Comments on: ‘Deathly Hallows’ and Penn’s ‘Fruits of Solitude’

By: Hogwarts Professor · Unlocking ‘The Hunger Games’: The Surface, Moral, Allegorical, and Sublime Meanings

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:50:35 +0000

[...] of the word tells us, not personal knowledge or understanding but “shared knowing,” the logos mind or noetic faculty of soul. It is the Light of men which “lighteth every man that cometh into [...]

By: HogwartsProfessor.com · John Everard: The Original ‘Seeker’?

HogwartsProfessor.com · John Everard: The Original ‘Seeker’? — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:16:42 +0000

[...] meaning of the finale as rubedo, Hog’s Head Conversations, in which I explain how the Quaker William Penn epigraph that opens Deathly Hallows is the key that opens up Harry’s conversation with Albus [...]

By: The Deathly Hallows Epigraphs

The Deathly Hallows Epigraphs — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:44:58 +0000

[...] for Hog’s Head Conversations. Some seeds of the thought of that essay can be found in this older post at Hogwarts [...]

By: Demarest

Demarest — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:46:11 +0000

John, I really enjoyed this essay and all the others which I have read on your website and the writing in three of your books (Hidden Key, How Harry Cast His Spell, and Deathly Hallows Lectures).

Anyway, as a Pennsylvania resident and historian, when I first opened the pages of Deathly Hallows and saw the Penn epigraph, I felt more connected to the series than ever. That’s probably a mark of how much of a dork I am. Regardless, thank you so much for writing this essay. I plan on re-reading a whole chunk of it, because as noted above, it’s a lot to digest, but I really like your explanation of the Logos with the “light within.” And having never read the Fruits of Solitude books, it was interesting to get the whole section in your essay of “Union of Friends.”

Thanks again, and this is truly excellent. I have been referring your site to friends and other fans of the Potter series.

By: John

John — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:14:14 +0000

If you would have your fiction live forever, you must neither overtly preach nor overtly teach; but you must covertly preach and covertly teach. -- Mark Twain

By: sevenkeys

sevenkeys — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:31:28 +0000

Imagine my humanity! To hit the publish button by accident and then be called away in the middle of completing my comment only to hit the publish button again and find myself bisected by a bit of pithy Zen!

By: sevenkeys

sevenkeys — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:18:48 +0000

Pardon my premature posting and please allow me to continue from above…….I agree with this view and would not find it odd at all that in a seven volume work written on multiple levels that an author might consider any number of scenes or symbols to be “key.” Ms. Rowling is very fond of keys. In fact, the first spell we learn by name is “Alohamora!”

By: John

John — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:31:56 +0000

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there. -Yasutani Roshi, Zen master (1885-1973)

By: sevenkeys

sevenkeys — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:59:49 +0000

John,
I really appreciate the history of the Penn quote that you have given us here. Delving into its relationship to the canon discussion you write:
…………..
As explained elsewhere, I don’t think Ms. Rowling’s statements about what is and is not important in her books is as important as her novels are for understanding what those novels mean. She is the definitive authority for “what Ms. Rowling thinks” certainly and even “what Ms. Rowling intended” but she is only the first among equal serious readers in interpreting what her books are about. The Harry Potter novels are not Plum Pies that we Little Jack Horners de-plum with our thumbs according to exactly how many treasures Ms. Rowling believes or remembers she baked into them.

Having said that, assuming she is not drunk, senescent, or malevolent (and I think in her interviews she always seems sober, sane, and good willed), serious readers will want to think about those passages she says are especially meaningful. Even if she gives us four seemingly unrelated passages that are “the key” for understanding “all the books” (and even if she adds to this list of key passages indefinitely as she might).

By: Red Rocker

Red Rocker — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 02:49:36 +0000

Still taking baby steps with this stuff. I see that commas are important. To wit: For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is omnipresent. Not: For they must needs be present, that love, and live in that which is omnipresent. When I first read it, and in fact until this moment, I believed that the love Penn wrote of, and the love JKR referred to was personal love, the love of one human being for another, and not love for that which is omnipresent or this divine glass Which is nice if you're into Logos. Kind of a let down if you're not.