Potter fails to bewitch Scots writer
July 25, 2003 at 9:44 AM ET
Geri
HPANA (via The Times)
The Times
reports that Scottish writer Ali Smith was "frightened" by the Potter phenomenon which she said was a symptom of the "juvenilisation" of society. Her comments follow the recent attack on Rowling's work by A S Byatt in a New York Times article who said the Potter books were dumbed-down literature for readers whose imaginations did not stretch beyond "soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip."
Ms. Smith goes on to say:
"I can't bring myself to read it."
"Life's too short for bad books. I can understand people's love of it because it's so average. If you took C S Lewis's Narnia and you bred it with Enid Blyton's Mallory Towers, you get this hybrid thing."
This piece is a bit late but still rather interesting to read especially since Ms. Smith has only read the first book.