First of all, A.S. Byatt strikes me a tad hypocritical when she talks about the notions of "the real wild," because her writing, her biography, as well as her interviews reflected neither an aesthetic nor a practical understanding of what "wild" is all about.
Second of all, A.S. Byatt seems bitter as heck, because while J.K. Rowling is earning millions (for better or for worse), Byatt is stuck having one of her novels adapted into a middle-of-the-road feature film, one which even Gwyneth Paltrow's "golden hair" cannot save from almost immediate obscurity. Byatt's problem is that she's middle-of-the-road; in some circles, that is even worse than hella bad.
Third of all, in response to
Imladris' statement that:
Quote:
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The people with magick have this I-am-better-than-you sort of thing with the muggles (?). Gandalf always treated everybody with respect and never viewed himself better than everybody else.
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Actually, if you've read and re-read all of the books that are out so far, which I have, you will note that Rowling treats the sort of attitude that you're describing above as both dangerous and dumb. Draco Malfoy & his family are especially ridiculed by the author as being a bunch of prejudiced jerks.
Finally, to answer the original question this thread put forth, I also think that a lot of the self-righteous brouhaha sourrinding Harry Potter stems from the fact that the books are specifically targeted at children. Nobody trusts children to formulate their own opinion. Sometimes with good reason. But anyway, that, I think, is what can a huge chunk of outrage be appropriated to.