Lev Grossman Has Lost My Respect

Actually I don't know if I have lost respect for Mr. Grossman or Time Magazine for letting him write such a moronic article as his Briefing in the July 23, 2007 edition of the magazine.

What's amazing is how much drivel he was able to pack into less than half a page.

First of all he makes a big deal out of the fact that J.K. Rowling published the Harry Potter series under that name instead of Joanne, and that she doesn't have a middle name - she added the "K" because she liked it better. Does any of this matter? Has no other author modified his or her name - or written under a pseudonym? Mr. Grossman has published two novels. Is "Lev" his real first name? Why didn't he use his middle name or initial if it's so important to have a "real" one?

Moronic!

Then Grossman compares Rowling's novels to those of J.R.R. Tolkein and C. S. Lewis. (I wonder why he made no comment about these authors' decision to use initials instead of names!) He cites the overtly Christian content of The Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia and says this is "missing" from Harry Potter. Then he actually write this idiotic sentence:

"If you want to know who dies in Harry Potter, the answer is easy: God."

Time even highlights this sentence in big red letters in the middle of the article!

What the hell is wrong with you, Lev? Rowling would have had to include God in her novels for Him to die, but that's beside the point. How absurd for you, a marginal novelist at best, to criticize Rowling for her omission of a deity in her word. Jealous much?

But he goes further to claim that Rowling is an atheist who has more in common with Christopher Hitchens (a journalist, not a novelist) than Tolkein or Lewis. Grossman, you are a moron! So anyone who writes a novel and doesn't include God is an atheist? This isn't just stupid, it's illogical bigotry.

The rest of the article is spent poking at Rowling for saying love is more of a motivating factor in Harry Potter than a deity. He also laments Harry's fate following the end of the final book in the series since he will be living in a godless world.

Go back and get your Ph.D., Grossman...or maybe Harvard discovered what an idiot you are and they wouldn't let you back in.

And Time, what are you doing? Where have your journalistic standards gone? Don't you read what your contributors write any more? Sad.