World Building And The Potterverse

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 167379

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "horridporrid03" 
<horridporrid03 at ...> wrote:

> 
> Now of course, none of this comments on the fact that the series 
*is* 
> so popular.  I've pre-ordered DH, so I'll be boosting JKR's 
numbers, 
> and I'm sure it'll break records.  What I *do* wonder about is its 
> staying power.  Once the story is fully out there and the mystery 
is 
> gone, will Harry Potter take his place beside Peter Pan and Frodo 
> Baggins?  Or will the continuity errors and incohesive world 
building 
> cause Harry to go the way of the pet rock or monchhichis?


Well, I guess it will depend on how things end up, largely.  If she 
manages to answer enough of the outstanding plot questions and 
satisfy enough people on enough sides of enough issues, then she'll 
be in a comfortable position.  How much is enough?  Who knows?  I 
would guess if Harry dies the overall readership of the series will 
drop severely in the future.  Then again, the readership will decline 
inevitably, once everyone knows what the answers are to the various 
mysteries.  So, only time will tell.  After all, the popularity, 
sales, critical acclaim, and readership of Tolkien and Barrie (and 
Baum and Lewis and Dahl and everyone else) has varied widely over 
time.  My guess is that, if expectations of a quasi-religious ending 
play out, the best comparison will be with Lewis, and like Narnia the 
Potter books will fall in and out of relative favor over time, but 
remain standards.  However, they probably won't, in the fullness of 
time, be seen as being in the same league as Tolkien or even Howard 
or Lovecraft, largely because of the flaws in world-building, 
continuity, and internal consistency.
> 
> Betsy Hp (stunned to see Lupinlore and I in agreement on something, 
> though I'm betting I lost him on the "okay with the blood-
protection" 
> thing <g>)
>

Of course you did, as I find DD's idiotic actions (and contemptible 
inaction) in that affair to be completely unbelievable given the DD 
JKR so desperately wants everyone to buy.  But for the rest, <shrug>, 
politics is very strange.  Just ask anyone who works in Washington.


Lupinlore