Cloudland Revisited: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
I didn’t keep up with Harry Potter after reading the first book and seeing the first movie in 2001. Recently, critical duties have required my viewing of two of its sequels. In an earlier e-mail incarnation of these postings, I offered my opinion of the first one. I now present it yet again edited, but its opinons still held.
I’ve read the book. Seen the movie. Now my report on the matter.
When I finally read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, a few short weeks ago, it was already sagging under its fame. Thanks to the juggernaut of modern post-movie Hollywood (they haven’t made films or movies in decades; it’s all product spinoff now.) we have not a fine children’s book that’s transcended its intended audience like Alice in Wonderland or Winnie the Pooh, but the phenomenon of ballooning expectations, punctured by oversell.
While I was initially enthusiastic, I finally found the novel entertaining, but rushed and perfunctory. J.K. Rowling draws her inspiration from two English storytelling traditions: the schoolboy novel (Tom Brown’s School Days) and the sturdier, enchanting tradition of the fantasy (Tolkien, C.S. Lewis). But her voice is modern: straightforward and spare. She seems to take for granted the wizard world that Harry enters and so, it seems, does Harry and everyone…
