When you told the dogs you’d be back at midnight but arrive home early. pic.twitter.com/xfHh7vxnwt
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 7, 2022
A Bit of Humor in Rowling’s Twitter Feed
August 7, 2022 by Leave a Comment
The ‘True Book’ in Troubled Blood: Hypothesis, Premises, and Overview
August 6, 2022 by 3 Comments
As promised last Saturday, I hope in the weeks prior to Ink Black Heart‘s publication to write an introductory review of the ‘True Book’ pages Rowling inserted into Troubled Blood. There are several glaring gaps even after two years spent discussing The Presence’s longest and most challenging novel; the most egregious fail is the absence of serious exploration of the book’s most unique quality, which is to say, the author-illustrated pages of its primary embedded text.
Today’s post is an overview of the series to follow in which I will take a closer look at each of these pages; I call this an “introductory review” because my primary aim is not writing anything definitive but to foster discussion of Bill Talbot’s True Book and Rowling’s purpose in deploying it the way she has.
Let’s start with my working hypothesis, several corollary ideas, and my argument’s three premises. [Read more…]
Guest Post: True Stories of Wizardry in England in the Days before the International Statute of Secrecy
August 4, 2022 by 1 Comment
Tony McAleavy is the author of The Last Witch Craze: John Aubrey, the Royal Society and the Witches, which was published in the UK in June 2022. As someone who gave a talk in 2010 and published an expanded essay on ‘Why Rowling Chose 1692,’ in which I explored the idea that the Wizarding World is the surviving remnant of the Spiritual Seeker sects, which is to say ‘Christian Magi,’ I am fascinated by this subject and begged McAleavy to share in a Guest Post here the outline of his research into the subject of real world “conjuring” in the UK’s tumultuous Seventeenth Century.
He agreed — and I think you’ll find as I did that his essay below largely explodes the prevalent misconceptions about a hard line in history separating scientists from magi from Christians. It’s a whole lot more complicated and fascinating than our conventional History-Time-Line Pigeon Holes allow. Thanks to Tony McAleavy for this wonderful Guest Post, which I trust you will enjoy as much as I did.
True Stories of Wizardry in England in the Days before the International Statute of Secrecy
Tony McAleavy
I have been researching real life wizardry and witchcraft in Britain and America in the late seventeenth century for my new book, The Last Witch Craze. JK Rowling proposed that 1689-1692 was a turning point in the relationship between the magical community and Muggles. She imagined how, after the catastrophe of the Salem trials when 20 people accused of satanic magic were executed in New England, the decision was confirmed to introduce the International Statute of Secrecy and make the practice of wizardry and witchcraft invisible to the non-magical world. Of course, Rowling was writing fiction but my new book suggests that her historical insight was fundamentally correct. The early 1690s was indeed the end of an era. Before that several wizards operated discreetly but not secretly. Afterwards they kept quiet about their practice.
I focus on three prominent men who I believe were active wizards in London 1660-1690. One of these magicians was John Aubrey. He openly promoted his belief in premonitions, potions and charms in a book he wrote towards the end of his life called Miscellanies. He grew up surrounded by magical practices in rural Wiltshire. As a boy, Aubrey saw female servants at the family home examine the ashes in the hearth at the end of the evening in order to foretell the future. [Read more…]
Reports from LeakyCon 2022 in Orlando
August 3, 2022 by 5 Comments
As readers here know, my track record with predictions is best described as “spotty.” I’ve had some decent ‘hits’ in guessing about future Harry Potter story turns and Strike twists but the ‘misses’ have been spectacular. My two most involved theories, ‘Periscope Harry’ in Unlocking Harry Potter and ‘Heroin Dark Lord‘ on this site, were so far off from the reality of what Rowling was planning that you’d think any semblance of shame would prevent my further speculation.
I like to note, however, when one of my best guesses turns out to be spot on, which seems to be the case with respect to the recent Leaky Con 2022 gathering in Orlando, Florida.
I predicted in early May that this fan convention would be a woke festival of Rowling Reviling. It wasn’t much of a prediction really, because Mischief Management said on the back pages of their web site in the fine print that this was the mission of the post Covid, post Trans Tweets Tsunami, Leaky Con. It didn’t take a Trelawney or a gift with a Crystal Ball to forecast that a group’s mission statement, to which all players have signed on, will guide the event in question. From that post here in May: [Read more…]
Updated: Ring Composition Pillar Post
August 2, 2022 by 1 Comment
I was unable, believe it or not, to discuss at any length Rowling’s signature structure, which is to say ring composition or chiasmus, in my PhD dissertation. I alluded in its conclusion both to the published notes of a talk I gave on the subject in 2010 and to a HogwartsProfessor Pillar Post on the subject in which links were collected to what I have written here as well as other Rowling Readers.
The problem was that I hadn’t finished that Pillar Post. Would I be able to complete anything like a complete collection of HogwartsProfessor posts and podcasts on the subject before the thesis readers looked for it?
I won’t know the answer to that question until my viva voce examinations at the end of the month. The good news, though, is that I have updated the page and it’s a decent compendium and introduction to the subject, if I say so myself. I explain, for instance, the connection between ring composition and Rowling’s psychomachia and literary alchemy.
The Ring Composition Pillar Post awaits your comments, corrections, and suggestions of pages here and elsewhere I have neglected.
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