Harry Potter and the World that Read

The 80's had punk, and we have Harry Potter. Rowling won't be remembered for her astonishing use of punctuation, or harsh take on society as we know it, but for the Boy Who Lived, the Boy Made the World Read, if at all. The 80's had Sisters and the batcave, the 90's had boybands and Baby Spice, the 20's were roaring and the 00's (how will we pronounce that, I wonder? The zero's, the double o's?) fantastical. We have Voldemort (and Mpreg, Subjugation, "Twins, Separated Before Birth" and OMFG teh tentacles!!!!1111), Horcruxes and jars of dirt. As 21. July approaches, a world anticipates the final battle and wonders whether Snape is good or bad, and who dies? Oh, and is the last word really "scar"?

Is Harry Potter great literature? Is J.K. Rowling (now wealthier than the Queen Mother, but still abbreviated on her books' spines) a great writer? H.P is arguably not particularly memorably written; the sentences are bland, the grammar at times ridiculously out of hand; but it has, forgive me, Vladimir, a certain, inexplicable quality of shamanstvo; I love the H.P. books for the stories, and the fun. (Oh, fine, I confess, I nurse a fondness for Snape.) Rowling casts a spell of intrigue, and commands the art of plotting, but where her qualities as a writer fall short, the Double-o's hunger for the fantastic picks up. Fantasy has seen a renaissance at the hands of popular culture. Peter Jackson reinvented Tolkien, Rowling gave us Muggles, New Line picked up on "Narnia", "His Dark Materials" is in the making, and the world will, in two weeks time, be perfectly still as Rowling's Unforgivable Curse is cast on her fans.

I can't help but wonder, if I ever have children, if they, in secondary or primary school, will read Harry Potter in class? Or if, by then, no one knows how to access platform 9 3/4?

On 21. July, thousands of not only youngsters, but adults, will not sleep, but stay up all night, reading. Yearning to get to the end of book 7, and know how it all ends. And therein lies the magic, the wonder, the shamanstvo, the story is so captivating, that is has the world reading. Even my brother, who, when turning 13 abandoned all thoughts of ever opening a book again, has read Rowling's books, and even occasionally speculates with me on the outcome over dinner.

Harry Potter is no breathtaking work of art or philosophy, but demands respect none the less; it has spellbound the demanding audience of the new millenium - has lured them, if only for a few hours, away from facebook - only, most likely, to return to make an outrageous number of groups supporting the various characters and theories, respectively - and that is no small feat.


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("Mood: Pensieve" Pun intended.)

Harry Potter and the World that Read

The 80's had punk, and we have Harry Potter. Rowling won't be remembered for her astonishing use of punctuation, or harsh take on society as we know it, but for the Boy Who Lived, the Boy Made the World Read, if at all. The 80's had Sisters and the batcave, the 90's had boybands and Baby Spice, the 20's were roaring and the 00's (how will we pronounce that, I wonder? The zero's, the double o's?) fantastical. We have Voldemort (and Mpreg, Subjugation, "Twins, Separated Before Birth" and OMFG teh tentacles!!!!1111), Horcruxes and jars of dirt. As 21. July approaches, a world anticipates the final battle and wonders whether Snape is good or bad, and who dies? Oh, and is the last word really "scar"?

Is Harry Potter great literature? Is J.K. Rowling (now wealthier than the Queen Mother, but still abbreviated on her books' spines) a great writer? H.P is arguably not particularly memorably written; the sentences are bland, the grammar at times ridiculously out of hand; but it has, forgive me, Vladimir, a certain, inexplicable quality of shamanstvo; I love the H.P. books for the stories, and the fun. (Oh, fine, I confess, I nurse a fondness for Snape.) Rowling casts a spell of intrigue, and commands the art of plotting, but where her qualities as a writer fall short, the Double-o's hunger for the fantastic picks up. Fantasy has seen a renaissance at the hands of popular culture. Peter Jackson reinvented Tolkien, Rowling gave us Muggles, New Line picked up on "Narnia", "His Dark Materials" is in the making, and the world will, in two weeks time, be perfectly still as Rowling's Unforgivable Curse is cast on her fans.

I can't help but wonder, if I ever have children, if they, in secondary or primary school, will read Harry Potter in class? Or if, by then, no one knows how to access platform 9 3/4?

On 21. July, thousands of not only youngsters, but adults, will not sleep, but stay up all night, reading. Yearning to get to the end of book 7, and know how it all ends. And therein lies the magic, the wonder, the shamanstvo, the story is so captivating, that is has the world reading. Even my brother, who, when turning 13 abandoned all thoughts of ever opening a book again, has read Rowling's books, and even occasionally speculates with me on the outcome over dinner.

Harry Potter is no breathtaking work of art or philosophy, but demands respect none the less; it has spellbound the demanding audience of the new millenium - has lured them, if only for a few hours, away from facebook - only, most likely, to return to make an outrageous number of groups supporting the various characters and theories, respectively - and that is no small feat.


------

("Mood: Pensieve" Pun intended.)