I confess that I never liked Holden Caulfield, if I am a Salinger fan. A young co-ed at the University of Chicago told me during my Orientation Week freshman year that I was the living image of Salinger’s angst ridden, clever anti-hero. I would have preferred to have been likened to Woody Allen (and I wouldn’t have enjoyed that, either, frankly). But Salinger’s artistry was undeniable.

It wasn’t until I was a teacher at Valley Forge Military Academy, where Salinger went to school and supposedly used as a model for Pencey Prep, that I learned anything of interest about this author-recluse. It turns out that he was a loyal alumnus to ‘the Forge’ who had only fond memories of the place (he attended alumni gatherings there well after his retreat to his hermitage in New Hampshire). I suspect it was because the military skills he learned there — and Valley Forge really was a military school in the 1930’s when he was a student, including classes in how to fire a machine gun, etc. — helped him get through the Normandy invasion and drive to the Rhine as admirably as he did.

Two questions for you, in Salinger’s memory:

Do you remember your first reading of Catcher in the Rye?

And in what ways, if any, do you think Ms. Rowling’s Harry Potter and all boy-novel protagonists inevitably are shades of Holden Caulfield, Salinger’s signature contribution to letters?

We’ve discussed the possible influence of Anne on the Hogwarts Saga before (see Anne Shirley vs. Harry Potter from the archives of the Anne Lexicon site and my response here if you missed that). I want to re-visit the topic for three reasons:

In order of least to most important:

(1) I have been corresponding this past week with an Anne expert who will go unnamed until she chooses to join this conversation. S/he assures me that Ms. Rowling herself has confirmed that she is an Anne fan and that Lucy Maud Montgomery (hereafter ‘LMM’) was an influence. A quick search at Accio-quotes does not bring up anything more than an aside about Anne but the sources my expert-friend noted seem more than credible. The critical Anne community in Canada accepts the Anne-Harry link as a given.

(2) Reading LMM biographical pieces, it’s hard to miss the Rowling-Montgomery parallels: successful author of Bildungsroman-orphan novels, with something of a Cinderella story, whose work was neglected (despised?) by critics, an unhappy marriage, wish-fulfillment qualities in the writing, and a life struggling with depression. Ms. Rowling got the help and medication she needed to deal with this last; LMM, tragically, did not, through the ‘failing’ of being born too soon, alas.

(3) If you read the Anne novels, I think you have to be struck by the number of Tennyson, Browning, and Wordsworth allusions and quotations. As striking are the near constant descriptions, “florid” literally and figuratively, of the natural beauty of PEI and Avonlea. My Anne expert and correspondent confirms that LMM, like Anne Shirley, was a close reader of the Victorian Romantics and John Ruskin.

So what?

I think it is more than plausible that these books are as popular as they are today — and there is an international Anne fandom, especially in Japan — because of their allegorical and anagogical meanings. The anagogical meaning is in the scaffolding of beauty, the succession of natural landscape paintings LMM draws for the reader, the character of which mind-pictures work subliminally (as do our real world surroundings, eh?) to transform our interior landscape in edifying fashion.

That’s quite the jump from this sort of Modern Painters anagogical artistry to Rowling’s literary alchemy — just as there is a considerable chasm separating the prose heights and comic touches of both writers — but I don’t think that it is here that we see the influence of Anne on Harry. That is in the allegorical meaning they share.

Harry, as I have explained in The Deathly Hallows Lectures, is the allegorical ‘heart’ or ’spirit,’ as a stand-alone character and subject of the alchemical purification and theosis of the series as well as a member of the series’ soul triptych, body-mind-spirit, Ron-Hermione-Harry. Potter-mania is largely a consequence of reader engagement with Harry and experiencing his spiritual chrysalis imaginatively.

Any reader of LMM’s Anne novels knows that Anne begs her adopted family to call her “Cordelia” at their first meeting, and, unlike the several names she calls herself in the first book (to include a Coleridge Christabel reference in ‘Geraldine’), this name is recalled several times in the follow-on books. Diane Barry, for example, names her first daughter “Little Anne Cordelia” to honor her best friend to the mystification of her family.

Why is “Cordelia” an important marker? I think there is a reason more obvious and more meaningful than the tragic King Lear echoes, which are something of a stretch for the later Anne Shirley to make (or for the child Anne to know!) even given Cordelia’s virtues or the original Welsh meaning (“jewel of the sea”), both of which possibilities are cited in The Annotated Anne of Green Gables as the most likely connections. “Cordelia” is from the Latin for “warm-hearted” and this is the core, if you will, of the Anne books’ allegorical meaning: Anne Shirley is the “heart,” very much as Harry Potter is.

Three quick points in this regard:

(1) In Coleridgean anthropology, the Primary Imagination is the uncreated Logos in the human person and the Secondary Imagination is the same faculty engaged in art. (See Chapter five of The Deathly Hallows Lectures for more on this.) This noetic quality is the “heart” of Christian scripture and Patristic writing, whence Coleridge’s natural theology, and of imaginative literature, especially poetry and fantasy post-Coleridge. Anne Shirley is a creature of “imagination” whose vision recreates PEI and its rather mundane existence into an endless series of visions bordering on the supernatural, which seems to infuse her world. Her life-long hope is only for a “greater scope of imagination.”

(2) There is a brotherhood of people in the Anne books, her “kindred spirits” and the “house of Joseph” from Anne’s House of Dreams, who recognize each other, usually by the light shining in their eyes and their distinctively sacramental or un-empirical way of seeing things. They are as distinct from the non-kindred and as “magical” a group as Witches and Wizards in Rowling’s sub-creation are from her Muggles. This quality of light in the eyes is another pointer to Coleridgean and Romantic cardiac intelligence and logos (cf., John 1:9). Anne Shirley’s enlightened crew are another Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

(3) There is a borderline disdain for religious conformity in the Anne books, which, while never crossing over into impiety or heresy, is nonetheless always a note contrary to hollow devotion or hypocritical faith-without-living-works. The real faith of the books isn’t the Methodism or Presbyterianism LMM gently mocks as being little better than Grips or Tory political parties in their partisan differences but the vibrant faith evident in Anne’s love and her imagination. This is the logos-Christ within her heart that shines through her and transforms her world. The references to books like Drummond’s Natural Law in the Supernatural World and LMM’s constant stream of Romantic poet and scripture citations as well as the story transformations centering on hearts opening highlight this meaning repeatedly.

Anne of Green Gables and the follow-on books, then, like Harry Potter, are carrying a boatload of meaning, allegorical and anagogical, via the Romantic tradition’s understanding of imagination as the spiritual heart of the human person. I offer for your consideration the thesis which I think obvious, namely, that it is just these levels of meaning and artistry which account for the longevity of fascination with and the power and universal appeal of LMM’s Anne Shirley adventures.

Your comments and corrections are coveted as always.

1. 4 February, New York Public Library: Mid-Manhattan, Spotlight on Twilight, 6:30 pm
2. 5-6 February, Climacus Conference, Louisville, KY, Why Christians Read, Details to follow
3. 6 March, The Group That Shall Not Be Named, NYC, Potter Pundits Live, 7 pm
4. 12-13 March, Tucson Book Fair, AZ, Spotlight on Twilight, 2:30 pm
5. 9-10 April, CSLIS Conference, Oklahoma City, OK, Literary Alchemy in CSL, Tentative
6. 14-15 April, Augustana College, Rock Island, IL, Spotlight on Twilight, classes, dinner, and convocation
7. 24 April, Parish Resource Center, Rocky Point, NY, Thoughts on ‘Christian Literature’
8. 15-18 July, Infinitus 2010, Orlando, FL, Unlocking Harry Potter, etc., Potter Fan Conference
9. 27-29 October, Lenoir-Rhyne College, Hickory, NC, Christian Content of Harry Potter, classes, dinner, and convocation.

I’ll be talking much more about these events as they approach and hope to list Talk Topics I give in case your schol, church, or library is interested in asking me to speak where you live. If you want that list today, of course, just write me at ‘john at HogwartsProfessor dot com’ and you’ll have those talk descriptions in your in-box quicker than you can say “literary alchemy” three times fast.

The Potter Pundit parts of PotterCast are a sufficiently big deal that that show segment has its own website, PotterPundits.com, and a Facebook page. I kid you not. We’ve talked about Luna Lovegood, the Gothic elements in Harry Potter (with guest Pundit, Dr. Amy H. Sturgis), and most recently, Christmas at Hogwarts (#211).

But why do I bring this up?

The Leaky Cauldron gives out awards at the end of the year named, not surprisingly, ‘The Leaky Awards.’ The Potter Pundits segments of PotterCasts have been nominated for a Leaky Award in the category, ‘Favorite Leaky Moment 2009.’ When I first heard about the nomination last week (and saw the competition), I thought the race in this category was for second place because LeakyCon 2009 was nominated as well. I was at that show in Boston and it was a WOW; I assumed it would crush the category competition.

But, remarkably, TLC fans have been voting for Potter Pundits and it is a neck and neck race. If you have enjoyed the Potter Pundits segments, please participate in this end-of-year polling and give us your vote. It would be the perfect touch to a fun year of podCasting with James and Travis to have the TwiWizard Cup replica on the mantelpiece. The ‘Favorite Leaky Moment 2009′ voting place is #13 in a list of 15 categories so scroll down the page until you find it. Or just follow this link for direct voting (and check out the cool map displaying national vote distribution!).

Thanks in advance if you find the time today to vote!

Before Melissa’s note, I ask that please be sure to check into the next ‘PotterCast’ show on TLC which will include a conversation between Travis Prinzi, James Thomas, and myself, the Potter Pundits, about Luna Lovegood.

And now back to the sponsor of that [programming; Take it away, Melissa!

Did you know that Jingle Spells, The Leaky Cauldron’s wildly successful holiday wizard rock album, is available for purchase right now? And that you can only order a physical copy (which will be sent out Monday December 14) for FIVE more days or until we run out (which will probably be first)?

Go here now!

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/wizardrock/jinglespells3

You can ALSO get the downloads of albums one and two or the whole collection here:
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/wizardrock/jinglespells2
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/wizardrock/jinglespells1

This is without a doubt our best Christmas album yet, including tracks from:
Harry and the Potters
Draco and the Malfoys
The Whomping Willows
The Moaning Myrtles
House of Black
The Remus Lupins
The Mudbloods (in their last recorded wizard song ever)
Ministry of Magic
Gred and Forge
The Blibbering Humdingers
Swish and Flick
Madam Pince and the Librarians
TM Riddle
Romilda Vane and the Chocolate Cauldrons
Mary and the Grandpres
Tonks and the Aurors
MC Kreacher

What are you waiting for?!

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/wizardrock/jinglespells3

Wishing you the best holiday season,

Melissa and all the staff at Leaky

Talk about shared text… (H/T to Richard of Augustana!)

In today’s Christianity Today online, Robert Priest reviews Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa by Adam Ashforth (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2005) in an article called ‘Witches and the Problem of Evil.‘ It isn’t an easy read but it is an important one. I came away from it with a much better understanding of the pervasiveness of witchcraft concerns in the world (and astonished at the violence involved) and with ideas about the psychology of Harry Hating I wouldn’t have had without this introduction. Highly Recommended.

No, I don’t think a young movie actor’s idea of what Deathly Hallows means is in any sense authoritative but I’d need to be the bigger goof than I am not to know that Mr. Radcliffe’s interpretation will very much influence the way that many readers will understand the series finale. Movies have that ability to re-shape what we have experienced ourselves in text, like it or not.

So what do you think Mr. Radcliffe means by describing Harry as a “Pilgrim Soldier” and Harry’s situation as “the last days of a dying Roman Emperor”? (H/T to Jeremy for the TLC clip and quotation!)

Ten Myths About Writing for Kids

By Eugie Foster

There are a lot of misconceptions about writing for children, some amusing and some surprising. In order to create appealing works for both young readers and editors, writers need to be able to separate truth from fiction. Here’s a top ten list of some of the most prevalent myths:

1. Children’s literature must be cutesy, and you shouldn’t use hard words.
2. All stories for children should have a moral or teach a lesson.
3. A kid’s story can’t have serious, weighty, or controversial subject matter; children have delicate sensibilities and must be protected from the scary world.
4. When things get too hairy, it’s okay for my main character to get rescued by their parents/teachers/other adult.
5. Kids, editors, and the publishing industry love cute, talking animals.
6. A kid’s story must always have a little kid in it.
7. I should make my children’s story rhyme.
8. I must illustrate/get an illustrator for my picture book manuscript.
9. I’m a parent, so I know how to write for kids.
10. Writing for kids is easy and a good way to get rich quick.

Eugie Foster calls home a mildly haunted, fey-infested house in Metro Atlanta that she shares with her husband, Matthew, and her pet skunk, Hobkin. Her fiction has been translated into Greek, Hungarian, Polish, and French, received the Phobos Award, and been nominated for the British Fantasy, Bram Stoker, and Pushcart awards. She has sold a dozen stories to the Cricket Magazine Group, including Spider, Cricket and Cicada, as well as to an assortment of other publications for young readers including Story Station, Shiny, and the young adult anthology Magic in the Mirrorstone (Mirrorstone Books). She holds an M.A. in developmental psychology, has co-authored a textbook on child development, and is a frequent speaker at Dragon*Con’s Young Adult Literature Track. She also pens a monthly column, Writing for Young Readers, and is the managing editor of Tangent. Visit her online at www.eugiefoster.com.