, so could the adventures of
Gilderoy Lockhart. But novels per se don't seem to be available
outside the Muggle world.

Now the question is, would Harry, left alone in his room at the
Dursleys with his spell books locked up, choose to read any of those
Muggle books that Dudley has never touched? If he doesn't, it may not
be because he has no interest in reading. It could simply be that he's
lost touch with, and interest in, the Muggle world, including Muggle
fiction.

Carol, thinking that Luna, if she survives, could write some
delightful fantasy books about heliopaths and blibbering humdingers
for WW children