Another Harry Book!
I didn’t read the article, but I’ve little doubt that it referred to JK Rowling’s recent hint that she might write another Harry Potter novel one day.
I’ve never read a Harry Potter novel because I’ve never felt inclined to read one. I am reliably informed, however, that the Harry Potter series is exciting and entertaining. I’m told that it’s the apogee of fiction-as-entertainment, and I have no objection to that. Fiction can fill a number of roles, just as other creative forms can. It would be a tedious world indeed if all we had was the deep and meaningful stuff. I intend no criticism of Harry Potter.
Nevertheless, there is one thing that might give us pause for thought. The fact that sales of Harry Potter novels used to run into millions of copies in pre-orders alone was always seen as cause for great celebration. And yet only yesterday I read that Howard Jacobson’s novel The Finkler Question, which has just won the Man Booker Award, has so far sold a grand total of 8,500 copies.
OK, we live in a candyfloss world in which entertainment will always outsell the deeper stuff by a sizeable margin; but I still find it a little sad that the margin should be quite so big.
2 comments:
How can she write another HP novel? The last one ruined the series quite enough in my opinion. (and I love Harry Potter, so its a criticism out of care)
We were talking about this in English today, actually. My teacher and I agreed that a novel can have great value even if it doesn not address deep moral/philosophical dilemmas. Therefore Harry Potter and the Finkler Question may be on an equal level. The question then becomes: what makes Harry Potter so marketable? rather than why do people go for entertainment rather than deep thinking?
Not easy for me to answer this, since I've only ever read one page of a Harry Potter book. I did so to judge her prose style, which I found bland but more functional than a lot of well known writers.
All I can offer is this. I know three people who I would call deep thinkers, and who are all Harry Potter fans. They tell me that Harrry Potter is highly engaging, but asks no questions and sets no challenges. Ergo, a book that is highly engaging (i.e. entertaining) but doesn't require the brain to do any work is surely the reason why it's marketable. I'm guessing, of course.
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