More Ghastliness

In the current (July/August, first ever double ish that I know of, not a good sign) Atlantic Monthy there is a long bracingly splenetic rant or manifesto about the current sorry state of American fiction by someone named B.R. Myers. I wouldn't bring this up on the list (though I loved it for its crankiness), as it is about mainstream fiction, except for an aside so odd, near the end, that I must quote: "...many of the adults who enjoy Harry Potter would be even happier with Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy (1946-1959) if only they knew about it." Huh? This struck such a jarring note that it threw all the preceding into doubt. Absolutely the only thing that the Rowling and Peake books have in common is that they are both fantasy, and one would have to have an ear of sheer tin to connect them. Since Myers does not appear to have a tin ear, I would guess that Peake is the only fantasy he has ever read, that he has only heard about Potter, and that no one on the editorial staff was familiar with both writers. Any other opinions? -alga

That sounds like a very probable guess. Throw in a dash of "anything must be better than Harry Potter" and you're probably 99% correct.