Ms.
Ms. Rowling’s magic world has no place for the numinous. It is written
for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the
exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of
soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip.
Author A. S. Byatt writes an opinion piece for the New York Times: Harry
Potter and the Childish Adult. Also note the mailbag
on this op-ed piece, including the following concurring opinion:
For those of us who have many times found ourselves trapped in discussions
(if such they can be called) of this sort with adult Potter fans, but who
have lacked the clarity or sensitivity to state our side of the case so well,
Ms. Byatt’s article is indispensable: a classic and precise piece of true
criticism, neither bile nor reverence, but brilliant dissection.Let children who love Harry read on. But let adults know that their obsessive
devotion is feeding something far more frightening than the dark arts: a
retreat from the complexities of adulthood in a dangerous world.CALEB CARR
Cherry Plain, N.Y., July 7, 2003