Comments on: On Critical Reception of Harry Potter and Twilight Part 5: Iconological Criticism and Best Sellers (A)

By: Hogwarts Professor · Unlocking ‘The Hunger Games’ Four Layers of Meaning

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:53:50 +0000

[...] the four ways human beings know anything (for the free short course in iconological criticism, read this). Before I roll out version 2.0 of the ‘Pearl Plot,’ then, I want to roll through the [...]

By: Tinuvielas

Tinuvielas — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:53:19 +0000

Just found this nice medieval poem on the four levels of meaning:

Littera gesta docet, the letter teaches what happens,
quid credas allegoria, allegory (teaches) what to believe,
moralis quid agas, moral (teaches) what to do,
quo tendas anagogia. anagogy (teaches) what to strive for (aspire to).

By: Tinuvielas

Tinuvielas — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:38:05 +0000

IstariErangua: I couldn’t agree more. One of the things that struck me rereading Plato’s cave allegory in John’s words was how the SF film Matrix must be drawing on that idea: People immobilized, their minds filled with non-existing images they hold for true. I’m sure this has been observed elsewhere, but somehow I never made the connection until now. Which of course goes to underline the point John made about Science Fiction being one of “the resistance fighters in the real Battle of the Books against a dehumanizing materialism”.

By: Forks High School Professor · Madeleine L’Engle on the Four Layers

Forks High School Professor · Madeleine L’Engle on the Four Layers — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:56:09 +0000

[...] While there, though, I noticed that Madeleine L’Engle, Duchess of Imaginative Literature, had written the foreward to Ford’s Companion. And, to my delight, I noticed that the whole thing turns on a discussion of C. S. Lewis as a writer of allegory — and the traditional Four Layers of Meaning. I think understanding these layers are key to appreciating both the artistry of better writing and the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the effect stories have on readers. My discussions of Harry Potter in The Deathly Hallows Lectures and Harry Potter’s Bookshelf are organized around this layered model and my upcoming book on the Twilight Saga, Spotlight, is also a layered discussion. (I explain the Four Layers at this Hogwarts Professor post.) [...]

By: Forks High School Professor · Critical Responses to Rowling and Meyer

Forks High School Professor · Critical Responses to Rowling and Meyer — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:44:19 +0000

[...] ‘derivative dismissal,’ click here, for part 5 on why there are four layers of meaning, click here, for part 6 on using traditional tools to interpret modern best sellers, click here, for parts 7 [...]

By: ChildofImmanuel

ChildofImmanuel — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:57:12 +0000

I really like this article. I’ve been studying it for quite some time… and waiting impatiently for the article on anagogy in Harry Potter and Twilight! How is it coming?

By: Arabella Figg

Arabella Figg — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:04:22 +0000

Dickens fans–new PBS Adaptations!

PBS is redoing several Dickens books and rerunning David Copperfield with Daniel Radcliffe’s acting premiere. Oliver Twist is first with Timothy Spall (HP film’s Peter Pettigrew) as Fagin.

This article was published in USA Today on Feb. 12 (keep that in mind for the dates).

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2009-02-11-masterpiece-dickens_N.htm

By: John

John — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:30:07 +0000

You three are very kind! I really needed a lift during the editing process of Bookshelf, which, inevitably and for the good, I’m sure, involves a lot of cutting. Your praise gives me the wind in the sails I need to forge ahead; thank you very much.

nikenipter, I’m guessing from your description that this scripture study sight’s leader and members are not going to like or be receptive to my four levels of reading schtick, however anti-empiricist and traditional it is. Unless they’re BIG Harry Potter and Twilight fans, which, I’m guessing again, is not likely, or even if they’re just closeted Platonists (calling themselves ‘Augustinians’), please don’t upset the sleeping dragons.

By: IstariErangua

IstariErangua — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:10:06 +0000

Wish I’d had you as a prof in college, John, you make a lot of this so much more passionate and interesting than many of my profs then. I’m sure I’ve heard at least some of this before, though I never made any depth of study in philosophy, and yet it didn’t stick because it was never made relevant to anything I had read willingly and for pleasure, rather than just to get through and discuss in class and maybe write a paper on. You made me want to go back through all the books I’ve read and reread and loved, looking for the keys that keep me coming back, the spiritual and moral values that are so enticing and make me wish that like Lucy in the wardrobe, I could enter those worlds and be a part of them, living the virtues that they have made me love.

By: nikenipter

nikenipter — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:28:50 +0000

John, as a trained engineer with a politically correct public school English education, i.e. almost none, your books and articles are revealing a road map out of the cave. All hale the Cartographer!

My religious upbringing emphasized the literal reading of every verse with little or no attention to any other way of understanding. As the Holy Spirit has opened up deeper and more profound insights upon the Word, I have simultaneously come to appreciate the deeper levels of English literature. Thank you for your part in that appreciation.

The founder of the Scripture study .ning site I frequent is a vocal ant-empiricist. I should link this article to a blog on the site if only to see firsthand the wrath of the Creed thumpers. Please let me know if this use of your work is permissible or wise.