Comments on: On Critical Reception of Harry Potter and Twilight: “It’s Deja Vu All Over Again” (Part 1: Genre)

By: Breaking Dawn Part 1 Blog Re-Cap Countdown

Breaking Dawn Part 1 Blog Re-Cap Countdown — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:54:45 +0000

[...] we count down and I rummage around to find something suitable to wear to that big swanky wedding. Part 1 Part 2 Part [...]

By: Ruth Stephanie

Ruth Stephanie — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 09:50:31 +0000

There is no room for comparison if you are going to put quality next to trash. All Twilight is, is an unnatural clumsy Bella liking a sparkly boy who wants to eat her, and an Edward who likes Bella, basing his feelings on the fact that he can’t read her mind…Yeah great story. Their being together or not, doesn’t really concern me. If they ended up having a bad break up, boohoo, I’ll welcome them to the normal world. Since they stayed together forever, well good for them, now we can finally move on. I learned absolutely nothing new about life through the infamous Twilight series. If anything changed, it was the size of my brain, actually, I think it died when I read them.

Although I must admit, I was a fan when I began reading. Except, it wasn’t popular back then, when I was reading the book in 2006, no one even knew what it was. But then of course, they stuck a face to the fictional character, and everyone was stunned. That’s when it turned annoying. Thank goodness I had the realization that Twilight, wasn’t exactly that, how do you put it? Good, as everyone made it out to be. You just have to make a literary analysis.

What’s worse is that it let people think that it is good writing, and now, all of a sudden, there are poorly written vampire stories, everywhere, it’s like the Nazi Invasion. Twilight is now the unfortunate permission to let trash be published. It’s heart breaking. If you really want a profound vampire tale, go to Anne Rice, at least it’s not written to appeal only ‘tween girls’. (God, I hate the word ‘tween’)

Well, have a nice day

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:13:43 +0000

That’s really too bad for the critics, for they will become irrelevant. If they think that they can bash wonderful books and regain dignity and respect, they are kidding themselves. They will end in a club like “literary loonies who the masses can’t understand”.
BTW, great article.

By: Forks High School Professor · The Three Literary Pigs of Postmodern Criticism

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:44:26 +0000

[...] that? As I’ve mentioned here before, the Dean of American letters, Yale’s Harold Bloom, had nothing kind to say about Stephen [...]

By: maureene7

maureene7 — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:06:38 +0000

Twilight is simply the best movie and i am so much addicted to it. Kirsten Stewart is very pretty and Robery Pattinson is so handsome!!!

By: Tinuvielas

Tinuvielas — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:25:12 +0000

A quick comment to daviesra6a: When you say that “Harry Potter is contemporary, modern and engaging with a generation of an audience who had never fallen in love with reading”, I disagree. It is all that you say, but it dos transcend age (and gender, and national) boundaries. I (44) enjoy it, my daughter (11) does, and so do my husband, son (7), niece (19) , nephews (between 12 and 16) and my mother-in-law (65). All the females mentioned have been avid readers since their elementary years, and two of them are or have been English Literature students. And lest you say, this is a potterite family, I suggest you read the polls (or, indeed, more on this site!)

By: daviesra6a

daviesra6a — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:44:27 +0000

The Harry Potter series is The Famous Five meets Mallory Towers with a hint of Catcher in the Rye on Speed. A brilliantly written children’s series by a superbly talented authoress. Anyone who claims that the narrative transcends age boundaries is reading too much into the text. Harry Potter is contemporary, modern and engaging with a generation of an audience who had never fallen in love with reading. Rowling should be applauded simply for this. Any argument that it is not a ‘classic’ should be ignored in my opinion. To accept it as part of this country’s heritage is not to ignore what came before but to accept it as a continuation of this country’s great culture.
These are just some of my views, I would appreciate any comments if people are still posting on this thread. Thanks a lot!

By: Forks High School Professor · Critical Responses to Rowling and Meyer

Forks High School Professor · Critical Responses to Rowling and Meyer — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:46:04 +0000

[...] how Harry Potter and Twilight were received by critics and readers. For Part 1 on genre criticism, click here. for Part 2 on culture war critiques left and right, click here, for part 3 on artifact criticism, [...]

By: LibraryLily

LibraryLily — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:15:42 +0000

Right you are, Mytharic! I hadn’t read Card’s article in a long time and should have re-checked it before speaking of it, as I had not correctly remembered the thrust of it.

By: Mytharic

Mytharic — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:43:00 +0000

Hi, long-time lurker, first-time poster here. I’m really fascinated by this discussion, though I don’t have much to add because I haven’t yet read the Twilight Quartet.

I just wanted to chime in on Library Lily’s comment that “Orson Scott Card, at least, is a brilliant writer who yet managed to miss the value in Rowling’s work.” I’m a big fan of his, and, barring last year’s tirade on the Lexicon suit and Rowling’s “outting” of Dumbledore, he has often praised the series:

http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2007-07-29-extra.shtml

Additionally, while I thought his article last year on Rowling was far harsher than the situation warranted, I think he was being facetious when he accused Rowling of ripping off Ender’s Game. He seemed to be trying to prove that Rowling’s claim to copyright infringement in the Lexicon case was ludicrous by raising what he thought to be an equally ludicrous claim.