Scéla

Celtic Studies Resources from a Digital Medievalist

Byatt on Modern Fantasy

Lisa L. Spangenberg | July 8, 2003

In a New York Times piece, linked and commented on in Metafilter, author A. S. Byatt mourns the state of current fantasy literature, particularly Rowling’s Harry Potter books. Byatt refers to such books as “secondary secondary fantasy.” According to Byatt:

Ms. Rowling’s magic world has no place for the numinous. It is written for people whose [...]