Must reading from Michael Bérubé, Harry Potter and the Power of Narrative. It’s a insightful (and touching) analysis from a literary critic (and a pdf file).
I can’t possibly do justice to any of the plots of these books, let alone the subplots, sub-subplots, and moments of inspired levity and bewildering pathos. Indeed, that’s one of the complaints about Rowling’s creations—that they are too baroquely plotted, too cloak-and-dagger-and triple-reversal-with-a-double-axel, as if they are children’s versions of spy fiction in the mode of Robert Ludlum. But it’s astonishing to me that tens of millions of young readers are following Rowling through her five-, seven-, and even nine-hundredpage elaborations on the themes of betrayal, bravery, and insupportable loss; it’s all the more astonishing that one of those tens of millions is my own “retarded” child, a child who wasn’t expected to be capable of following a plot more complicated than that of Chicken Little. And here’s what’s really stunning: Jamie remembers plot details over thousands of pages even though I read the books to him at night, just before he goes to bed, six or seven pages at a time. Well, narrative has been a memory-enhancing device for some time now, ever since bards got paid to chant family genealogies and catalog the ships that laid siege to Troy. But this is just ridiculous.
Book four, here I come.
Link via Unfogged.
I don’t have much to add, except to describe my entrance into the world of Harry Potter. My mom was reading “Sorcerer’s Stone” to my sister. It must have been 2000 or 2001. I was working on some sort of art project, and was listening in as well.
It didn’t take three chapters for me to drop my work and take up a seat on the recliner.
Aislinn and I, both in our 20s, remarked on how engaging the book was. The incredible attention to detail was what sucked me in: the first mention of a Nimbus broom made me realize just how intricate the world was: “She’s thought of everything!” I remarked.
I read “Half Blood Prince” again on Sunday, time for “Order of the Phoenix.” You’re getting to the good ones now Ken.
Brilliant article. Thanks for posting.
I’ve always maintained that telling stories is a much better way to get one’s point across, and when I worked in politics, I was always looking for the ‘story’ to illustrate policies. Narrative is indeed powerful.