2011 was a wild ride, wasn’t it? Harry Potter fandom experienced the ‘end of the beginning’ when the last movie adapted from the Hogwarts Saga was released [for a longish explanation why this is an ‘end of the beginning’ rather than a ‘beginning of the end,’ read Harry Is Here to Stay]. The Hunger Games entered into an ever larger audience of readers, setting records for sales on Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader and receiving daily news updates from film sites in North Carolina. Twilight lovers, too, had a banner year with the wedding album and Renesmee birthing in Breaking Dawn, Part 1.
And we discussed it all here on HogwartsProfessor.com! Our faculty took shape this year with the official appointments of Elizabeth Baird Hardy, John Patrick Pazdziora, Louise Freeman, and M.Brett Kendall as full professors, James of TwilightNewsSite.com as an adjunct prof, and a gaggle of Guest posters with special insights about Harry, Katniss, Bella, and great reading in general.
The year ended with a MuggleNet.com feature interview with me about Ring Composition (you can listen to or read the transcript here). This sort of linkage always brings with it a relative flood of new visitors to HogwartsProfessor.com — ‘HogPro’ among friends — so, as welcome and means of introduction to what we do here, I’ve collected links after the jump for something like a ‘HogPro Greatest Hits of 2011’ page with links to outside sites and our vaults as well.
Welcome, newcomers, to the conversations about the 21st Century’s most popular and arguably its best reading and writing! Thank you, All-Pros, for a delightful year gone by — and Happy New Year!
For the much condensed overview of what HogwartsProfessor is all about, regardless of which books any of the HogPro faculty are discussing, check out ‘The Seven Keys to HogwartsProfessor.’ Eliade thesis, Shared Text, Ring Composition, Soul Triptych, etc.: the meaning of the foundation ideas are all there. For a crash course in how these keys work together, read the article ‘Harry Is Here to Stay.’
I just scrolled through the 2011 posts to pull out the set here; no doubt, I have missed the better ideas in my haste. Please nominate neglected gems in the Comment Boxes below!
Harry Potter:
Was Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein an Alchemist? Introducing the ‘Potter as Pearl Harbor’ Thesis and, with that. Shelley’s Frankenstein: The Alchemy Chapters
Little Women and Harry Potter: Jo Rowling is Jo March
Blasts from the HogPro Vault for Newcomers:
How does Ring Composition Work, Anyway?
The Secret Doctrine of The Secret Garden
John’s talk with TIME’s Lev Grossman about Harry
PodCast: What Constitutes Harry Potter Canon anyway?
Anne of Green Gables and Harry Potter
“I always thought of Dumbledore as gay.” [ovation.]
The Epilogue’s “All Was Well”: Context, Themes, and a Possible Literary Reference
Rita Skeeter Covers the Vatican
Twilight:
Bella Swan and Edward Cullen Go to University: The Scandal of Teaching Twilight as Literature
Guest Post: In Defense of the Twilight Saga
The Host: Filming and Book Sequels Imminent
From the Forks High School Professor Vault:
Mrs. Meyer’s Anti-Cult, Feminist Story-Message
PodCast on Eclipse and Bree Tanner
Mrs. Meyer says Twilight is Meaningless?
PodCast with Mrs. Meyer’s Favorite BYU Professor, Steve Walker
‘Alchemists Everywhere!’ A Hog’s Head PubCast
What Twilight Means (an interview with TIME magazine’s Lev Grossman)
Anne of Green Gables and Twilight
The New Moon Posts: What is the Second Book Really About?
Twilight and the Future of the Novel: Thoughts on a WSJ Editorial
The Spectrum of Christian Opinion on Twilight
A Twilight-focused editorial in the Washington Post and damning the series with faint praise
A series of posts comparing the critical receptions Ms. Rowling’s and Mrs. Meyer’s popular series received
Hunger Games
Elizabeth Baird Hardy’s Hunger Games film posts
From the Hunger Games secret chamber in the HogPro Vault:
Mockingjay Discussion 12: Real or Not Real?
Mockingjay Discussion 14: The Hunger Games Formula
Mockingjay Discussion 15: The Hanging Tree
Mockingjay Discussion 16: Katniss’ Meadow Song
Mockingjay Discussion 22: Ring and Mirror Composition
‘Unlocking Mockingjay: The Spiritual Allegory’ On Katniss as a Soul Seeking Perfection and Iconological Reading
‘Unlocking Mockingjay: ‘The Literary Alchemy’ On Literary Alchemy and Peeta as Postmodern Christ
‘Unlocking Mockingjay: Katniss’ Apotheosis’ On the Alchemical Arena and Katniss’ Perfection in the Inner Sanctuary
Various and Sundry
Why Read Fiction? A Perspective by John Patrick Pazdziora
Jane Eyre 7: A Lesson on Authorial Intent from Jasper Fforde’s Literary Detective Thursday Next by Elizabeth Baird Hardy
Come One, Come All (Maybe) to Erin Morgenstern’s Debut novel, The Night Circus by Elizabeth Baird Hardy
Charles Williams: ‘The Greater Trumps’
Why ‘Magician’s Nephew’ is a Great Choice for Next Narnia Film
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