Wright, Lori

English

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University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryMedia Relations Administrative Offices6-26-2007British Literature Expert Available To Discuss FinalHarry Potter BookLori WrightUNH Media RelationsFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/newsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Media Relations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationWright, Lori, "British Literature Expert Available To Discuss Final Harry Potter Book" (2007). UNH Today. 815.https://scholars.unh.edu/news/8159/11/17, 11'31 AMBritish Literature Expert Available to Discuss Final Harry Potter BookPage 1 of 2http://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2007/jun/lw26potter.cfm.html British Literature Expert Available To Discuss FinalHarry Potter BookContact:  Lori Wright 603-862-0574UNH Media RelationsJune 26, 2007EDITORS AND REPORTERS: James Krasner can be reached at 781-237-7401 (home),781-820-8654 (cell) or jkrasner@cisunix.unh.edu.DURHAM, N.H. – British literature expert James Krasner is available to discuss the seventhand final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, scheduled for publicationJuly 21, 2007.Krasner, a professor of English at the University of New Hampshire, can discuss the book inthe context of the genre in which it is written – British Public School novels, a popular writingstyle of 19th century Britain that may be unfamiliar to most Americans. He also can share histhoughts regarding what characters he believes will or will not survive J.K. Rowlings’ finalbook.The classic novel of British Public School genre is Tom Brown's Schooldays, set in the RugbySchool for Boys. Others include David Copperfield and Jane Eyre. “The heroes in these genressimply do not die – they are stories of development that focus on family and education.Sacrifice matters, and important characters are sacrificed, but it’s never the hero,” Krasnersays.According to Krasner, Rowling’s success has been through working in these genres – giving uscomplicated plots, likeable young orphaned heroes, hateable authoritarian villains, mean step-parents and humorous minor characters. To step out of that would be like Bach shifting to anatonal scale in the last part of a cantata – it would seem terribly dissonant, and wouldundermine the structure she’s worked so hard to create.And Rowling is more attentive to narrative structure than virtually any 20th or 21st centurynovelist – she wouldn’t throw it away just to reinforce a theme or prove a point, according toKrasner. Rowling changes the tone of the novels, just as Dickens’ tone becomes darker as hedeals with more mature subjects in his later novels, but the basic structure of the storiesdoesn’t change.“We like this genre because it makes us happy. Justice is done, the protagonist learns somelessons and ends up content. Harry doesn’t get everything he wants, but he does get friends,he gets a surrogate family in the Weasleys, he gets respect from Dumbledore, he getsrecognition for his magical powers, and he usually wins the competition he’s in, whether it’sQuidditch or the house cup. Big holes remain in his life, but the stories give us a sense ofsatisfaction. Harry dying might make some abstract point about good and evil and the9/11/17, 11'31 AMBritish Literature Expert Available to Discuss Final Harry Potter BookPage 2 of 2http://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2007/jun/lw26potter.cfm.htmlnecessity of sacrifice, but we don’t read these books for abstract points. We read them foremotional fulfillment,” Krasner says.

British Literature Expert Available To Discuss Final Harry Potter Book

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British Literature Expert Available To Discuss Final Harry Potter Book

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