Pius Thicknesse = Pope Pius XII, “Hitler’s Pope”?

September 11, 2007 by 52 Comments

Does the takeover of the Ministry of Magic in the first chapters of Deathly Hallows include a passing swipe at the Catholic Church and the Vatican’s supposed complicity with Nazi Germany? I received a letter from a thoughtful reader who thinks this is a possibility. Let’s start with that letter and examine the evidence:

Hello John,

I’ve very much enjoyed following your work, although I’m not a signed-in blogger. A thought if you choose to respond to it. During Vold War II the Minister of Magic is Pius Thicknesse. Pius is a rather unusual name. Try this – Pius XII ” Hitler’s Pope.” Kind of fits – His Thickness(e) Pius XII. Anything linking to the number 12? Pius XII rather “thick” in not fully recognizing Hitler’s evil. I’ve followed the thread here on Deathly Hallows regarding Nazi Echoes but have not yet seen anything on this point.

My very best to you – keep up the excellent work.

Donn Allen

Before receiving this note I had read the name “Pius Thicknesse” as a throw-away swipe at politicians wearing religion on their sleeve and Culture Warriors who get sucked halo-deep into secular politics in the name of piety and do-gooding and holding-the-line against secular humanism.

But Pius may indeed be a specific reference to Pope Pius XII. This Pontiff was the leader of the Roman Catholic Church during WWII and the Cardinal who, before his elevation to the Papacy, negotiated one of the first treaties with Hitler’s Third Reich. Donn Allen’s suggestion merits some consideration, consequently, even if it gives the Catholic Unicorn Hunters and Harry Haters more grist for their mill. Though many of Ms. Rowling’s defenders biggest fans are Roman Catholic, we have little to no evidence that she has Catholic sympathies herself. [Read more…]

Filed Under: C. S. Lewis, Deathly Hallows Discussion Points, Unlocking Harry Potter

Dickensian Cryptonyms: Is Lockhart a Pullman Stick-Figure?

March 10, 2007 by 11 Comments

Probably not.

Over at the Barnes and Noble Book Club (please join the discussion!), a violist admitted not caring much for Mozart — and how this tick gave her some sympathy for the problem Professor Bloom and Ms. Byatt may have in ever appreciating Ms. Rowling’s books. I found her posts and the consequent exchange on that thread both edifying and challenging. Barnes and Noble.com is great.

In the spirit of “true confessions” on that thread, I have to admit here a blind-spot or taste problem with reading an author many of my friends admire. I have been unable to get past the first chapters of any of Philip Pullman’s books after reading several interviews with him in which he proclaimed his atheism as the true faith — and that C. S. Lewis was a writer children should not be allowed to read because of the transparancy of his evangelical message. (Pullman critics in the UK call him the “UnLewis” because of this opinion, after a character in Lewis’ *Perelandra* called the UnMan. Note the opening of the *His Dark Materials* books being a child in a wardrobe…) I have heard two men I admire, Philip Nel at KSU and Vincent Kling at LaSalle University, both Rowling admirers, sing Pullman’s praises. I just can’t get my head around the disdain Pullman feels for a writer I admire, disdain rooted in a belief that Lewis was a Puritanical, misogynist and allegorical writer. There are plenty of reasons not to like Lewis (Tolkien liked to share these reasons with Lewis and his friends) but Pullman’s seem just an atheist’s prejudices about a Christian artist.

But isn’t my inability to enjoy Pullman’s books, what Nel calls “the Gold Standard” for children’s literature and no doubt more to Professor Bloom’s liking in terms of prosaic aesthetic heights, just the mirrored image of his prejudice: a Christian’s disregard for an atheist’s artistry? I’d love to think it was just a matter of taste, as in not *liking* Mozart, but I’m almost convinced this is a failing more like religious believers who cannot read and enjoy Harry Potter because they still believe in their heart of hearts that the books are gateways to the occult. Maybe this is why I have a hard time getting upset with these folk, even when they call radio stations to tell me on-air that I’m hell spawn. [Read more…]

Filed Under: C. S. Lewis, Unlocking Harry Potter