Thoughts for the Serious Reader of Harry Potter
If there had been a Potter Mania before the Georgian Era, what might the Austen Age have been like? Here is one possibility:
Frankly, this 1998 spoof says a lot about Twilight and Harry Potter fandoms, from the requisite political correctness to the ubiquitous riding of the commercialization wave via movies and “fan events” organized by non-fans. It says a lot, but I will let someone else unpack it.
William Kilpatrick argues in Harry Potter and the Vanishing Jihad that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a roman a clef (‘novel with a key’) about the regime’s denial of radical Islam and the war the West is in, like it or not, with jihadists. As someone who has written books on the ‘keys’ to Harry Potter, none of which include Muslim bomb throwers, I rather enjoyed his take, if not for the reasons you might expect.
I find the argument delightful even if I think Ms. Rowling in Phoenix was (a) using Neville Chamberlain’s historical appeasement of the German National Socialists as her model rather than Labour Party denial of the Muslim menace to British liberties and (b) that she was writing the alchemical nigredo of the series. Mistaken as Kilpatrick or I may be, though, about Ms. Rowling having written Phoenix as a topical tract, his use of Harry Potter in ‘Vanishing Jihad’ as a shared text to make his points about Islamophilia and the de facto collaboration of our media and governments with our terrorist enemies demonstrates the Hogwarts Saga can be used to reach a near universal audience in the Public Square.
Two questions: [Read more…]
I think what most surprised me about this review of The Lonely Polygamist in Slate was that it succeeded in offering a meaningful discussion of LDS letters and the novel in question without making mention of Orson Scott Card or Stephenie Meyer.
That was a surprise — but still a disappointment. If there has been or will be a ‘Great Mormon Novel,’ it almost certainly will not be a Portnoy’s Complaint set in Salt Lake City or the Utah out-back as Polygamist seems to be. As others less charitable than I (Mark Twain, anyone?) have noted, the faith of these Saints is founded in poorly written fantasy fiction if obviously inspired and I believe their most popular and challenging writers – by which I mean Meyer and Card — create books in the same genre.
I explore the Mormon content of Twilight in the last chapters of Spotlight: A Close-Up Look at the Artistry and Meaning of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. Prof. Steve Walker of Brigham Young University, whom Mrs. Meyer has said was the biggest influence on her writing except for the books she has read, said about Spotlight that — [Read more…]
Last Saturday, I rose with the sun to travel to Philadelphia for the Dad Vail Crew Regatta. My daughter Sarah, a freshman at the University of Chicago, was rowing in their Novice Four boat that had qualified against all odds the day before for the Regatta semi-finals. It was a delight to see her compete, even if her boat finished fourth in the semis and didn’t qualify for the finals.
I didn’t realize until much later that, as much as she lives for Crew, Sarah’s coming to the Regatta represented a huge sacrifice for her because it meant missing all but the final hours of the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt. Her College House, Charles Hitchcock Hall, had won three years in a row, and. Sarah, as a freshman, was missing out on the four days of madness and fun and often disgusting challenges that make ‘Scav’ a highlight of the Hyde Park year. What no one missed, I’m sure, was the Harry Potter reference in the 2010 Scavenger Hunt list of items. [Read more…]
There is a Hog’s Head Forum page devoted to the subject of the esteemed actor‘s portrayal of Albus Dumbledore (‘Just Say No to Michael Gambon’) and a diverse Fandom seems to share a common disdain for the movie Headmaster post Richard Harris. But Mr. Gambon, CBE and Knight Bachelor, has only fond memories of his life on the set, saying recently, after wrapping up filming of Deathly Gallows:
“I enjoyed it!” he says proudly of his Dumbledore days, though he admits the role may not have stretched him particularly as an actor. “There’s no character really, it’s just me! Me dressed up in a costume! I’m essentially playing myself, that’s all I’m doing.”
Still, he misses the Harry Potter films. “It’s fun laughing all the time, and I know all the other actors, I’ve known them for years. It’s like being with friends.”
Love him or hate him as Dumbledore, do read the whole Irish Times article from which this snippet is the smallest and perhaps the least interesting part. A fascinating man, however unfortunate the decision to cast him as Albus Dumbledore…
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