Let ‘The Deathly Hallows Speaking Tour’ Begin! Ring Composition Book Now Available Online

In celebration of the release of the first Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie on 19 November, I begin my Deathly Hallows Speaking Tour today. With stops as far west as Moline, Illinois, north as Milwaukee, Wisconsin, east as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and south as Columbia, South Carolina, the next four weeks promise great fun that will literally be all over the map!

I’m excited about this trip because of the number and variety of venues, of course, but also because I’ll be sharing for the first time with a larger audience the mind-blowing discovery that Ms. Rowling, as her name suggests, is a Ring Writer. Not only is her series a seven book cycle conforming to the four traditional markers of Ring Composition that we find in ancient, biblical, medieval, and modern works, but all seven books, to include every one of the 198 chapters and epilogue, are shaped by ring formula.

Below the jump you’ll find a list of the twenty stops I’ll be making in the next four weeks and the several topics I’ll be addressing. I hope to see you at one or more! If you cannot make it, say, because you live well west of the Mississippi, I have put together a Harry Potter as Ring Composition and Ring Cycle special limited edition book for this tour that is available either as a paperback book or pdf file to download. It’s an expanded version of my talk to TGTSNBN earlier this month and it will only be available until the much longer version is published early next year. It’s not as much fun as a talk — but it does have all the diagrams and charts detailing Ms. Rowling’s remarkable ring artistry.

Read on for details about The Deathly Hallows Speaking Tour and a brand new Potter pundits publication!

• Tuesday, 19 October, 9-10 pm; Augustana College, Founders Hall

Harry Potter Chapter Rings, Character Names, and Magic Mirrors:  The Genius Inside the Planning of the Hogwarts Saga

Joanne Rowling has told interviewers for more than a decade that the secret of her success was her intensive “planning” of the series, a “boring answer” she always apologizes for. But what exactly was she planning that took five years to sketch before she began writing the books and six months prior to each novel’s composition? Potter Pundit John Granger, author of Harry Potter Unlocked: Seven Keys for the Serious Reader and editor of Harry Potter Smart Talk, believes she was working on embedding within her story the structures and symbols that would reflect her most profound meaning. Want to learn why Harry’s name as well as all the alliterative names and those with reduplicated letters are what they are? Curious about the Deathly Hallows symbol and what it really tells us about Ms. Rowling’s novels? Interested in why specific events happen in the chapters they do in each book and why there are seven novels? Come hear John Granger reveal at last the genius in Rowling’s planning and how it generated Potter-mania

• Wednesday, 20 October, 7 pm – 8 pm, The University of Chicago (aka ‘Chicagwarts’), Hitchcock Hall (1009 E. 57th Street)
  

Harry Potter Chapter Rings, Character Names, and Magic Mirrors (see above)

• Friday, 22 October, 6:30-10 pm, Emmanuel Community United Methodist Church, N84 W16707 Menomonee Ave., Menomonee Falls, WI 53051; (262) 251-3830. Tickets are available via their website.
  

The Christian Content  and Symbolism of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’

Ms. Rowling told reporters in 2000 that the last book would answer all their questions about her faith – and Deathly Hallows was no disappointment in that regard. John Granger was the first serious reader of the books to argue the stories were Christian in conception and meaning back when some Christians were burning the books. In this popular talk, he explains how the series finale is Ms. Rowling’s story about the difficulty and importance of faith, what we shouldn’t believe, and the transformations right belief make possible. The seventh book delivers on all the foreshadowing and themes of the previous books and John explains this in inspiring fashion.

• Sunday, 24 October, 4 pm, Black Bear Books, Boone, NC
• Monday, 25 October, 10 am, Mayland Community College, Spruce Pine, NC
• Monday, 25 October, 7 pm, Lees-McRae College, Banner Elk, NC
  

Harry Potter Unlocked: Seven Keys for the Serious Reader

Ms. Rowling is a brilliant writer who uses specific tools to craft her meaning and create the effects in her readers that she wants. John Granger, the “Dean of Harry Potter Scholars” (TIME), raids Ms. Rowling magic tool chest and shares how she wields the tools of narrative misdirection, ring composition, literary alchemy, the hero’s journey, postmodern themes, genre combination, and traditional symbolism to engage and entrance us well beyond suspended disbelief. Always a hit with Potter fans of all ages, this lecture opens up the mystery of fine writing and Potter-mania without destroying the magic.

Extra bonus: real love Owls at the Lees-McRae event!

• Tuesday, 26 October, 7 pm, University of South Carolina (Columbia), Nursing 125

The Spiritual Dimensions of Fantasy Literature

John Granger, author of books on the Harry Potter and Twilight novels, presents his case that high English fantasy is not just another diversion or escape from reality but a pilgrimage of sorts into reality. Arguing from Coleridge’s natural theology and the traditional four layers of interpreting texts, as well as popular books from the Inkling writers, Joanne Rowling, and Stephenie Meyer, John explains Mircea Eliade’s thesis that fiction in a secular culture serves a mythic or religious function — and that it is the spiritual content and experience Harry Potter, Narnia, and Twilight deliver that make them the publishing phenomena they are.

• Thursday, 28 October, 7 pm, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, NC, Belk Centrum

Lenoir-Rhyne Visiting Writers Series: An Evening with John Granger

A talk to kick-off Lenoir-Rhyne’s two day ‘Harry Potterfest,’ John Granger will explore the artistry and meaning of the world’s best selling books, to include the remarkable traditional literary elements and Christian meaning.

• Sunday, 31 October, 3 pm, Christiansburg Public Library, Christiansburg, Virginia
  

Literary Trick or Treats: Why We Love the Witches and Vampires in the Hogwarts and Forks Sagas

John Granger, author of books explaining the artistry and meaning of both Harry Potter and Twilight, returns to Christiansburg to share the several literary elements the books have in common as well as their obvious and not-so-obvious differences. John’s talks are fun and accessible but come expecting to have your appreciation of book-magic broadened and deepened before you go Trick or Treating!

• Monday, 1 November, 8 pm, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, Virginia

Bella Swan at Hogwarts: The Important Influence of the Potter Novels and Potter Mania on Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga

The stratospheric sales of Mrs. Meyer’s Twilight books caused inevitable comparisons between the adventures of Forks High School students and the young witches and wizards at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But what influence did the Potter books and the mania around the books and films have in creating the series and fan interest in Twilight? John Granger, the Hogwarts Professor, says the key parallel is in each author’s decisions to mix story types, to throw in a bunch of spiritual meaning (death and resurrection!), and to engage with their fans online and in person. Granger argues Rowling and Meyer are an odd-couple and a match! Don’t miss this fun introduction to literary interpretation at four levels — and why we don’t need to be embarrassed about enjoying and admiring Harry Potter or the Twilight novels.

• Tuesday, 2 November, pm, Church of the Holy Comforter, Vienna, Virginia

Unlocking Potter-Mania: The Christian Content of the World’s Best Selling Books

Ms. Rowling told reporters in 2000 that the last book would answer all their questions about her faith – and Deathly Hallows was no disappointment in that regard; Christianity Today reviewed the finale as “Harry Potter 7 is Matthew 6.” John Granger was the first serious reader of the books to argue the stories were Christian in conception and meaning back when some Christians were burning the books. In the advent of the Deathly Hallows film, he explains at Holy Comforter the signature Christian elements of the series as well as how the series finale is Ms. Rowling’s story about the difficulty and importance of faith, what we shouldn’t believe, and the transformations right belief make possible. The books, far from being the “gateway to the occult,” are a treasury of spiritual meaning which John explains in inspiring fashion.

• Wednesday, 3 November, Holy Cross Orthodox Church, Linthicum, Maryland
  

Twilight, Harry Potter, and Your Child’s Soul: How Reading Shapes the Whole Person

Best-selling books have been the object of Christian criticism for fostering a magical and godless worldview but is this the greater threat and promise of popular novels like Twilight and Harry Potter? John Granger, author of books on both series and dubbed “Dean of Harry Potter Scholars and Professor of Meyerology” by TIME magazine’s Lev Grossman, thinks the controversies, criticisms, and most of the defenses of these paranormal fictions miss the great value and potential danger of imaginative literature. He argues that reading fantasy fiction fosters the formation of the Inner Heart, for good or ill, and the ordering of the soul’s faculties. Come learn why Harry and Bella’s adventures are as popular as they are, how they work their mostly edifying magic, and what to look out for in your children’s reading as red flags and as green lights.

• Monday, 8 November, 7 pm, St. Francis University, JFK Lounge

Harry Potter Unlocked: Seven Literary Keys to the Hogwarts Saga

Harry Potter is the “Shared Text” of the young 21st Century and it has created not only a common story vocabulary for readers everywhere but also an imaginative experience we all have been through individually and together. John Granger, who has lectured on Harry Potter as literature at schools like Yale, Princeton, and the University of Chicago, explains how Harry’s adventures with Ron and Hermione provide the tools serious readers need to open up our understanding of English literature and, more important, of human life itself.

With his intellectually challenging but always fun approach, Granger discusses literary alchemy, story setting and genre, postmodern themes, the hero’s journey, ring composition, Christian symbolism, and narrative misdirection to reveal the mechanics of Ms. Rowling’s literary magic, why her themes and symbols resonate within us, and why knowing these details are so useful in interpreting other books and how we understand ourselves and our world. Ever wonder, really wonder, why you love these books the way you do? Come compare your conclusions to what the “Hogwarts Professor” thinks and learn why he believes the Hogwarts Saga will be a cultural foundation for generations.

• A stop in Aurora, Ohio, to see David and Toni Graf, I hope, and maybe give a talk at ‘The Learned Owl’ book store in Hudson, perhaps the world’s most Harry-friendly book emporium!

• Wednesday, 10 November, 7 pm, Youngstown State University, ‘The Room of Requirement,’ One University Plaza, Youngstown, Ohio, 44555

Harry Potter Chapter Rings, Character Names, and Magic Mirrors:  The Genius Inside the Planning of the Hogwarts Saga

Joanne Rowling has told interviewers for more than a decade that the secret of her success was her intensive “planning” of the series, a “boring answer” she always apologizes for. But what exactly was she planning that took five years to sketch before she began writing the books and six months prior to each novel’s composition? Potter Pundit John Granger, author of Harry Potter Unlocked: Seven Keys for the Serious Reader and editor of Harry Potter Smart Talk, believes she was working on embedding within her story the structures and symbols that would reflect her most profound meaning. Want to learn why Harry’s name as well as all the alliterative names and those with reduplicated letters are what they are? Curious about the Deathly Hallows symbol and what it really tells us about Ms. Rowling’s novels? Interested in why specific events happen in the chapters they do in each book and why there are seven novels? Come hear John Granger reveal at last the genius in Rowling’s planning and how it generated Potter-mania

• Friday, 12 November, Time and venue to be determined, Dayton, Ohio, The Ohio Harry Potter Huddle
  

Harry Potter Chapter Rings, Character Names, and Magic Mirrors: The Genius Inside the Planning of the Hogwarts Saga (see above)

• Monday, 15 November, 6-7:30 pm, Marion Public Library, Columbus Ohio

Literary Alchemy: The Secret Magic-Formula of Harry Potter and Today’s Best Selling Books

Of the literary keys that unlock Harry Potter, the strangest and most fascinating door-opener is Ms. Rowling’s use in her books of medieval alchemy, the sacred science of changing lead into gold. She said in 1998 that alchemy “sets the magical parameters” and “establishes the internal logic of the series” and, sure enough, everything from the titles, character names, and the transformations Harry goes through in each book have alchemical roots. John Granger, the author of Harry Potter’s Bookshelf (Penguin, 2009) and the Potter Pundit whom TIME calls “the Dean of Harry Potter scholars,” explains the tradition of this artistry from Shakespeare to C. S. Lewis along with the three alchemical stages in each of the beloved Potter books and the series as a whole. With the tools John shows readers how to use, you will see what Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games have in common not only with each other but with Shakespearean drama, the Metaphysical Poets, and novels by Charles Dickens and C. S. Lewis. Come discover how an “alchemical wedding,” (Bill and Fleur!) the “Quarreling Couple” of mercury and sulphur (Ron and Hermione!), and the colors black, white, and red (and the deaths of Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore, and Fred Weasley) shape and reveal why we love Harry Potter!

• Thursday, 18 November, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  

Harry Potter Unlocked: Seven Literary Keys to the Hogwarts Saga (see above)

Okay, I’m exhausted just looking at that list. There are also dates and talks not yet nailed down at VMI, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, ‘Potterdelphia,’ and LaSalle University. If you live along the path of any of these travels or far off the path and want to schedule a talk at your school, library, church, or bookstore, write to me at john at HogwartsProfessor dot com and we’ll make a date!

Though this tour is called ‘The Deathly Hallows Tour’ because of the incipient release of the next movie (and because my Deathly Hallows Lectures remains the only book long examination of the world’s fastest selling novel, a record I doubt will be broken in our lifetimes), I’ll be selling a brand new book by the Potter Pundits that has just become on Amazon.com. It’s called Harry Potter Smart Talk: Brilliant PotterCast Conversations About J. K. Rowling’s Hogwarts Saga and is a collection of the best Pundit riffs on The Leaky Cauldron with six essays by James Thomas, Travis Prinzi, and myself.

“Is it any good?” I brought copies of it to my talk in NYC two weeks ago and one reader who picked it up there wrote at Amazon:

As an academic (doctoral student) working in ancient literature (Ancient Near Eastern, Hebrew Bible), and an avid Potter fan since just before the release of book 5, Order of the Phoenix, I found this book really engaging.

On the eve of the release of the final installment of the series ( Deathly Hallows), my advice to friends online, who were in full blown mania trying to predict the outcome, was the same as some professors give to students before exams … when you have studied till your eyes are bugging out, take a rest and relax: There is only so much analysis you can do, I said, and maybe a better way to pass the time and torture of waiting was to pick your favorite book, the one you find yourself laughing and smiling the most when you read it, and read it just to enjoy the story (personally, I must admit that Book 6, Half Blood Prince, on audio-book with Jim Dale reading the American version, has caused me to miss my exit on the interstate more than once).

That is sort of how the conversations of the Potter Pundits flow. The content is deep, but the conversations are anything but bogged down. They remind me of the fact that I find just as much to identify with in Potter from having been young and excited about rock and roll, as I do from being older and studying the richness of literary traditions.

The formal essays by the individual pundits are also excellent in the same way. They are fascinatingly informative and profoundly probing, but the writing style is lively and anything but dry. … and these guys really know their stuff – not just what they bring from their respective academic fields, but also just about every detail there is to know from the Potter books.

I highly recommend it.

Gotta love that — and I think you’ll love Smart Talk, too! Here’s the product description from the book’s Amazon page:

‘Harry Potter Smart Talk’ is a Greatest Hits Collection from the Potter Pundits. the three literary mavens on the wildly popular PotterCast of The Leaky Cauldron. Four transcripts of Harry Potter fandom’s favorite podcasts along with two talks each from James Thomas, Travis Prinzi, and John Granger make this a reading experience that will delight the casual Hogwarts reader and ‘wow’ even the most serious Potter maniac. From the secret code of Harry Potter names – why all those doubled letters and initials – to the real world Muggles and Seekers of the English Civil War that are the historical backdrop to Harry’s adventures, with sidetrips to discuss Christmas at Hogwarts and the esoteric meaning of Luna Lovegood’s lovable lunancy, ‘Harry Potter Smart Talk’ is a must-have guide to the world’s best selling books by three geeks who love to laugh almost as much as they love a great book. The Perfect Gift for your favorite Potter-phile! As Melissa Anelli, author of ‘Harry, A History,’ wrote in the Foreword to ‘Smart Talk,’ “here is the Ivory Tower in Hagrid’s Hut!”

That’s right — Smart Talk has a Foreward written by Melissa Anelli, author of Harry, A History, whose last name in Italian, appropriately enough, means “Rings.” And, given the round resonance of Ms. Rowling’s name, maybe I should re-cast this tour as the Ring Compositions Revelation.

Nah.

Here is is the Deathly Hallows Tour promotional info on the Hogwarts Professor. Write soon to schedule a date or to let me know what you think of the new books!

My apologies in advance for the scant posting I’ll be doing here in the next month because I will have limited internet access. Professors Hardy and Freeman, however, should be more than good company in my temporary absence.

See you soon!

John, out the door

John Granger has been dubbed “The Dean of Harry Potter Scholars” by Lev Grossman, TIME magazine’s book reviewer, because John has been well ahead of the critical pack in understanding the Hogwarts Saga, because he is the accepted go-to authority on Rowling’s books for national media, and because of his many appearances as Featured Speaker on university campuses and academic conferences.

John has written and edited six books on the artistry and meaning of Harry Potter with four different publishers. His first book, Looking for God in Harry Potter (Tyndale, now How Harry Cast His Spell), argued that Potter-mania was due to the spiritual content and implicitly Christian meaning of the novels’ predominant symbolism. This argument, though contrary to fundamentalist criticism of the books, was confirmed by Ms. Rowling in 2007. He established, too, again over critical derision, in Unlocking Harry Potter (Zossima) and Harry Potter’s Bookshelf (Penguin), that the story scaffolding was Shakespearean “literary alchemy,” an argument also supported by the author in interviews after John’s work. His essay collections and guides are used in classrooms from Princeton and Yale to Biola and Pepperdine because of his common sense explanation that Rowling’s books sell because they are written well and within the best and most successful traditions of English literature.

In addition to his talks with TIME’s Lev Grossman, John has been interviewed as the Harry Potter ‘subject matter expert by Tomoko Rich of The New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Jeffrey Trachtenberg at The Wall Street Journal, as well as more than one hundred radio talk shows and television programs. His interviews on national television include appearances on CNN’s Paula Zahn Now, MSNBC’s morning news program hosted by Alex Witt, and the A&E special, ‘The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter,’ that is now a DVD extra in Warner Brothers’ packaging of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In addition to daily blogging at HogwartsProfessor.com, John also podCasts regularly on Harry Potter Fandom’s premiere website’s ‘PotterCast’ as a Potter Pundit.

John has been a Keynote or Featured Speaker at Nimbus 2003, Lumos 2006, Prophecy 2007, Azkatraz 2009, Infinitus 20010, LeakyCon, Sonorus, Summer School in Forks, Convention Alley 2008, Past Watchful Dragons, Climacus Orthodox Culture Conference, and C. S. Lewis and the Inklings. A graduate of the University of Chicago, chosen in a recent poll as the school campus most like Hogwarts, he has given talks at Princeton, Yale, Penn, Cornell, Augustana, Washington and Lee, Baylor, Biola, LaSalle, and Pepperdine, as well as at secondary schools, libraries, and bookstores across the country.

John is on a month long speaking tour in the run-up to the first Deathly Hallows movie release in November because he is the author of the only book devoted to Deathly Hallows, namely, The Deathly Hallows Lectures (Zossima). In it, John explains the Christian symbolism, the alchemical scaffolding, the reason there are so many floating “eyes” in the story, as well as the passage that Ms. Rowling says is “the key” to the entire series, Harry’s interview with dead Dumbledore at King’s Cross.’ Known by Harry Potter fans and serious readers as “The Hogwarts Professor,” John is a fun, accessible speaker with a decades experience explaining the literary magic in Harry’s adventures that has made them the best-selling books in publishing history!