Casual Vacancy 19: Seven Deadly Sins Guest Post

February 17, 2013 by 3 Comments

Sarah McDonald shared this idea with me at a recent talk I gave at Full Circle Bookstore in Oklahoma City. I begged her to write it up as a guest post which she has. Yes, I disagree with her conclusion about writers being the only ones who understand the intentions of their work — but I love the unveiling of the novel’s transparencies in light of the seven deadly sins. It almost certainly isn’t what Ms Rowling intended, as such, and it just as certainly opens up the virtues and vices (well, the vices…) of the novel’s players. Without further ado, then —  ‘The Seven Deadly Sins in Joanne Rowling’s Casual Vacancy,’ by Sarah McDonald.

It seems like important things come in sevens. There are seven notes in music, seven colors in a rainbow, seven books in the Harry Potter series, and of course, seven deadly sins. They are the big ones, the origin of other sins.

I’m not particularly proud of this, but until a few days ago the only one I knew was gluttony, mostly because it’s something we Americans seem to indulge in on a regular basis. As I sat curled up with The Casual Vacancy and read J.K. Rowling’s description of Howard Mollison and his massive stomach, I couldn’t help thinking that he exemplified the concept of gluttony perfectly. Then, I got an idea. Clearly, sin was rampant in Pagford. What if I could nail down all seven?

Reading the book became a game, a hunt for the sins, if you will. I managed to track down a character for each of the cardinal sins as follows:

1. Gluttony = Howard Mollison

As I mentioned previously, it wouldn’t take much to nail down Mr. Mollison with gluttony. Gluttony is any type of over-indulgence, though it is applied most often to over-eating, which is what makes Howard a prime candidate.

He is described in the book as having a stomach so grotesquely large that it leads people to thinking some rather uncomfortable thoughts. The fat has gotten to the point that he has developed a rash under his excess skin. Towards the end of the book, he suffers a second heart attack due to his obesity, and the prognosis is grim. When he talks about other people’s addictions as being easily cured at the Parish council meeting, Parminder Jawanda brilliantly rebuttals: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Casual Vacancy

Blog Hop Interview: ‘What are You Writing, John Granger?’

February 5, 2013 by 5 Comments

Dear friend Linda McCabe wrote me weeks ago to invite me to a Writers Promotion project called a ‘Blog-Hop Interview.’ Linda has publicly and privately defended me against unfair criticism within Potter fandom for a decade, confronted me with more errors than I want to recall (usually before publication!), errors large and small, all of which would have been very embarrassing, and she has been a more than genial reading companion. Whatever Linda wants me to do, in brief, I make time to do, with gratitude, even enthusiasm. She writes a good novel, too; check out her re-telling of Orlando Furioso.

But I was clueless about what a Blog Hop Interview involved. Pretty simple it turns out. Authors answer ten questions on their weBlogs about their current project, either the new book, manuscript, or work in progress. They provide a link to the next writer-in-the-chain’s weBlog where that author answers the same ten questions and provides a link to the next fellow. The hope is that readers will ‘Blog Hop’ and learn about a variety of writers’ work that would otherwise be unknown to them.

The writer who linked to me last week is Rob Loughran, aka ‘The Foul Mouthed Bard.’ You can read his answers to the ten questions about what he is writing here. The writer who follows me in the chain will be K. B. Hoyle, author of the six volume Gateway Chronicles; the weBlog link for K. B.’s responses — not until next Wednesday! — is On Alitheia and you can learn more about the Gateway Chronicles and its author on the series FaceBook page. I asked K. B. to follow me for the perfect opportunity it offered me to urge Hogwarts Professor readers to download a sample chapter of Six, the first of the Gateway books. You’ll see why.

My answers to the questions about the writing project I’m neck deep in (and posting so rarely, alas) are after the jump. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes

Mail Bag: Iconological Criticism, Transcendent Meaning, ‘Soul Triptych’ Origin, Nine ‘Classics’ Questions, and 22 November

January 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Question and Answers with the Hogwarts Professor! Names and places have been effaced; the letters are otherwise as received. Please write out your better answers in the comment boxes below and send your questions to John at HogwartsProfessor dot com for the HogPro All-Pros to think about —

Subject: Question concerning Iconological Literary Criticism mentioned in Harry Potter’s Bookshelf
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Hello Dr. Granger,

My name is XXX and I am writing because I am currently reading “Harry Potter’s Bookshelf: The Great Books Behind the Hogwarts Adventures” and am interested in learning more about what you call “Iconological Literary Criticism”.

I am a masters student at YYY Divinity School, and am writing my masters thesis on ambiguity in Hebrew Narrative.  Needless to say, I have been steeped in readings in literary criticism, particularly indeterminacy of texts (Wolfgang Isler)  which seems to have given birth to the idea of reader-responsibility in gap filling, etc.  I am very interested in the idea of Iconological readings, the author’s goal as the reader’s edifying transformation rather than entertainment, and it being the default model until the 20th century (what you discuss on pgs xv-xvi of your Introduction).

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Mailbag

MuggleNet Academia: Harry Potter as Comic Book Super Hero!

January 23, 2013 by 8 Comments

Washington and Lee University Associate Professor Christopher Gavaler is a novelist, short story writer and playwright by day in addition to his work in the classroom, but in his other worldly secret identity as ‘The Patron Saint of Super Heroes‘ he champions the serious reading of that lowest of genre writing, the super hero comic book.

Actually, he does that in the classroom, too, believe it or not, but I think you get my point.

Prof Gavaler joined me. Corentin Faniel of St. Andrews, and MuggleNet’s Keith Hawk to discuss his insights about the Hogwarts Saga when read as a comic book super hero piece, Read his blog post on the subject first and then listen in to a rollicking discussion of everything from Harry’s super powers and secret identity to what The Harry Potter Alliance and the Ku Klux Klan have in common (a lot more than you’d think, I’m guessing!). Voldemort and the greatest of all Super Villians? Oh, yeah. And Northrup Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism as well.

It was a real pleasure talking with Prof Gavaler about what makes stories work and how the power of Harry Potter and the best in comic book fiction relate to one another.

Enjoy!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: MuggleNet Academia

Katniss and Bella Fight to the Death in Meadow!

January 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment

And the bad news from Forks just keeps getting worse. The fourth fire since November has burnt down a building in the hometown of the Cullens and Swans, this one the big garage where they kept the fire truck… Between the deaths in the meadow at the start of the Hunger Games on the Olympic Peninsula, look for an exodus from Forks soon.

Hat tips to Dave for the Forks news and to Sharon for the video!

Filed Under: Twilight