The Order Of The Phoenix
Jan. 30th, 2007 05:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloWhen has there ever been a best-selling children's fantasy quite so long or quite so grim?
Harry Potter's schooldays are turning into a via crucis.
Rowling's universe expands. The Ministry of Magic and Grimmauld House are wonderful. The Ministry makes me think of the Circumlocution Office in little Dorrit. Grimmauld House (inspired name) makes me think of Arthur Clennam's house- also in little Dorrit.
In fact all the way through I was thinking of Little Dorrit. (Little Dorrit is my favourite novel). Mature Rowling is a lot like mature Dickens- lots of jokes but an unremittingly sombre vision of life.
Dolores Umbridge is so New Labour.
This is a very ambitious book. As inventive as ever, but with a deepening moral complexity.
Will the movie be able to deal with the moral complexity? I doubt it.
Invention+moral complexity=literary greatness: discuss.
Oh, it's not perfect. Nothing so big could possibly be perfect. I didn't care as much about Sirius as I think I was supposed to. But I do care about Harry's anger. Harry's anger is wonderful. Rowling remembers what it feels like to be 15.
And Luna Lovegood. Now there's a truly Dickensian creation.
Harry Potter's schooldays are turning into a via crucis.
Rowling's universe expands. The Ministry of Magic and Grimmauld House are wonderful. The Ministry makes me think of the Circumlocution Office in little Dorrit. Grimmauld House (inspired name) makes me think of Arthur Clennam's house- also in little Dorrit.
In fact all the way through I was thinking of Little Dorrit. (Little Dorrit is my favourite novel). Mature Rowling is a lot like mature Dickens- lots of jokes but an unremittingly sombre vision of life.
Dolores Umbridge is so New Labour.
This is a very ambitious book. As inventive as ever, but with a deepening moral complexity.
Will the movie be able to deal with the moral complexity? I doubt it.
Invention+moral complexity=literary greatness: discuss.
Oh, it's not perfect. Nothing so big could possibly be perfect. I didn't care as much about Sirius as I think I was supposed to. But I do care about Harry's anger. Harry's anger is wonderful. Rowling remembers what it feels like to be 15.
And Luna Lovegood. Now there's a truly Dickensian creation.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 07:48 pm (UTC)Up until now there's been no serious questioning of the ethos and rules of Hogwarts, but now- as Harry becomes an angry adolescent- that's all changing. Take the school points system- why should we care what house wins at the end of the year when an evil-minded little git like Malfoy can empty the Gryffindor hourglass on a whim? And maybe there are more important things in life than Quidditch.