thank you and goodbye, J.K. Rowling...

[electricland]

Ursula K. le Guin disposes of Harry Potter in 2 sentences over at the Guardian. Link snurched from officialgaiman.

Comments

[wanderingaengus.livejournal.com]

A little harsh, really. "Ethically mean-spirited"? Maybe it's because I was comparing it to Tolkein's imperialist fantasias, but I thought Rowling's sentimental liberalism was one of the charms of the series. Although I prefer Phillip Pullman's brutally anti-clerical secular humanism.

Re:

[electricland.livejournal.com]

You think? I didn't have a problem on first reading but on reflection and rereading I think Harry and co. get away with absolute murder -- he triumphs because he is The Hero Of The Story, not because he's done anything particularly heroic. Bad guys are defined as bad if they are Mean To Harry. (I will now proceed to demonstrate how long it's been since I've read one by my inability to recall concrete examples.) OK, in the first book, take the House Cup. Dumbledore displays absolutely monstrous favouritism towards Gryffindor at the end of the book for no discernible reason except to do down Slytherin.

Uh. More examples later, maybe.

Incidentally this is more or less the reaction I'd expected from Ursula K. Le Guin, having read some of her other non-fiction stuff (which is great). She is all about journeys of the soul and living with the consequences of one's actions which, let's face it, you don't get much of in HP.

How do you reckon sentimental liberalism? (Possibly I don't notice it because I'm a sentimental liberal myself.)

Very cool.

[life-on-queen.livejournal.com]

See? SEE?

I TOLD you. Didn't I tell yo--psst!

Cranky looks around

Wha?

Yo, Tex, it's rude to gloat.

o_O

Yeah, I'm talking to you.

But I told her.

Yes. And she knows you told her: you've had this conversation before. I sure she remembers

How can you be sure?

She's very intelligent.

But I told her.

Yes. We know. Enough.

But--

Enough.

Oh, fine, then. >:L

Sorry, my inner Jen got the better of me... ;]

Hogwarts "looks like Britain"

[wanderingaengus.livejournal.com]

The race/gender diversity of Hogwarts would be my prime example of JKR's liberalism.

You are right that the school is tremendously silly and unfair. The four houses are clearly not equal; can we guess what house Dumbledore belonged to? I don't know that the series can be described as "mean-spirited", though. I think Rowling's been trying to make the story more complicated as the characters grow older. Everybody else still refers to Voldemort as "You-Know-Who" and treats him like Sauron -- a quantum of motiveless malignity. Harry, though, recognizes that Tom Riddle has a history.

Re: Hogwarts "looks like Britain"

[life-on-queen.livejournal.com]

The muggles versus magic-users distinction is troublesome and has definite classisist overtones never really confronted in the four books. There is, for example, no heroic or sympathetic muggle character to offset harry's relations.

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

Goodness. That was a rather sweeping dismissal. I'm not sure what she means by "ethically mean-spirited." I'd ask her, but I get the feeling I wouldn't be graced with an answer.

However, there was something she said which left me a bit puzzled; she mentions reading "Lady Frazier's Leaves from the Golden Bough as a kid." I've tried looking for such a book and have come up empty-handed. Then again, she (or the person who typed up the interview) misspelled the last name, which should be "Frazer." I wonder if she means an abridged edition of The Golden Bough which several sites have said were supposedly compiled by Sir James's wife in 1922.

...and upon further inspection, using the correct spelling of the last name, here it is. That made a huge difference in the search results. Looks like The Guardian should correct that in the article.

Re: Very cool.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Hee.

And if I recall, I agreed with you. Maybe not immediately, and maybe I forgot to mention it to you, but I did. Eventually.

(Hah. I can take the pleasure out of winning TOO, ya know.)

Re: Hogwarts "looks like Britain"

[wanderingaengus.livejournal.com]

OK, I feel silly acting as the defender of all things Harry Potter -- but that doesn't mean I can't do it:

Good muggles? Hermoine's parents. Other than them? The muggles are the subalterns here -- as Marx would say, they cannot represent themselves, they must be represented. The muggles have had no say in the conflict between those who would oppress them and those who are "looking out for their best interest." Patronizing, no? I did say JKR was putting forward a kind of sentimental liberalism -- if you find that ethically dubious, join the club. But still not "mean-spirited."

I would like to imagine that the muggle-wizard divide is one of the issues to be addressed in the last couple of books. But who knows?

Re: Very cool.

[life-on-queen.livejournal.com]

*fartingnoise*

[whimcomic.livejournal.com]

Looks like I may have to read Wizard of Earthsea etc. after all.

Although I agree a bit about the meanspiritedness, it's sort of. Um. Nice to see the spirit of Enid Blyton carried forward so directly.

Re:

[electricland.livejournal.com]

It is sweeping, you're right... and I have to admit, despite several days of intermittent thought, I haven't come up with any better examples to defend it.

But, y'know, you could ask. ;)

Re:

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Well, the two series are trying to do very different things. I'm very fond of the Earthsea series myself... I'd say it's worth your time.

I suspect the sweeping dismissal is, as much as anything, the result of slight miffedness at the stacks of uninformed critics who greeted HP with glad cries of "Oh! My! A school for wizards! How original! How marvellous! How come nobody ever thought of that before?" Which I can kind of see.

Re: Hogwarts "looks like Britain"

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Well defended, and very good points.

Several days of intermittent brain cudgelling later, I haven't come up with better examples (of course, my brain is not at its best just at present). Perhaps 6 months from now I will come up with something...

I'd also like to imagine the divide will be addressed in the last couple of books, but I have my doubts; I don't think their increase in length has been accompanied by a corresponding increase in complexity. A little bit, sure. We'll see...

Re:

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I could ask. I probably won't, though. I'm not miffed that she doesn't care for it (or is neutral on it); no one has to like the series. I was just a bit bothered about the sweeping characterization, which implies (to me) that she hasn't read the whole series. (And I could see why she might not have wanted to, so I'm trying not to fault her there, either.)

I do admit that Ms. Rowling's "Gryffindor=good, Slytherin=bad" is a bit much, but one does have to keep in perspective that these were written with children in mind, who tend to think in those ways until they begin growing up, which Harry has begun to do. (Such as in Order of the Phoenix, which springs a lot of that sort of thing on you in interesting ways. I found Snape more sympathetic as a result, and it felt to me like Harry felt the same way even if he didn't want to be due to past experiences with the potions master.)

That said, although I struggled with the first two books of the Earthsea series, I do like her writing and am glad for Ms. Le Guin's accomplishments. :)