Malcolm Guite: C. S. Lewis and the Imagination

July 6, 2012 by 1 Comment

Prof James Cutsinger, C. S. Lewis and Coleridge scholar at the University of South Carolina, sent me this YouTube lecture featuring Malcolm Guite speaking about Lewis’ spiritual journey, the conflict of reason and imagination, and their resolution in Logos. I was already late for bed when I sat down to preview it but sat riveted for more than an hour. Enjoy!

It should not come as a great surprise that Rev Dr Guite thinks Coleridge’s ideas of Logos and imagination are important for understanding Lewis and his Inkling companions. Check out his website, though, for the discovery that this scholar is also poet, rock musician, and artist!

Filed Under: C. S. Lewis

Guest Post: Harry Potter and C. S. Lewis’ Four Loves

July 5, 2012 by 14 Comments

David Holland writes:

One of the books on my summer reading list this year was C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves.  It is an excellent read, as Lewis always is, but as I read I started making connections with the Hogwarts saga.  I found that Harry follows a clear progression of each of Lewis’ four loves, and that Rowling’s characterizations of Harry’s loves match Lewis’ descriptions very closely.  Considering that one of the overarching themes of the Potter series is the power of love over evil, I believe that Rowling would see all of four of these as powerful forces in the life of her protagonist.  Below is a brief description of how I see Rowling and Lewis overlap.  I would love to hear your thoughts!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: C. S. Lewis, Guest Posts

Guest Post:The Power of Words and Story on a Young Mind

July 1, 2012 by 6 Comments

Cathy Leogrande wrote:

John, I just wanted to let you know what a critical part of my son’s life you have been for the last few years. Here is a posting I wrote regarding my/our HPEF Legacy:

I have been an attendee & presenter at every HPEF event since The Witching Hour. Those days in Salem truly changed my life. I wanted to share a few details to show my appreciation for all that HPEF has done for my son & me.

I am an Associate Professor of Education at Le Moyne College in Syracuse. My son Joey is a Korean-American adoptee who is very bright, but struggled with literacy. He had a rocky road in school over the years. He had educators who saw his unique talents and others who stereotyped him. It was trying to help our son see past some of the problems and maintain his optimism. One of the only ways he survived and thrived was our annual trip to the HPEF conferences.

From the pajama party at Lumos, through the crazy evangelicals at Portus and memorial room at Prophecy, we have been with HPEF every step. He now attends Fordham University. Wherever he goes, he takes Harry, JKR, and the memories of HPEF conferences with him. His college essay (below) attests to the impact HPEF has had on him.

As for me, I developed & teach a graduate education course, EDG 731 (for Harry & JKR’s birthdays) entitled Harry Potter: MultidisciplinaryPerspectives. I have been fortunate to combine my personal and professional love of Rowling’s work into so many aspects of my life. This summer, I will be one of two U.S. professors presenting at Magic is Might, the first international academic Harry Potter conference in Limerick, Ireland.

I will never be able to repay the many HPEF volunteers & organizers for their gifts to Joey & me. What a journey it has been!

Best,

Cathy Leogrande, Associate Professor, Le Moyne College [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Posts

Literary Alchemy as Wedding Scaffolding: Seeing is Believing

June 30, 2012 by 2 Comments

Lancelot Schaubert, longtime friend of this weblog and contributor to Travis Prinzi’s Harry Potter for Nerds essay collection, was married recently. He and his bride decided to give their nuptial celebrations a literary touch, something ‘fantastic’ and ‘mythic’ without chain-mail and dwarves carrying battle axes.

They decided on a Literary Alchemy theme. Story and pictures here!

If alchemy has gone mainstream enough that we’re seeing weddings planned with it as the organizing principle, I think we can conclude that Harry Potter is indeed the Shared Text of Generation Hex.

Congratulations, Lancelot and Kiddo! May the Lord smile on your marriage and lives together in Him!

Filed Under: Literary Alchemy, Shared Text

Whodunit? Harry Potter — In the Great Hall — With a Wand!

June 28, 2012 by 2 Comments

Those of you who love a Harry Potter themed podCast, head on over to Mugglenet Academia for a spirited and convivial conversation with Dolores Gordon-Smith, author of the Jack Haldean mysteries, about the influence of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers’ detective fiction on the Hogwarts Saga.

Mrs. Gordon-Smith, an Englishwoman with Irish mum, besides being an expert practitioner of the mystery writing craft (with a specialty in the set piece Drawing Room dramas of the inter bella period) is a lifetime reader and admirer of the Grand Dames of Detective Stories. And she knows her Harry Potter, too! Keith Hawk from MuggleNet and Sarah Granger, a rising fourth year student at the College of the University of Chicago join me and Dorothy for a romp through and review of each book in the series as a mystery piece.

For more on Sayers, Christie, and the meeting of Peter Wimsey, Hercule Poirot, and Harry’s friends at Hogwarts, there’s a chapter devoted to the subject in Harry Potter’s Bookshelf, a chapter I can recommend without blushing!

Filed Under: MuggleNet Academia