Thoughts for the Serious Reader of Harry Potter
With J. K. Rowling confirming that the epigraphs for The Running Grave are from the I Ching and the title seemingly derived from a Dylan Thomas poem, what can this tell us of the contents of Strike 7?
This is the question veteran Hogwarts Professor stalwart Chris Calderon explores, with some surprising help from the Fab Four!. [Read more…]
Today’s HogwartsProfessor post is from a Serious Striker writing under the pseudonym ‘Albus.’ It is more a cry of the heart about Robin Ellacott’s choices in Ink Black Heart than an analysis of the mythic or anagogical content of Strike6 or speculation about The Running Grave, which is to say, it represents a departure from most of what we write and discuss here. I publish it with some misgiving; I do not find the interrogation of Pierce a lapse in ethics or morality, as ‘Albus’ does, Puritanical as I must seem to many. The decision to ‘bug’ the offices of a Parliament office not mentioned in this piece, seemed a far greater jump into illicit behavior than Ms Ellacott’s manipulation of a sleazy character to tell all.
That caveat aside, I offer ‘What’s With Robin?’ for your reflection on how one thoughtful reader experienced the sea-change of Robin Ellacott in Ink Black Heart. If you are like me after my first reading, you may suspect that this experience of disappointment and confusion may have been the point of Rowling-Galbraith’s choices with respect to this character’s story-arc, the hardening of Robin into someone less sympathetic and admirable by conventional standards, into a woman able to journey through the psychological forge of hell successfully. See the post on the Psyche and Cupid mythic backdrop of Ink Black Heart for more on that possibility.
I hope readers will respond in the comment boxes with their take-away with respect to Robin’s choices in Strike6, especially with respect to the Pierce interview. Are you more with or against Albus’ reading of the mystery? Was it an aberration and mistake on the author’s part or a calculated move to disturb and challenge the reader? Make the jump for Albus’ “What’s With Robin?” [Read more…]
The Daily Mail presents the case for the legend of Jesus having traveled to Cornwall with Joseph of Arimethea, a maternal uncle, on a business trip to buy tin, a necessary component for bronze-making: ‘Did Jesus visit Cornwall? It sounds beyond belief. But according to local folklore, he sailed here as a teenager with his tin merchant uncle.’ I wonder if Dave Polworth was aware of this legend and if they weren’t connected to the mysterious caves he and his new friend were about to explore before Leda intervened. Surely Aunt Joan would have told her nephew about the Jesus Well, the Druids, and the tin connection?
That’s as close as I want to get to an ‘Easter piece’ here at HogwartsProfessor. I hope your celebrations of Western Easter are joyous!
We learned yesterday that all of the epigraphs in The Running Grave will be from the I Ching: Rowling Reveals Running Grave Epigraphs will All be from the I Ching. This was not a total surprise because of a previous twitter homepage header that featured the hexagrams and the manuscript’s cover page and its I Ching epigraph, but it was a break with the customary link of title author and book epigraphs that we have had in five of the six Strike novels. Chris Calderon responded to my post on this subject with an excellent review of articles written here and at StrikeFans about the relationship of Dylan Thomas with the Galbraithian themes of ‘morality and mortality’ as well as a possible link between the poet and the Book of Changes. I had three thoughts inspired by Mr Calderon’s notes which I share after the jump. See you there! [Read more…]
In a post early this morning, Rowling tweeted out an anniversary message and thank you:
The Cuckoo’s Calling (the first Strike book) was published ten years ago today! Thank you to @LittleBrownUK for taking on the unknown Robert Galbraith and every reader who’s helped make the books bestsellers. The seventh, The Running Grave, will be out later this year!
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 4, 2023
In a remarkably chatty and enthusiastic comment thread, Rowling shared this remarkable tidbit about The Running Grave’s epigraph source:
Rowling had hinted at this in her previous twitter header that featured the I Ching and we knew already that the book’s opening epigraph would be from this divinatory classic via the sleuthing of The Rowling Library.
You can read Beatrice Groves’ first thoughts on this subject, ‘The Running Grave: Strike 7, the I Ching and the Yarrow Stalks,’ one she wrote in anticipation of the news announced today. Indeed, we are back to the single source mother-lode of epigraphs, a la Lethal White and Rosmersholm as well as Troubled Blood and The Faerie Queene.
I think this is a first, namely, Rowling revealing her sole source for epigraphs prior to publication. Will you be reading the I Ching and practicing the divinatory and reflective arts with stalks and coins in the run-up to The Running Grave?
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