Ghost of a flea: Muggles of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your sense of humour

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November 18, 2005

Muggles of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your sense of humour

Writing for the Guardian, Richard Adams offers a useful example of single-minded muggledom in this 2003 Harry Potter book review. The interesting thing about the series, see, is not a sense of wonder and adventure but the opportunity to untangle "the themes of specifically British class prejudice and social commentary that run through the books". Let's get the ball rolling with a smeer of racism by association, shall we?

What the series portrays is a nostalgic and "small-c" conservative view of Britain. It's no coincidence that Rowling herself is an honorary member of the British Weights and Measures Association - which defends the ounce and pint, and calls the metric system "a political philosophy". Rowling's fellow members include Norris McWhirter, faithful friend of apartheid.

One can only pity anyone stuck next to this chap at a dinner party. The deluded fellow is missing the hope and heroism central to these books; sentiments diametrically opposed to a habit of sneering at everyone and everything. Or perhaps he has got the point and it repels him as surely as a Patronus spell. But it is not only Guardianista champagne revolutionaries out to strangle the magic. Some poor souls think the books are a segue into teaching biology; "wizarding is a monogenic trait, with the wizard allele (W) recessive to the muggle allele (M)" and so forth. What a nasty shock that would be for a child expecting pointy hats and fun. Not that all dreams of reason produce monsters. For example, this Harry Potter theory of programming language shows a genuine enthusiasm for the books.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at November 18, 2005 07:37 AM

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