The English Major Strikes Again

[omorka]

The abused, neglected orphan of parents of noble lineage with the heart of gold so pure that he can stand up to exposure to pure evil and still be wholly, fundamentally good despite it all: Harry Potter is not only a fairy-tale hero straight out of the Grimm brothers, he is also the literary descendant of Oliver Twist. As supporting evidence: J. K. Rowling uses naming conventions clearly modeled after Dickens's.

Also: Harry Potter is a bildungsroman to the core. Is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid a picaresque, or does that style require them to win in the end?

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Somebody on a.c. once did a long, detailed multi-post analysis of the correspondences between Harry Potter and the Mabonognion (sp?), the canonical Welsh epic. I wish I had copied it, because IIRC it was both thorough and convincing, but now I'll never find it again.

[brezhnev.livejournal.com]

The way I heard it, picaresque generally means having one little adventure after another, sort of like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

It also (at least in its formal usage) requires either an anti-hero or at least a protagonist with glaring flaws.

[teegarden.livejournal.com]

I is confused, O Math Teacher. Is this news? Surprising? Not already known? :)

You mean to tell me that stories like this, with these sorta elements, plots, and characters ... what, they've been done before? Surely not! First time for everything, ain't that right? :)