Content area
Full Text
The enormous success of the Harry Potter novels is undeniable, and has been accompanied by a flourishing of scholarly criticism, not all of which is welcomed by J. K. Rowling's fans. As Jack Zipes pointed out in 2002, those who argue that the stories about a boy's coming of age at an elite British boarding school are not entirely original or unblemished masterpieces may find themselves "aggressively attacked" by outraged Harry Potter enthusiasts (171). I had a similar experience while presenting at a conference whose attendees consisted of an equal mix of academics and fans of the series. Among papers that dealt with such topics as slash fiction and the occult, my paper on Rowling's indebtedness to the school story tradition of the nineteenth century did not strike me as particularly controversial. Yet a veritable verbal brawl broke out among audience members as I explored some of the similarities between Rowling's tales and earlier British school stories. The suggestion that the public boarding school tradition that influenced Rowling was inherently gendered and elitist sparked a minor uproar. Audience members challenged what they perceived to be an attack on the series, pointing out that Hogwarts is coeducational and that the novels make no mention of the school charging tuition fees, thereby "proving" that it is not elitist. What struck me most was the intensity of emotion that seemed to spring from anything perceived as a criticism of Rowling's beloved tales.
This evidence is, of course, anecdotal, and I have conducted no survey to measure the variant responses of Rowling's fans; but I have seen manifestations of similar feelings elsewhere, including in my teaching. Inevitably, there are some students who resist the attempt to position Rowling's books within a broader historical context and to explore her work in relation to that of earlier writers. Two ideas in particular that meet with fierce resistance include any suggestion that Rowling is not completely original, and any attempt to illustrate how, as works that can be classified as school stories, her novels operate within an inherently elitist tradition. Why are so many devotees of the books so opposed to acknowledging Rowling's literary precedents? I believe that part of the answer lies in the fact that while those of us who...