We don't need no education

[altariel]

katlinel has a splendid post about the Harry Potter books as boarding school stories rather than fantasy books.

Comments

[archbishopm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what my mother said about them ages ago, "boarding school books" (I am so in the dark I didn't even realize that was a genre) with the supernatural as a "hook".

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I had never seen it until Katlinel said it, and then I went, "Aaaaaah!"

Yes, it is indeed a genre. Did you not trawl through the vast number of Enid Blyton school books as a kid?

[archbishopm.livejournal.com]

I generally eschewed anything that didn't have a rocketship on the cover.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The one thing that the Malory Towers books sorely lacked.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the rec.

And that is just such a wonderful Santa icon. The cheesy grin really adds to it.

I've added some replies to the comments on the post, so I'm banging on even more.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Good comments on the thread; thanks for pointing me to them.

We're having our seasonal viewing of The Box of Delights, and one of the girls in it is called Susan. She doesn't have much character in the TV version, and I haven't read the book - but could she be another data point for your theory? (Can't remember if she was on your list previously.)

I like Sisko's festive leer too ;-D

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I know I haven't read Box of Delights but I would have thought I'd have seen the TV programme. Maybe not, or maybe I'm just confusing it with other similar programmes.

Anyway, thanks for the pointer. I'll have to read it, and see if I can add it to my 'Susan' theory.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

If you have difficulty finding a copy, we have a very nice hardback copye here. It's abridged, though - apparently it's very difficult to find unabridged versions of it.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I wonder why it's abridged so often?

I have a feeling that it's discussed in one the Alison Lurie books on children's lit - I'll have to look it over again.

[kathyh]

Just butting in here. Does the abridged version say it's abridged because it doesn't anywhere on my copy (and I'd be very upset if it was)?

The Box of Delights is required Christmas viewing in our house *g*.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Ours has 'abridged' on the cover. A little bit about abridged versions here (and read down); I suspect that your copy will be unabridged.

Glad to hear its a Xmas tradition with you too! Usually we try to watch it in one sitting, and I always fall asleep partway through, so I've never got to the end! We've been wiser this year, watching two episodes a night. It's been very Christmassy.

[kathyh]

It sounds like we do have an unabridged copy. Phew...

Glad to hear its a Xmas tradition with you too!

Definitely. It's our ultimate Christmas weapon in a campaign to revive flagging Christmas spirit. The Box of Delights and a blast of Vaughan-Williams Hodie and we're all set. We usually watch an episode a night up until Christmas but we've mistimed it this year as we're going away tomorrow and are only on episode 4. I think we may have to take it with us!

[furius.livejournal.com]

It's funny, when my mother asked me what HP's like when I first started reading them, I said it's a combination of English boarding school stories (Blyton co-ed) and Roald Dahl. She then told some of her friends and actually managed to convince them that it's not morally subversive books with magic...-_-

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The idea of them being school books passed me right by. I was completely distracted by the magic.


morally subversive books with magic

Related to this, Katlinel makes another excellent point about the HP books in the comments on that thread: "Boarding school stories are usually about conformity and assimilation, and that's what I see going on in HP, rather than the misfit finding their place."

[avon7.livejournal.com]

It took me ages to read them because of all the hype - but the moment I did I realised that they were just classic school stories. I bet I know exactly the books JK read as a kid. I still like them, quite a lot actually, but I can't be doing with the ooh-ahh this has changed children's literature bit!

[paranoidangel]

It took me ages to read them because of all the hype - but the moment I did I realised that they were just classic school stories.

I was going to say that :)

I thought as I was reading it that the reason they were popular is all the ordinary school stuff in there that everyone can relate to to some extent.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Very early on, I thought they were Jennings with broomsticks, only she has not, IMO, got the same gift either for prose or for humour that the late Buckeridge had,

[altariel.livejournal.com]

No, they're not the most accomplished of books. I think of them as being like a bag of Quavers: you know that they're a bit cardboardy but you can't stop consuming them.