To celebrate the countdown to the theatrical release of Fantastic Beasts: the Secrets of Dumbledore (Friday 8th April for the UK release), Beatrice Groves, Research Lecturer and tutor at Trinity College, Oxford, and author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, has written a Hogwarts Professor Guest Post: The King of Beasts: Fantastic Beasts and the Beast Within. Beatrice takes a look at an intriguing twitter header that J. K. Rowling posted on 7th June 2021.
Beatrice Groves – The King of Beasts: Fantastic Beasts and the Beast Within
April 1, 2022 by Leave a Comment
The Strike and Ellacott Files Podcast
March 31, 2022 by 3 Comments
I have for a long time been a fan of podcasts. My own version of working in a Café as J. K. Rowling did is to work while listening to the spoken word. As a student this meant talk radio (which in the UK in the 80s and 90s meant BBC Radio4) and for the last eight years or so this has meant podcasts, or the BBC’s own Sounds application. The pleasure of podcasts is being able to tailor your listening by both content and schedule and one of my current favourites is a podcast hosted by Lindsay, Pools and Kenz called The Strike and Ellacott Files. This podcast debuted in 2021 and covered a read through of Troubled Blood. The show is currently part way through a re-read of Cuckoo’s Calling.
At the start of this month I was lucky enough to feature in an extra episode with Dr Beatrice Groves to discuss the epigraphs, past and future, in the Strike novels. The episode was recorded over a Zoom connection, linking the hosts in the US to Beatrice and myself in the UK. As a rank newbie, I was delighted to find the hosts just as friendly and engaging as I had imagined from listening. You can find out how I fared via the link below:
It was a strange (but thoroughly fun!) experience talking directly to people I had already grown used to listening to as an audience member. I have corresponded with Beatrice for some years but this was my first opportunity to talk (albeit at a distance) face to face. I hope in the near future to gain some more podcasting experience, but other than The Strike and Ellacott Files and the similarly excellent (but on hiatus) Denmark Street Deep Dive, I know of no others. If you have any comments or recommendations, please let me know down below:
The Gringotts Goblins and accusations of anti-Semitism (again)
January 6, 2022 by 6 Comments
On the 4th January, Newsweek broke the story that Jon Stewart a comedian and television host had accused J. K. Rowling of antisemitism due to the appearance of the Goblins in Harry Potter. Perhaps unsurprisingly in a tabloid story, within the first few paragraphs the article contradicts the headline:
Stewart said: “I do not think J.K. Rowling is antisemitic. I did not accuse her of being antisemitic. I do not think that the Harry Potter movies are antisemitic.”
This has not prevented multiple news outlets and twitter commentators of repeating the line that Rowling is an antisemite.
Jon Stewart accuses J.K. Rowling of antisemitism in 'Harry Potter' https://t.co/n9CICuBDXZ
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 4, 2022
Dr. Beatrice Groves has convincingly rebutted the accusation in her Bathilda’s Notebook posts: Rowling’s Goblin Problem? and The Sword Until Recently Known as Gryffindor’s. Very little can be added to this wonderful analysis, but trawling through twitter does throw up a couple of easily disprovable augments:
“There is a Star of David on the floor of Gringotts Bank!”
The Gringotts scene in Philosopher’s Stone was filmed in Australia House the home of the Australian High Commission in London. The building (and the floor) was completed in 1918 and the floor contains a Six pointed Star of Australia denoting the six states of the Commonwealth of Australia.
“J. K. Rowling wrote about ‘secretive, hook nosed, greedy bankers’, of course she was coding Jews!”
This is not the description that Rowling uses.
The goblin was about a head shorter that Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet.
J. K. Rowling has some history of calling out antisemitism where she sees it, and has been defended in this most recent attack by the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
Most UK Jews in my timeline are currently having to field this kind of crap, so perhaps some of us non-Jews should start shouldering the burden. Antisemites thinks this is a clever argument, so tell us, do: were atheist Jews exempted from wearing the yellow star? #antisemitism pic.twitter.com/H5xLLXTdQO
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 18, 2018
Our statement on suggestions that JK Rowling's portrayal of the goblins in the Harry Potter series is antisemitic pic.twitter.com/v9twpzkxM4
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) January 5, 2022
I’ll leave the last word to Jon Stewart who it now appears is the unwilling hero of this new stick to beat Rowling with.
Newsweek et al, may eat my ass. pic.twitter.com/eRoYYeNRi1
— Jon Stewart (@jonstewart) January 5, 2022
Beatrice Groves: Pillar Post Updates
December 31, 2021 by Leave a Comment
I learned just yesterday that Beatrice Groves, Research Fellow at Oxford University, author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, and frequent contributor to HogwartsProfessor, had written an essay on the literary allusions embedded in Rowling’s Christmas Pig. It is in the December issue of The Rowling Library magazine (scroll down to page 16 to find this treasure). Her explanation of the echoes and relevance of Dickens’ Christmas Carol and Tale of Two Cities as well as The Velveteen Rabbit and the Toy Story films are much more than ‘Spot the Source’ pin the tail on the donkey academic exercises; Professor Groves enriches appreciation of Rowling’s artistry and meaning by drawing out the germ of her ideas in other works of fiction. Check out ‘The Christmas Magic in A Christmas Carol and The Christmas Pig’ during the remaining days of the Western twelve days of Christmas!
Having been reminded by this jarring discovery of work done with Christmas Pig while I am writing a series of posts on the subject, I realized it was time for my semi-annual update to the Pillar Post catalog of links we maintain at HogwartsProfessor for all of Professor Groves’ postings here and elsewhere. She has written eleven new posts — three on Cormoran Strike, two on Christmas Pig, two on Rowling’s new website, one on Secrets of Dumbledore, and three in the last week on the Silver Doe at Christmas in Harry Potter.
Check out the Beatrice Groves Pillar Post for links to everything she has posted since 2017 or click on the links below to the most recent eleven. Cheers — and Happy New Year, everyone!
July 29, 2001: Leda and the Swan Mural at the Ritz: A Clue to the Opening of Strike 6? Part 1
July 30, 2021: The Beast Within: Shakespearean Clues in Strike, Part 2
September 17, 2021: Easter Eggs on J.K. Rowling’s New Website – Part 1
September 18, 2021: Easter Eggs on J.K. Rowling’s New Website – Part 2
October 10, 2021: Unlocking Clues to The Christmas Pig
December 11, 2021: The Mystery of the Ink Black Heart (with Kurt Schreyer)
December 20, 2021: The Qilin in The Secrets of Dumbledore?
Beatrice Groves – The Silver Doe at Christmas
December 24, 2021 by 2 Comments
To follow on from two Christmas posts in Bathilda’s Notebook, Mugglenet: Christmas in the Forest of Dean: The Silver Doe Part 1 and Part 2, Beatrice Groves, Research Lecturer and tutor at Trinity College, Oxford, and author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, has written a Hogwarts Professor Guest Post: Tracing the imagery and symbolism of the Silver Doe via one of J. K. Rowling’s favourite authors. If you haven’t yet read the Bathilda’s Notebook posts, please do. Then, on Christmas Eve (in the western tradition), enjoy this wonderful and timely article…
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