Potter isn't a literary masterpiece, but it is solidly written. Rowling managed to write some really complex and interesting characters, which is difficult for

Potter isn't a literary masterpiece, but it is solidly written. Rowling managed to write some really complex and interesting characters, which is difficult for any writer and is often missing in Fantasy. There's a big division between popular writing and literary writing, and people who write the latter can get up their own asses a bit sometimes about popular authors. But they still recognize that the popular authors often really do have skill. It reminds me of a Jazz musician I was speaking with a bit ago. We got on the subject of Brittney Spears, and he said that he doesn't like her style of music but he acknowledges that she does takes a lot of skill, and that a lot of people try to imitate her and fail. What literary people can't fathom isn't the success of Rowling (or King or Crichton etc). What they can't fathom is the success of Dan Brown, a man who seems to lack any discernible trace of talent.