Potter Hype

I know, I know, this has nothing to do with the borough of West Chester, but I couldn't help but create a post about Harry Potter. As the release date of the seventh book nears, it is impossible to avoid the hype. Newspapers have been saturated with stories about the boy wizard and his eclectic group of friends. Even we here at the Daily Local News will be running our own story about the Potter hype tomorrow. Fellow reporter Tom Hope has been working on the story today.

I'll admit, I'm a fan of the books. I was skeptical of the story a few years ago and tired of all the promotion any time a book or movie was released. But a few summers ago, I sat down and read the novels and I've been a fan since. J.K. Rowling, who has more money than any writer can dream of, succeeded at creating a magical, but believable world, much like J.R.R. Tolkien, author of "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings," did previously.
Now in no way am I saying the Potter books are as great as the classics, but I do think Rowling has successfully rehased themes such as good versuses evil, the epic hero and other ideas that are played out again and again throughout literature. And as someone with a degree in comparative literature, I do appreciate she has a lot of references to classic mythology in her books.


I'll be recieving my copy of the conclusion to the Potter saga on Saturday, when the book is released.
So, do I think "the boy who lived" will be the "boy who died" by the end of the seventh novel? It's possible. Many epic heroes die. Just look at Achilles in Homer's "Iliad," or Hector in the same epic poem. Even if Potter doesn't die, be sure a major ally or two will.
Odysseus, Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins and other epic heroes have all lost friends throughout their various sagas. Maybe, Rowling's hero will plunge into the underworld, only to return, like other epic heroes in literature. I think that may be stretching it, though.


So, that's my take on the whole Potter hype. I promise the next post will return to ramblings about West Chester, not the popular wizard that has taken up headlines in just about every major publication across the country these last few days and will continue to do so as Saturday creeps closer.

Oh, and if you have a child that may want to throw on a wizard hat and robe and attend a release party, some local places are having release parties tomorrow night, including Chester County Book and Music Company and Barnes & Noble in Exton.