Inna Khariuk, Senior lectured
Department of Modern European Languages
Chernivtsi Institute of Trade and Economics
Chernivtsi, Ukraine
Abstract. The publishing of the books in yearly instalments has contributed to the increase of interest amongst the readers’ populations, and also as a motivational factor for amassing new readers. Obviously, the development of technology, the Internet, the media, marketing, corporate businesses et cetera have contributed to the world success of the Harry Potter Series.
Keywords: mass literature, genre, fantasy, multiculturalism
Seven books in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling have broken sales records worldwide. They have been made into films which have also attracted millions of fans, and the Harry Potter brand has been a hallmark since the beginning of the new millennium. Such commercial success can be explained first by the genre of the series. Fiction or even fan fiction combined with the elements of children’s literature can’t be left without attention.
Throughout history, questions and conjecture about fantasy and its significance for individuals and in society and culture have elicited scholarly and public debate. Fantasy is a powerful psychological process that enables human beings to create new ideas and concepts in their minds by building on existing ones. Aristotle saw in fantasy an element of order; Leonardo de Vinci emphasized its visionary capacities; Immanuel Kant attributed to it an ability to enlighten. In the age of Romanticism, fantasy became the creative principle of the whole universe. Percy Bysshe Shelley saw imagination as a capacity for seeing similarity in differences; and for John Dewey, it was making a conscious adjustment between the new and the old. Although the range of information available through communication technology and various media have expanded recently, concerns about children and imagination have remained very much the same. The impact of mediated message on children’s imagination and fantasies is embedded in a discourse that can be characterized as “moral panic” about children’s culture in general, and their communication and leisure activities, in particular. [1]
Harry Potter, when it started out in 1997, was every kid's fantasy. Their escape from the real world to a fictional one. From one filled with school, and responsibilities to one where they were wizards and witches and could do almost everything.
When it started, it was a story for young kids. The first book came out in 1997 when Harry was 10. The last book came out in 2007 when Harry was 17. Assuming that the reader was 10 year old too in 1997, he was 20 when the series reached its finale.
The reader grows alongside the major characters. While the characters age by 7 years, the reader by 10. But one point to be considered is that, throughout the series, the characters (Harry, Ron, Neville, Hermione) display an EQ far greater than their age. They are far more mature and have already faced more than their share of adversities. So from a mental age perspective, the readers and the main protagonists "age together".
Rowling somehow struck the perfect balance in terms of detailing the nuances of her fictional world while at the same time managing to avoid over-loading the readers with thousands of facts and figures. Every character has a back-story that adds to their development. The magic is rooted in science with their precise wand movements, the way the curses and spells are uttered and the emotional state involved. All the spells have names that are creative and yet have a meaning, rooted in a language other than English which indicate the effect they have.
The story appeals to the nostalgic part of the human nature. Everyone wants to run off to a school that is in a castle, play rugby on brooms, fight trolls, have lavish school dinners, be confronted with something astonishing everyday, be part of a grand adventure Moving staircases, floating ghosts, talking portraits, are both enchanting and fun.
Whether by accident or design, it seems that J. K. Rowling has reflected that increasing maturity in both Harry and her audience by telling tells that become progressively darker and more complex in their characterization. This reflection of Harry's growth towards adulthood conveniently mirrors the same growth that Rowling's core audience was experiencing. It also has the side benefit of attracting the interest of adults, many of whom became aware of the books through their children but discovered something with a little more depth than the average children's tale.[5]
The books also offer a multicultural perspective and exotic flavour. The world of wizards is inhabited by various European nationals – Germans, Bulgarians, Romanians, French, and Albanians. For an average American, Australian or British child, countries like Romania or Albania are as remote as any Asian or African country. For young readers from other continents, however, description of students’ life in a boarding school somewhere in England is also as exotic as description of school life in any other remote country in the world. It is important to note though that by bringing these different cultures together J. K. Rowling promotes positive aspects of multicultural societies, fostering tolerance, understanding and co-operation. The cross-cultural aspect of Harry Potter is achieved by crossing the boundaries between the “real” and “unreal” world.
The Harry Potter series has been translated into as many as 63 languages (including Ancient Greek). The Observer has this to say about her popularity: “On today’s literary stock exchange, there’s a bull market in the Rowling shares, though it’s safe to predict that eventually there will be a corrective reaction. Where her reputation ends up is anyone’s guess. There’s no doubt she will be read by juveniles of all ages for the foreseeable future. “… she certainly understands the importance of plot, and exhibits narrative brio with a vigorous, if slightly predictable imagination. Her prose will always lack magic, or charm.” [3]
The main purposes of books are: to entertain, to inform, and to persuade. The authors who are read by the greatest number of children must be examined most carefully because it is not only the plot and the adventure that the children are attracted by, but also the attitudes, values, cultural assumptions, and ideologies which make grounds to form the children of today into the adults of tomorrow. The purpose to entertain is fulfilled by following adventures of various circles of characters intertwined in an interesting plot which subdivides into many branches which form a kaleidoscope of events. Further, readers are informed about practices in the world of wizards, which can easily be translated into the world of Muggles (ourselves). [2]
The global phenomenon of the series can be viewed as a result of the constant human need to seek a hero to win over evil. The archetypal form of the text continues the tradition of old myths, albeit in the modern context, thus making it recognizable and acceptable to people of different cultural backgrounds. The alienation of modern individuals from themselves and a lack of role models to assist the modern generations face challenges of the new era, created a space to view the main protagonists in the series as the New-Age role models. The universality of their contest to stand up against evil makes the text cross-cultural and collectively appealing
References:
1. Brycchan, Carey. (2003). “Hermione and the House-Elves: The Literary and Historical Contexts of J. K. Rowling’s Antislavery Campaign” in Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays. (ed. Giselle Liza Anatol); Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. Praeger Publisher, Westport.
2. Language instructors at English Language School at International University of Sarajevo, and students of a graduate course in English Language and Literature at International University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. November 2012.
3. Rowling’s Social and Political Agenda in the Harry Potter Series”. UW-L Journal of Undergraduate Research X. University of Wisconsin La Crosse.
4. The Observer, July 29, 2007.
5. Thomas W. James. (2011). “Repotting Harry Potter”, E-book edition, Zossima Press, Hamden CT.
