.. of this: Harry Potter books are boring, says Children's Laureate Michael Rosen. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
To be honest, I trust Maxine's judgment on this, because I think her literary judgment is sound (No, that's not quite right. I edited a number of reviews Maxine wrote, and editors get to understand their writers. So I know that Maxine's literary judgments are sound.) Also, Maxine's view coincides exactly with my stepdaughter Gwen's. And Gwen's judgment, too, tends to be quite sound. It was sound even when she was a kid.
All I know is that my daughter, age 7 -- who reads up a storm -- did not find Harry Potter boring... and the little that I've listened to on audio books, I'd have to agree: not boring.
ReplyDeleteFor whatever my opinion is worth, I find the HP books both tedious and poorly written in comparison to many other wonderful children's and YA fantasy novels. However, I do see the HP phenomenon as a fascinating cultural development.
ReplyDeleteI made a comment but blogger ate it. Can't bear to reproduce it all here, but it's mean jealousy. Who has heard of Michael Rosen anyway, and would any paper print an article about him being rude about an obscure author?
ReplyDeleteincidentally, the guardian has since run an article in which M Rosen protests he didn't say it and never meant it, inevitably.
The rest of my comment is lost forever in blogger's machinery, probably just as well as it was not too diplomatic.
Michael Rosen is Children's Laureate in the UK, a very well-known and respected author and poet. I particularly recommend his Sad Book, written about the death of his son and one of the few picture books I consistently give as gifts to adults.
ReplyDeleteAs to 'mean jealousy' - on Rosen's or anyone else's part - it's precisely this attitude of coercion that I find so disturbing about the HP phenomenon: it's often assumed by fans that you're jealous, mean, or morally deficient in some way if you don't care for the series.
Stop 10 people on the street and ask them if they have heard of Michael Rosen, and they'll say no. Do the same for JK Rowling and 10 will say yes.
ReplyDeleteThere is an incredible amount of jealousy and spite out there about J K Rowling and her success, I've read some of it, and it is almost invariably by people who perceive themselves as less successful than her, yet can't resist attempting to cash in on her name.
The Harry Potter books are aimed at children, not adults. An adult may wish to state that they find the books poorly written, etc, but there are millions of children, the target readership, who love the Harry Potter books, don't find them boring, and are reading them as their 'number one' set of books. Some other authors find this popularity most irritating, and want to find ways to deny the appeal of this author by sneering at either her writing style or at the people who love her books, in an effort to feel superior.
Rosen has now retracted his comments - or said he never meant them in quite that way. Hmmmm.
It is like children's movies: one more often than not reads sneery reviews of them written by adults. Yet unless the critic bothered to find out what a child of the target age of the film thinks, I don't think their view has a lot of value.
I never claimed there is no jealousy of Rowling's success, only that it's rather easy to assume it where none may exist. Your original comment impugns Rosen in a manner which I suspect many in the UK children's literature community would find misplaced, given his reputation for integrity.
ReplyDeleteI'm fully aware of the need to judge children's literature by different measures of literary worth than adult. Appeal is certainly relevant. Nevertheless, popularity can be the result of many cultural factors.
I do think, Maxine, that you should avoid attributing motives to critics - 'in an effort to feel superior' - which you are unlikely to be able to judge: the ad hominem pitfall. Of course there are 'sneery reviews', but, equally, there are favourable reviews whose enthusiasm may not encompass a rigorous critical attitude - and not just of HP!
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