Let me confess that when I read Ms. Rowling’s description of Tales of Beedle the Bard in the Sotheby’s Auction Catalogue that I didn’t think to enter a bid. I doubt those who had the money to enter that fray with a hope of winning jumped in because of what she said about the book, either, but there is an interesting question for us to discuss that is hidden away in her essentially unnecessary book description (what could she have written to make buyers more interested? less interested?). It’s near the end: [Read more…]
“Are the Harry Potter Novels Great Books?”
October 20, 2008 by 23 Comments
In a Scriptorium ‘Middlebrow’ podCast free-for-all, Profs Paul Spears and John Mark Reynolds of Biola University (THI) argue with the Hogwarts Professor about the virtues and the failings of Joanne Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. There aren’t many slow spots in this exchange and no filler. Lively exchange of blows, all Marquess of Queensbury, of course.
Please score this two-on-one pugilist contest on the subject of Harry’s worthiness to be considered “great” on your fight cards at home. Be sure to notice the shout out to the All Pros at the start and my mentioning “Felicity and others” who corrected me about the Fidelius Charm.
I look forward to reading your scoring of the bout, and, yes, win, lose, or draw, I want a rematch. [Read more…]
Guest Post: Mad-Eye Moody — Allegorical Figure?
October 20, 2008 by 2 Comments
Mail Bag Annex this week: I just received a great letter that I think deserves its own thread. First, the writer says s/he loved my book. Second, s/he pointed out an obvious error in an argument I made in such a way that I could walk away from it without feeling I’d lost a limb. Third, s/he advances an argument I think is flawed but serious enough to deserve your attention and discussion. Letters from and meeting serious readers are the best part of Potter punditry; I look forward to reading your responses to this reader’s suggestion that Mad-Eye Moody is an allegorical stand-in for… well, you’ll have to read the letter yourself. I’ll post my response(s) in a few days. [Read more…]
Mail Bag: GB Shaw Hat Tip in ‘Deathly Hallows’?
October 20, 2008 by 3 Comments
It’s ‘answer the mail’ time here at Hogwarts Professor! Today, there is a letter with a question about a possible tip-of-the-hat in story to George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, the theory that Harry is a ‘mythic hero’ a la Joseph Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces, and some reviews of my books now online. [Read more…]
The Aeschylus Epigraph in ‘Deathly Hallows’
October 20, 2008 by 18 Comments
After last week’s epic post (‘epic’ in length rather than in value of subject matter, I have to think, because few readers were moved to respond!) on the William Penn epigraph, I promised myself I would tackle the Aeschylus piece from The Libation Bearers that precedes it. This will be relatively brief (!) but, I hope, thought provoking. Greek drama is a little more along my lines of thought and study than late seventeenth century aphorism and epigram collections, if not by much. [Read more…]
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