Happy Birthday J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter!
Anyone remember where they were when they first heard about the Boy Who Lived? I do. I was in the back of a car going to a meeting of Aussiecon 3, the third Australian Word Science Fiction Convention. I was one of two people running the children's program, which was a mini version of the con itself, so I was a committee member. The lady sitting next to me was Alison Goodman, who has since gone on to bestseller status, but at the time had done one novel, a YA called Singing The Dogstar Blues.
Anyway, we chatted about this, that and the other and she asked me if I'd heard of Harry Potter. I hadn't; the series was fairly new at the time, maybe only the first or first and second were out. She recommended it and at the next Children's Book Week Fair I bought a copy of Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone. I'd like to say I thought, "Wow!Classic in the making!" but all I thought was, "That was fun!" and got the next one as soon as I found it.
By the time I got to the third novel, Prisoner Of Azkaban, I had come to realise that there was more to this than just another entertaining children's series. The world building had developed, the wizarding world had become a place where an innocent man could go to prison just because the unelected head of state wanted to be seen to be doing something (I'm talking Hagrid here, not Sirius, who developed this theme further) and in POS we found out that the prison was not merely bars and concrete but torture. I also noticed that the author was following Chekhov's idea that a gun on the mantelpiece in the first scene should go off by the end. I wondered what guns would go off in future. Another thing: it was the last book in which no one died.
By the time of the final novel, I had read the entire series several times. I remember that day too. I remember the bookshop queues(as a reviewer I just had to queue at the Allen and Unwin offices in East Melbourne). I remember walking down Collins Street in the city, where people were sitting everywhere reading h Potter. There were brass bands at one bookshop and a choir singing Hogwarts songs at another and people at all the table in the food court where I took my book reading the same book.
I rejoiced. All this fuss was being made about a book! Better still,suddenly it was cool to read a children's book, though there were many still reading books with the adult covers. I suppose some people just can't handle being seen with something obviously not written for adults.
I get so tired of people sneering when you tell them you're reading a children's book. But on line there are entire groups of adults discussing this universe in their forums (fora?), being passionate about it, having to be moderated, even. There are academic conferences with papers read. Personally, I just like to enjoy the books and discuss them with fellow fans, but I can understand why people make so much of it, with all the cultural background from a woman who is well educated in history, folklore and languages.
Anyway, raise your virtual glasses to J.K. Rowling and her creation Harry Potter, in thanks for introducing adults to children's literature!
Anyone remember where they were when they first heard about the Boy Who Lived? I do. I was in the back of a car going to a meeting of Aussiecon 3, the third Australian Word Science Fiction Convention. I was one of two people running the children's program, which was a mini version of the con itself, so I was a committee member. The lady sitting next to me was Alison Goodman, who has since gone on to bestseller status, but at the time had done one novel, a YA called Singing The Dogstar Blues.
Anyway, we chatted about this, that and the other and she asked me if I'd heard of Harry Potter. I hadn't; the series was fairly new at the time, maybe only the first or first and second were out. She recommended it and at the next Children's Book Week Fair I bought a copy of Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone. I'd like to say I thought, "Wow!Classic in the making!" but all I thought was, "That was fun!" and got the next one as soon as I found it.
By the time I got to the third novel, Prisoner Of Azkaban, I had come to realise that there was more to this than just another entertaining children's series. The world building had developed, the wizarding world had become a place where an innocent man could go to prison just because the unelected head of state wanted to be seen to be doing something (I'm talking Hagrid here, not Sirius, who developed this theme further) and in POS we found out that the prison was not merely bars and concrete but torture. I also noticed that the author was following Chekhov's idea that a gun on the mantelpiece in the first scene should go off by the end. I wondered what guns would go off in future. Another thing: it was the last book in which no one died.
By the time of the final novel, I had read the entire series several times. I remember that day too. I remember the bookshop queues(as a reviewer I just had to queue at the Allen and Unwin offices in East Melbourne). I remember walking down Collins Street in the city, where people were sitting everywhere reading h Potter. There were brass bands at one bookshop and a choir singing Hogwarts songs at another and people at all the table in the food court where I took my book reading the same book.
I rejoiced. All this fuss was being made about a book! Better still,suddenly it was cool to read a children's book, though there were many still reading books with the adult covers. I suppose some people just can't handle being seen with something obviously not written for adults.
I get so tired of people sneering when you tell them you're reading a children's book. But on line there are entire groups of adults discussing this universe in their forums (fora?), being passionate about it, having to be moderated, even. There are academic conferences with papers read. Personally, I just like to enjoy the books and discuss them with fellow fans, but I can understand why people make so much of it, with all the cultural background from a woman who is well educated in history, folklore and languages.
Anyway, raise your virtual glasses to J.K. Rowling and her creation Harry Potter, in thanks for introducing adults to children's literature!
2 comments:
Yes, everyone I know (both adults and children) who read the books absolutely loved them. Fair enough. My best memory of the Harry Potter phenomenon was a "Harry Potter Day" held here in a local park probably a couple of decades ago now. It was before Harry Potter was commercialized into a whole line of purchasable toys, accessories and such, so that all the kids participating showed up in homemade costumes with homemade props. I happened to be walking down the street behind a very young witch and her parents and then the little girl said, in the most plaintive voice that just broke my heart, "I wish magic was real!"
It sounds like a wonderful day. Alas, everything popular enough has become commercialised. It doesn’t mean people aren’t still making their own. When I went to see Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, the theatre was full of fans, old and young, who had made their own stuff. The only souvenirs I bought were a keychain, a t shirt and the program - all stuff I could use. By the way, since you aren’t interested in seeing or reading more, I can tell you without worrying about spoilers that by The Cursed Child, Draco Malfoy has become a decent man, father of a sweet-natured boy.
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