Books for All Ages
The second Harry Potter book had this blurb:
“I’ve yet to find a child who can put it down.
Magic stuff.”
Considering how
popular the series became with adults and kids, and made JK Rowling the first
billionaire author in history, it’s easy to laugh at that blurb. Only kids
can’t put it down? Does magic appeal only to kids? Really?
Benefit of
hindsight aside, it made me realize that Maurice Sendak was right on how books
get (mis)categorized:
“I don’t write for children. I write —
and somebody says, ‘That’s for children!’”
JRR Tolkien went
a step further and questioned whether even fairy
tales are only for children, not adults:
“In describing a fairy-story which they
think adults might possibly read for their own entertainment, reviewers
frequently indulge in such waggeries as: “this book is for children from the
ages of six to sixty.” But I have never yet seen the puff of a new motor-model
that began thus: “this toy will amuse infants from seventeen to seventy”;
though that to my mind would be much more appropriate.”
Besides, as
Tolkien points out:
“It is not the choice of the children which
decides this…The nursery and schoolroom are merely given such tastes and
glimpses of the adult thing as seem fit for them in adult opinion (often much
mistaken).”
And creating
“Secondary Worlds” is very tough, so why restrict the output of that effort only
to kids:
“Anyone inheriting the fantastic device
of human language can say the green sun. Many can then imagine or picture it.
But that is not enough — though it may already be a more potent thing than many
a “thumbnail sketch” or “transcript of life” that receives literary praise. To
make a Secondary World inside which the green sun will be credible, commanding
Secondary Belief, will probably require labour and thought, and will certainly
demand a special skill, a kind of elvish craft.”
I guess part of
the reason why adults disassociate themselves from such books is that Reason
rules their world. But the two aren’t incompatible, says Tolkien:
“Fantasy is a natural human activity. It
certainly does not destroy or even insult Reason; and it does not either blunt
the appetite for, nor obscure the perception of, scientific verity. On the
contrary. The keener and the clearer is the reason, the better fantasy will it
make.”
All this
reminded me of the time my 2 year old daughter saw me reading a book, noticed
it had no pictures (only words) and asked: “Does it say ‘Once upon a time’?” I
guess we should consider all books as being in the “Once upon a time” category;
that way, we will all “live happily ever after”!
Comments
Post a Comment