There have to be other childrens' series out there whose concepts are vastly more imaginative, and I know there are series with much higher-caliber writing, so why J.K. has eaten their lunch continues to puzzle me. My best hypothesis has to do with the books seeming tailor-made for a bored young tot to envision him/herself in the title role, though said girlfriend reckons that it has more to do with Rowling's creation of the illusion of a vast, highly detailed world, only some of which details are selectively doled out the reader.
Still, I'm kinda stumped.
It's pretty simple, actually (in the same sense that "evolution" is a simple answer to the question, "Why am I here?"
Rowling tells a good story. Like Og, sitting 'round the campfire 100,000 years ago, Rowling takes us out of the complexity of the present and introduces us to a new world, new enough that we feel alive as only a small child - or maybe an astronaut - can feel. As if we are walking where no one has gone before, where every dog dropping, every bent blade of grass or vanity license plate may have a meaning we have never before imagined. Harry Potter is
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<i>There have to be other childrens' series out there whose concepts are vastly more imaginative, and I </i>know<i> there are series with much higher-caliber writing, so why J.K. has eaten their lunch continues to puzzle me. My best hypothesis has to do with the books seeming tailor-made for a bored young tot to envision him/herself in the title role, though said girlfriend reckons that it has more to do with Rowling's creation of the illusion of a vast, highly detailed world, only </i>some<i> of which details are selectively doled out the reader.
Still, I'm kinda stumped.</i>
It's pretty simple, actually (in the same sense that "evolution" is a simple answer to the question, "Why am I here?"
Rowling <i>tells a good story</i>. Like Og, sitting 'round the campfire 100,000 years ago, Rowling takes us out of the complexity of the present and introduces us to a new world, new enough that we feel <i>alive</i> as only a small child - or maybe an astronaut - can feel. As if we are walking where no one has gone before, where every dog dropping, every bent blade of grass or vanity license plate may have a meaning we have never before imagined. <i>Harry Potter</i> is <i><fun</i>. Creative fun, escapist fun, imaginative fun, escapist fun.
Not escapist in the sense of distraction, but in the sense of "getting away from it all" (though that is part of the appeal), but in the sense of, "Here is something you haven't thought of before, imagined before".
Rowling doesn't ask you to analyze (though, a little, I couldn't help myself), but to <i>experience</i>. No more and no less, she is telling you a story, the sort of thing - if you were lucky - your parents told you after they wrapped you tight in your bedclothes before sleep. She isn't <i>teaching</i> you something, nor is she explaining to you why it is wrong to judge people based upon their genetic background or whether a liberal government, or a conservative is better able to protect you from evil (though I - I think - her opinions happen to roughly coincide with my own).
She's just telling a story. Which activity, I believe, may be that which is most important toward making us human.
As my friend Heath Johns once put it, "We were put on this earth to tell each other stories."
J.K. Rowling is almost finished telling us a very good story indeed.
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dancing_serpent
(no subject)
Date: 2005-08-01 11:16 pm (UTC)Still, I'm kinda stumped.
It's pretty simple, actually (in the same sense that "evolution" is a simple answer to the question, "Why am I here?"
Rowling tells a good story. Like Og, sitting 'round the campfire 100,000 years ago, Rowling takes us out of the complexity of the present and introduces us to a new world, new enough that we feel alive as only a small child - or maybe an astronaut - can feel. As if we are walking where no one has gone before, where every dog dropping, every bent blade of grass or vanity license plate may have a meaning we have never before imagined.
Harry Potter is
Still, I'm kinda stumped.</i>
It's pretty simple, actually (in the same sense that "evolution" is a simple answer to the question, "Why am I here?"
Rowling <i>tells a good story</i>. Like Og, sitting 'round the campfire 100,000 years ago, Rowling takes us out of the complexity of the present and introduces us to a new world, new enough that we feel <i>alive</i> as only a small child - or maybe an astronaut - can feel. As if we are walking where no one has gone before, where every dog dropping, every bent blade of grass or vanity license plate may have a meaning we have never before imagined.
<i>Harry Potter</i> is <i><fun</i>. Creative fun, escapist fun, imaginative fun, escapist fun.
Not escapist in the sense of distraction, but in the sense of "getting away from it all" (though that is part of the appeal), but in the sense of, "Here is something you haven't thought of before, imagined before".
Rowling doesn't ask you to analyze (though, a little, I couldn't help myself), but to <i>experience</i>. No more and no less, she is telling you a story, the sort of thing - if you were lucky - your parents told you after they wrapped you tight in your bedclothes before sleep. She isn't <i>teaching</i> you something, nor is she explaining to you why it is wrong to judge people based upon their genetic background or whether a liberal government, or a conservative is better able to protect you from evil (though I - I think - her opinions happen to roughly coincide with my own).
She's just telling a story. Which activity, I believe, may be that which is most important toward making us human.
As my friend Heath Johns once put it, "We were put on this earth to tell each other stories."
J.K. Rowling is almost finished telling us a very good story indeed.