Sam Leith of the Telegraph believes that Harry Potter will be appreciated as a classic 50 years from now:
Were this same survey to be conducted in another 50 years, our children will doubtless be bemused by the way an old classic like “Harry Potter” still has the power to top the list.
C S Lewis – it is fair to say – was the J K Rowling of his day.
I like Leith, but I think his conclusion here is utterly wrong. What makes Lewis memorable, and Rowling forgettable, is his ability to convey a sense of the transcendent to the youthful mind. But there is literally nothing memorable about the Harry Potter series except the gimmicks, which is why Rowling’s books will be no more well-regarded in 50 years than the Tom Brown books on which Harry Potter is in good part based are regarded now.
It takes a lot more than popularity to make a book a classic. Moreover, the very concept of “school” may well be an inexplicable one to most children of the future, since technology is rapidly eliminating the last justifications for learning en masse.