I'm not aware of the controversies around Harry Potter and its author, but
I suspect (as I can't remember a whole lot of claims that female authors
are derivative rather than allusive) that whatever ill-will is about has
more to do with her overwhelming financial success. The green-eyed monster
never rests.
Mark
At 11:29 PM 6/20/2003 +0100, you wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Douglas Clark" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Friday, June 20, 2003 3:16 PM
>Subject: Re: Sir Thomas Browne
>
>
> > Mrs Coulter is the villain/heroine of Philip Pullman's three volume
> > masterpiece 'His Dark Materials' (is that right Dom?)
>
>Quite right. Although "His Dark Materials" is a reference to Milton, Pullman
>is in general much more into Blake (the Blake of "energy is eternal
>delight", specifically). There's a little spangly, twinkly moment in vol ii
>where he just careless chucks in a line about his heroine, Lyra, being "a
>little girl, lost"...
>
>Both Rowling and Pullman are highly *lettered* writers. It annoys me when
>people go on about Rowling's "originality", because the Potter series is to
>such a large extent a re-weaving of existing material from all over the
>place, and it annoys me even more when people who know this then accuse her
>of being derivative and second-rate, because the reworking is a good deal
>more knowing and inventive than they want to give her credit for. Funny how
>everyone seems to be able to recognise an *allusion* when it's essayed by a
>male author...
>
>Dominic
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