Narrative Microcosms in Children’s Books and Young Adult Fiction as an Expansion of the Storytelling Horizon. A Narratological Approach to J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series and Other YA Bestsellers of the 21st Century
Les microcosmes narratifs dans la littérature jeunesse et Young Adult en tant qu’expansion de l’horizon narratif. Une approche narratologique de la saga Harry Potter de J. K Rowling et d’autres best-sellers Young Adult du xxie siècle
Résumé
J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter heptalogy (1997–2007), which spans over more than four thousand
pages, offers a wide array of narratological mechanisms and phenomena and, as such, constitutes
a unique narrative object for the study of storytelling. Its interest also lies in its hybridity, as the
series hovers between children’s literature and Young Adult literature. In this article, I give voice
to the knowledge and know-how of published writers of fiction, sometimes departing from
literary theory to enter the realm of creative writing theory in an interdisciplinary manner. My
aim is to look at the story from the perspective of the creative mind, operating under the
principle that, beyond symbolism, stylistics and literary effects, the mechanics of storytelling in
middle-grade and young adult fiction have a lot to offer us, as researchers, and our students
endeavouring to further their understanding of language and literature.
Through a hands‑on narratological analysis, I argue for the intrinsic storytelling value of
Rowling’s series through the scope of narratology, focusing on coherence within imaginary
narrative worlds, and I investigate the idea of microcosms, which not only generate the conflict
that constitutes part of the reader’s conscious or unconscious horizon of expectations but also
shapes the ever-expanding geographical horizon which takes both characters and readers into
different spheres of the narrative world the author has weaved.