Randy Burgertime
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T.C. Harris@jepyang I remain convinced that much of the American praise for the "originality" of the HP books is rooted in crediting authorial creativity for things that are actually perfectly mundanely British - like the organization of boarding schools and social classes.
Alexander The 1st@q_aurelius @jepyang To be fair, a lot of fantasy novels probably lose their lustre when you realize one world's elves are interchangeable with another, and every world's dwarves are basically LOTR dwarves with the serial numbers attached.
@q_aurelius
Me, an American, reading HP as a kid: holy shit they take *torches* to go explore the school after dark?
Me, an American, reading HP as a kid: holy shit they take *torches* to go explore the school after dark?
Kelvin n0mql EN35ldWe may’ve simply misunderstood, as that’s what the Brits call “flashlights”.
Then the American illustrator drew it as what we call a torch, & she thought to herself, “Oh, that’s even better!” then kept her mouth shut about it.
Wandering Star@q_aurelius @jepyang Much of the rest has to do with people's unfamiliarity with Dahl, Diane Duane, Tamora Pierce, and other much deeper writers.
tltroup@jepyang honestly, compared to the greater world builders, the HP world is childish.
RowinSpeez
Malcolm Westley
A Vernal Pool@jepyang I see--It never ceases to astonish me how well Le Guin could see right to the heart of something and express it so perfectly.
davidhanzlik@jepyang its been a really long time since I read the books, and I get Rowling is an anti-trans douche, but I can't remember ethically mean spirited parts of the books... is this referring to setting the kids up in competing houses Die Welle style?
hot tran*sexual menaceOne thing that immediately comes to mind: how being fat is treated as a moral failing. I don't want to have anything to do with the series anymore... but I bet if re-read the books actually paying attention I'll find lots of examples how the books are "mean-spritited".
B’Mal Suj@jepyang
I haven't read any of the HP book, but I always thought something along those lines myself.
HP was never my jam. Probably part of why it's been so very easy for me to bag on the TERF and not consumer her IP.
JohnW@jepyang Stephen King once described himself as the McDonalds of Horror authors. That, I disagree with.
But Rowling most definitely is the McDonalds of Fantasy writers. Entertaining, but nothing special.
Ursula le Guin and so many other fantasy authors I've read take the genre and go deep enough to shake a person out of the concept of what they believe fantasy to be.
A good author makes you fall into a story, not just read it.
Rainer Zufall@jepyang Do you happen to know where I can find the füll Interview?
@rainerzufall_le it’s posted somewhere else in the replies
TRiG@jepyang See also AS Byatt's review in The New York Times.
I took a couple of screenshots, but my phone is not cooperating and I can't attach them. I'll reply to this at the end of the day from a desktop computer.
jonossa seuraava@jepyang
it's actually your civic duty to share Ursula le Guin's casually devastating, icily astute take down of the harry potter novels whenever you see it
Q: Nicholas Lezard has written 'Rowling can type, but Le Guin can write.' What do you make of this comment in the light of the phenomenal success of the Potter books? I'd like to hear your opinion of JK Rowling's writing style
Ursula K Le Guin: I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the "incredible originality” of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a "school novel", good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited.
it's actually your civic duty to share Ursula le Guin's casually devastating, icily astute take down of the harry potter novels whenever you see it
Q: Nicholas Lezard has written 'Rowling can type, but Le Guin can write.' What do you make of this comment in the light of the phenomenal success of the Potter books? I'd like to hear your opinion of JK Rowling's writing style
Ursula K Le Guin: I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the "incredible originality” of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a "school novel", good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited.
@jonossaseuraava appreciated!
nev
Argot_Robbie@jepyang @CrazyMyra It's considered petulant and snobbish to dismiss popular, widely-enjoyed works out of hand, but it's still strange to see carefully-worded and thoughtful re-evaluations of Rowling, when her writing is easily seen to be bad.
OutOnTheMoors@hydrocabron @jepyang I grew up with the Gormenghast books - which are wonderful - so I was never particularly swayed by the Potter cult.
John KelldenHere's the Le Guin interview
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/feb/09/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.ursulakleguin
@johnkellden Thanks for sharing the link @jepyang
Ristin Raccoon@jepyang also Harry Potter is a fairly direct plagarism of The Worst Witch. The biggest difference between the two is Hogrwarts is co-ed and not a girls school. Right down to the main character dynamics, the main character being raised by non-magical folk, just all of it.
It’d be like me writing a story of a nazi fighting archeologist called Montana James, and maybe he could find the arc of the covenant or explore a temple of doom maybe? Original right?
@jepyang due to the interest shown…
The Worst Witch predates Harry Potter.
They have a school of witchcraft (not witchcraft and wizardry).
They have the main hero student raised by normals, the brainy one who lacks confidence and the sporty one who is a slacker as a student.
There are three main teachers and the headmistress is related to the main villain (they’re sisters) and the main villain wants to take over the school to make the students an army (for blood purity motives).
@jepyang The Worst Witch also has one non-magical member of staff, the PE teacher (instead of Hagrid’s stable-master role). Snape is a carbon copy of the strict potion mistress who is tough on the hero in The Worst Witch, they changed the name and gender, that’s it.
Really, other than opening it up for being co-ed it’s nearly identical. This would be like a cover band trying to convince you all their covers are original songs, when the solga are older than the musicians.
lertsenem@jepyang I did not know it and I love every part of it, thank you so much for sharing it.
Fardels BearPopularity is not an accurate measure of quality.
corewill@jepyang Most of the Rowling fans like Harry Potter books after watching its film series, so they are influenced by the original film of harry potter, which is a truly fascinating film that is truly one-of-a kind. If Harry Potter would not filmed, it would be just one of those commercial novels. Because people like the film series, they glorify everything including about it, including the book. In short, they are delusional like every fan is.
Charlotte@jepyang Absolutely loved #HarryPotter as a kid (and still have lots of fond memories), but this is totally true.
Need to reread Wizards of #Earthsea some time.
Need to reread Wizards of #Earthsea some time.
ekes@jepyang
Sounds more pretentious than "devastating" or "astute". I hate it when people move the goalposts to justify everything as long it bashes what or who they dislike or comes from someone they adore.
"Ethnically mean-spirited" is a good description, however; but goes on the account of not just the author but 90s/00s Britain as well.
Craig Froehle@jepyang I grew up reading LeGuin and enjoyed her books. My kids grew up exposed to both those and HP books and both preferred the latter. I was just happy they loved them so much that they turned into eager readers of everything from history to science fiction. For that, I will always be thankful this series exists.
Shawn@jepyang you can essentially say hp and the stone were rip offs of the wizards of earth sea
Twobiscuits🚴♂️ 
@jepyang There's no need to even go that far. Rowling can't write a decent sentence. As somebody said, she's never seen an adverb she could resist.
🏴🌲 RoboFionna 
@jepyang even her takedowns are eloquent!
Strange New Words (Adam)@jepyang The K stands for KO!