Rowling Studies 2: The Christmas Pig

January 1, 2024 by Leave a Comment

Happy New Year, Rowling Readers! To celebrate the season, Nick Jeffery and I recorded a discussion of J. K. Rowling’s 2021 holiday classic, The Christmas Pig. Both of us believe, albeit for very different reasons, that it is one of Rowling’s best works, maybe even the actual very best; the short book is what each of us recommend to friends who have never read anything by The Presence (we have such friends, believe it or not) and who want to read something that will give them an idea of what all the fuss is about.

I suspect strongly that Christmas Pig in the not too distant future will be to J. K. Rowling what Christmas Carol  or Tale of Two Cities are to Charles Dickens, namely the very short (compared to the author’s other works) but very representative stories that are read in secondary school English classes and college English literature surveys and time period courses to ‘expose’ the Great Unwashed to the greatness of the Greats. For reasons Nick and I discuss at great length, Christmas Pig is a great choice to do just that.

Judging from the enthusiastic response of our Substack subscribers, all of whom receive ‘Rowling Studies’ podcast links directly in their inbox, there is a growing appreciation of this Christmas story. The possibility that there may be an embedded clue to Strikes 8, 9, and 10 in the palace of King Power — is Memory suggesting that Amelia Crichton is lying about Charlotte’s supposed suicide? — has even the Serious Strikers re-reading Christmas Pig with heightened attention.

If you would rather read the extensive HogwartsProfessor exegesis of Christmas Pig, I collected the Greatest Hits of our labors in a one-stop post here. However you revisit the book that just may be the template for the Strike series finale — Evan Willis’ Tetractys Theory holds that Strikes 8, 9, and 10 will use Casual Vacancy, The Ickabog, and The Christmas Pig the way the first seven books did their apposite numbers in the Hogwarts Saga (cf. the Parallel Series Idea) — we hope it makes the 12 days of Christmas that much brighter for you. Happy New Year, one and all! 

Post: A bit of fun I was sent by Lynne —

 

Filed Under: Christmas Pig, Substack Post

Strike8: The Charlotte Campbell Murder Mystery

November 28, 2023 by Leave a Comment

In the literary world crafted by Robert Galbraith, readers are accustomed to intricate plots, complex characters, and mysteries that keep them on the edge of their seats. One such enigma unfolds in The Running Grave, where the death of Charlotte Campbell raises, for me, more questions than answers. While the official verdict may be suicide, a closer examination of the details surrounding her demise suggests that Charlotte’s fate is more likely the result of foul play.

In The Strange Death of Charlotte Campbell, Nick Jeffery puts forward the idea that the structure of the series, unresolved questions of Charlotte’s character, and cryptonymic clues suggest that she was murdered.

Am I the only Serious Striker that thinks Charlotte was murdered? Could she turn out to be Snape with her death having been her final sacrifice?

John Granger concurs and further suggests a list of suspects in Strike8: The Charlotte Campbell Murder Mystery. Looking at Rowling’s inspiration, her Lake subject matter that she forms via her Shed construction into the literature we love, John finds even more evidence that suicide as murder, or murder made to look like suicide will be link that joins the book 1-7 as we know it to the 8-10 finale.

For more please visit The Hogwarts Professor Substack:

The Strange Death of Charlotte Campbell

Strike8: The Charlotte Campbell Murder Mystery

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Filed Under: Cormoran Strike, Fourth Generation, Nick Jeffery, Substack Post

Reading ‘Running Grave’ as the End of the Strike Series (A)

November 12, 2023 by 2 Comments

Strike7’s Parallels to ‘Cuckoo’s Calling’ Make it the Completion of a Ring Cycle

Last week I wrote a post saying that it was time to start pretending that Rowling had died or written her last book and move on to the next (and final) stage of literary criticism: ‘Is Rowling’s Best Work Behind Her Now?’ I caught quite a bit of blow-back on that intentionally provocative post, but not for the reasons I expected.

I thought Strike fandom would line-up to say what an idiot I was because the detective series is supposed to be ten books long per the author and her publisher, the Strike-Ellacott romance obviously hasn’t played out, and the last three novels have been the best in the series, no sign of Rowling-Galbraith having lost her touch. Silly me, I anticipated that readers would object to the assertion that Cormoran Strike wasn’t over, rather than quibble at my twenty-five year rule (when I listed significant counter-evidence to that rule).

For more please visit The Hogwarts Professor Substack. You do not need to subscribe to read, but if you choose to, subscription is free.

Filed Under: Cormoran Strike, Ring Composition, Substack Post

Is Rowling’s Best Work Behind Her Now?

November 11, 2023 by Leave a Comment

The Twenty-Five Year Rule of Great Authors

Is Rowling past her prime? With the completion of The Running Grave, in several ways the ‘end’ of the Cormoran Strike series, and at just over twenty-five years since the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, is her best work already on our shelves? Of course only time will tell, but the pattern of history is that the Greats of English literature have a twenty-five year publication window, which, if the pattern holds for Rowling has significant meaning for those interpreting her work.

For more please visit The Hogwarts Professor Substack. You do not need to subscribe to read, but if you choose to, subscription is free. Look out for the Part Nine conclusion tomorrow!

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes, Substack Post

Running Grave: Ring Reading Index

November 10, 2023 by Leave a Comment

Links and Summaries of the Eleven Strike7 Ring Posts, Three Take-Aways, Value of Structural Analysis in Evaluating the Reviews of ‘Running Grave’

Last week I finished my series of eleven ring-reading posts about Rowling-Galbraith’s Running Grave, her latest Cormoran Strike novel, in which series I did a structural analysis of its 944 pages using Mary Douglas’ criteria for chiasmus from her Thinking in Circles. Today I am posting a one-stop collection of links to each of these posts with a short summary of each post’s contents as well as my conclusions and take-away thoughts about the month long project for the convenience of future readers. It is the Strike7 Ring Reading Project Index; enjoy!

For more please visit The Hogwarts Professor Substack. You do not need to subscribe to read, but if you choose to, subscription is free.

Filed Under: Cormoran Strike, Ring Composition, Substack Post