What is the literary value of the Harry Potter books?

Question

Is it great literature? If yes, in what sense? I'm not asking if the story is interesting or not. I'm wondering whether there is anything innovative or great in its style, in character portrayal, in narrative development, in perspective etc. Or is it just entertainment? If possible, I would be interested in such persons' opinion who have read a lot (of good literature) and are familiar with the basic ideas of what makes good literature. But any opinion is welcome. I haven't read the books so I cannot really form an opinion. Thanks

Answer 1

Ms JK Rowling makes kids love reading, that's the point.

Answer 2

I've read 6 of the 7 books.
Yes, it is kind of innovative. The character portrayal is ok, sometimes repetitive. It came in a time when children were not reading books, so that's why it became so famous. The books portrays a lot of the magical concept. Characters develop along the books, some grow up, some not.
Most of the characters have an obscure past. The dark side of people is allways present on the books, the books have a dark atmosphere.
The are also many good characters.
It attracted the attention of many children worlwide, and of course adults. It's entertaining too. Then the movies became and more people became interested in the rest of the books. Now, after the harry potter books are finished, some people want rowling to write more books about the young wizard. It's a fenomenon of these times.
The books must have something good, otherwise they wouldn't have attracted so many readers since they were first published. The have been translated to a lot of languages.

Answer 3

It's enjoying the huge and widespread popularity that many classics do in their formative years, so that's a good sign.

The main problem I see when people try to decide if Harry Potter has literary value is that they compare it to the adult classics or semi-classics. Now I love Dickens, Twain, and Vonnegut, and I also greatly enjoyed the Harry Potter books, but I would be loathe to compare them.

What I compare to Harry Potter is Lewis Caroll's wonderful duo of Alice books, and L. Frank Baum's Oz series. This probably doesn't make sense, but I consider only the first Harry Potter book to be a children's classic. The others, I'm not so sure about (particularly the last 2). This is also my feelings, incidentally, towards the Oz series. In both series of books, the first book was not necessarily my favorite or the most entertaining, but was the one that seemed to possess the most literary merit.

Answer 4

I have read a lot of books, classic and modern style. I have to say that there are just so many different literary styles available in books that it depends on what the reader personally enjoys.
I for one, love JK Rowling's style. It isn't the hardest read, but it still keeps the story in a good flow and has obvious structure. Her character development is pretty impressive. Fans of the book know the the different characters all too well, and every one is distinguishable from the next.
I have read "classic" novels like Old Man and the Sea which is supposedly one of Hemingway's most famed novels..but I absolutely hated that style.
It just depends.

Answer 5

I think it is great literature and good entertainment. The way J.K. Rowling writes is very original. She says she had planned the whole series out - who would die, who would date, etc. If you read the whole series in order, you would realize that you wouldn't realize what's important or not. Some things such as a battered diary has such an impact in her books. Parts in the books were a bit rushed and I didn't like the dialog in some, but I still enjoy the books and they're one of my favorites.

Answer 6

It's not for us to decide but rather for future generations to do. Perhaps it it end up that the Harry Potter series is seen as one of the great works of literature of the late twentith and early twenty-first centuries. Or perhaps the series will be largely forgotten in fifty years time. and so future generations will be unlikely to have heard of it. At which point it would mostly be those studying how we lived now that might even hear of the series, and then it would only be a footnote.

Which way is it going to go? We can't honestly say right now, only guess at.

Answer 7

i might say sure. First, any set of books that has that lots impact on lifestyle and society must be examined, because of fact if the books had no inventive advantage they only does no longer be so nicely-known. even nevertheless, i think the books fee extreme advantage because of fact Rowlings did an spectacular activity of plotting some distance ahead, understanding which concepts and ideas to plant early that later had extreme relevance. yet it incredibly is only the top of the iceberg. Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone is a quite trouble-free tale (nevertheless concepts are presented that have great meaning later), yet as Harry grows, each little thing gets extra complicated. Rowlings reflects properly each little thing from lack of self belief to worry of rejection to creating the excellent decision (even no count if it incredibly is complicated) to the soreness of dropping kin. Harry's adventure isn't an subject-free one, yet he's an extremely desperate and quite imaginative individual. He additionally turns into commonly used and respected, no longer because of fact he lived, yet because of fact of what he became. matters incorporate unwavering loyalty to ones acquaintances, have confidence in mentors, a willingness to do what's solid rather of what's common, criminal, or self-serving, imaginative suggestions to impossible circumstances, the triumph of solid over evil, the complicated classes of growing to be up, and rejection of race or classification huge difference.

Answer 8

I believe that the collection is good literature, because as you red them they get older, and the readers get older too, if you read them as each of them came out. So each character changes, because they grow, their taste in things change, when they figure out problems, they figure them out differently when their older, than as a kid. It also gives any reader a more creative imagination, with the exciting events that occur. I havn't read many great books, outside of school, but i do believe that this collection of books are going to last for a very long time. i hope i did somethinig useful .

Answer 9

I enjoyed the denouement of the series. The way she took the suspense throughout the entire series was remarkable! Just as Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" had the great outcome of Pip and Estella's marriage, I would say, ( in a literary sense) she left a wonderful "trail of breadcrumbs" throughout the series to lead to a final conclusion. My opinion of course, but it really was a very solid ending.

Answer 10

I would not classify it as great literature, the only real value they have is that it is driving people to read not just Harry Potter novels but also look into more literature.

Answer 11

I've never read the books myself, but I hardly think that it'll become as popular as Dickens, or Orwell is. I have a feeling once this generation has read threw Harry Potter the generations to come will not read them. They're more on a Gaskell level... popular for the time... but not so popular in the future.