The New Canon is a regular feature, contributed by Ted Gioia, focusing on great works of fiction published since 1985. These books represent the finest literature of the current era, and are gaining recognition as the new classics of our time. In this installment of The New Canon, Gioia looks at Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling.
One might think it unnecessary to make a case for this book. After all, it did more for the cause of reading than any novel of the last century. It gave an enormous boost to the purveyors of books far and wide, launching a series that has sold more than 400 million copies to date. It has inspired other writers to publish more than 300,000 (no, I am not kidding) Harry Potter-inspired stories of their own in various on-line forums. It has enchanted readers, young and old, and will certainly continue to do so for many generations to come.
In short, if you had to place a wager on the one book published in your lifetime that will still be widely read a century from now, this is where all the smart money would go. It’s a no-brainer. Today’s children will read it to their own children and grandchildren, who in turn... well, you get the idea.
Yet when I suggested in an article that J.K. Rowling might be as deserving of a prestigious literary award as, say, Doris Lessing, I was subjected to some serious eyebrow-raising. Of course, we will see if Lessing’s work in speculative fiction, Canopus in Argos: Archives, is still in print in a hundred years. The fact that it is out of print now, only a little more than year after Lessing was honored with the Nobel, is not an encouraging sign. No smart money on that horse, my friends.
Of course, Harold Bloom will tell you that "Rowling's mind is so governed by clichés and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing." A.S. Byatt has suggested that the Harry Potter books were written for “people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons." Given J.K. Rowling’s apparent ineptitude, one wonders why these books have become so much more cherished than, say, The Flintstones or those manga paperbacks remaindered in stacks down at Barnes & Noble. Could it be that J.K. Rowling knows something that Professor Bloom doesn’t? Hmm, can I wager on that one too?
Anyone who has spent some time with the Harry Potter books will quickly discover why these works are so appealing. I have written elsewhere that the most successful works of speculative fiction are similar to what anthropologist Clifford Geertz described in his influential 1973 work The Interpretation of Cultures as “thick description” ethnography. While the “thin description” focuses solely on one aspect of a culture, the “thick description” aims more ambitiously to convey the context as well.
Article comments
1 - Robert M. Barga
Her books are obvious and cliche, but that doesn't mean that they are not good.
Look at her stories as character studies, and then you notice they are a redemption story for Snake and Malfoy, not a story about Potter
That is when you see the true intellegence behind the books
2 - Katiedid
Movie critics hardly like the ones we appreciate, and book critics are so busy being "smart" that they fail to realize that there is more than one way to do something.
To read a Harry Potter novel is nothing but pure entertainment, pleasure, and escapism. Those are definitely my definitions of a classic novel. One I am unable to put down, and wish to re-read to make sure I did not miss a single word.
3 - C.M. Warren
I am a huge harry potter fan myself, simply because the story she wove was so complex, and yet so simple. When you distill the themes and plots of the series, it is remarkable how what drives the stories is in the end something simple, and human.
What made me fall in love though was the richness of her world, in both scale, and intimacy. It feels large because it really is, but because she takes so much time introducing us literally to hundreds of characters, and situations that are both simple and complex at the same time, you can wrap yourself in her storytelling, and just let the words take you too a vivid world.
She may not be the worlds greatest writer, and she did do things that annoyed me at times, but she also is one of the worlds most proficent story tellers. I will never regret slipping into harry's world many times, and just exploring the sheer humanity of a world that should feel so foriegn.
4 - jamminsue
Thanks for this article; JK Rowling certainly did a great job. I have had great fun with the Harry Potter series. I am a college student, acquiring a Classical education, and finding reference to a number of beasts and people in Harry's world that existed in other planes is neat. Not only did she refer to the ancient Greek/Roman worlds (three-headed dog) and the terrible period that followed, (Nicolas Flamel) but even to such arcane worlds as the Celts. The wood chosen for Harry's wand is the wood of July in Celtic lore.
I believe the third book, Prisoner of Azkaban is the best of the seven.
I agree with the redemption of Snape idea, as one of many levels of allegory that are weaved in this book.
Also - I was given a copy of Beetle Bard and found the collection of short stories to be wonderful.