> a msg from magcomm at ix.netcom.com on 9/16/03 8:40 AM included ...
>
>> Finally, I do not think that racialist attitudes and subtexts can be
>> equated with "literary malfeasances." These textual elements are much
>> more pernicious and damaging than that.
>
> The current phenomenon is harry potter stories. Equally a product of the
> author's cultural roots (thereby more egalitarian in tone.)
There's a bit on the politics of race and gender in the Potter novels in this article by my friend Richard Adams (a much shorter revision of which was published in the LA Times and the Guardian earlier this year), just before HP&OP came out.
"Harry Potter and the Closet Conservative", by Richard Adams http://voiceoftheturtle.org/show_article.php?aid=170
It's a fun piece.
He promises to send me a review of the fifth instalment soon, but I don't think he liked it...
Chris