Five Points to Ravenclaw
The beautiful and talented Mrs. Wright pens her musings on Harry Potter, and spoiler-free thoughts on the recent release of JK Rowling’s latest.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , by the bye, is not a book, nor did Rowling write it: it is the script of a play based on a treatment she wrote. Some emptor who were insufficiently caveat , if I may coin the expression, apparently bought it, poor fools, without knowing that crucial tidbit of information about what they were buying.
http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/2016/08/01/a-little-touch-of-harry-in-the-night/
Saturday night, standing between the trolley witch’s cart and the wand maker, surrounded on all sides by charm and wonder that was the world of Harry Potter, I couldn’t help recall how I had come to be there.
The first time I ever heard of Harry Potter was nearly two decades ago. John had been reading an article that mentioned complaints about some “overly-masculine” book from England, where children characters still punched each other.
Some months later, I walked into Barnes and Nobles, and they had a display showing a rather charming book cover. The title of the book had the boy’s name in it. It reminded me of Encyclopedia Brown, Tom Swift, and other books John had loved as a boy. I called him over and showed it to him. His face lit up. “That’s the book I told you about!”
The title was: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Doesn’t the cover even look like one of those old boys adventure books?
The title made me smile, because it reminded me of the Philosopher’s Stone (Little did I guess that it actually was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, only they’d dumbed it down for Americans.)
“Let’s get it.”
We read it to each other on our Christmas trip to John’s mom’s. We LOVED it.
It was entirely enthralling. It had the cheer and the wonder of a fairy tale, but the concreteness of the modern—or at least semi-modern day. There was a lonely orphan boy and a talking snake. A friendly giant who told the lonely boy that he was a wizard. (Even today, that scene brings tears to my eyes, every time I reread it.) There was a magical boarding school with moving staircases, cruel professors–though no more cruel that the real professors at the boarding school C. S. Lewis attended, and a Forbidden Forest.
What more could the child-like heart of a fantasy fan desire?
Read the whole thing. The column, and, if you like, the script of the play.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
