Stand by for The Hunger Games movie casting call! Suzanne Collins braced to just “let it go.” There’s a lot to let go, alas! H/T Arabella
You like YA Dystopian Novels? Dr. Amy H. Sturgis lists every one of note in the last fifty years — yow!
Quidditch World Cup pictures — check out the NYC games! H/T Toni G
Calgary Salvation Army: No Harry! No Edward! No Kidding! H/T Marsha
Liam Neeson: “Aslan not a Christ figure but a multi-cultural, spiritual-not-religious icon.” Who knew? H/T RevGeorge
LA Times says a Harry Potter OSCAR is way overdue. Really? H/T Candice
And the same paper does a Luna Lovegood profile: ‘Actress says She was Born for Loopy Role’ Definitely.
Gamecock Fight in South Carolina about Harry Potter’s value as literature:
- Point: ‘Potter’ series fun but not intellectual
- Counter-Point: ‘Harry Potter’ series should be judged on literary merit, not fan culture
‘Harry Potter’ graces campus classrooms throughout the nation (Oregon Daily Emerald)
‘Harry Potter’ casts spell on entire generation (TSU Index)
Want to re-read the Hogwarts Saga with >1,600 serious readers? Get thee to Library Thing’s ‘Hogwarts Express’! H/T Phyllis
The Chronicle of Higher Education disses Deathly Hallows, embraces ‘Harry as Literature:’
- Harry Potter’s True Nemesis: “Insufficient liminality” in series finale! Gotcha…
- Harry Potter and the Deeply Appreciative Professor H/T Pepperdine James
And, to end on an uplifting note, Harry Potter Fans Fight World Hunger.
Love this line in a comment on the nemesis article: “Rowling made a conscious, and very intentional, decision to work within a traditional framework. Criticizing this is like blaming someone for not writing sonnets with 15 lines.”
An earlier comment criticizes JK for fitting too closely within Joseph Campbell’s Voyage of the Hero. Oh no! Rowling followed mythic structure! That must make it pulp fiction rather than, say, a myth. Obviously.
Since you have to register to comment on that particular site, I just figured I’d respond to them here.
Best on the YA dystopias? The Giver.
Phoenix lovers (john & travis): Keep a lookout @ http://www.literating.wordpress.com for a special treat tomorrow @ 2:45 eastern/1:45 central.
lancelot: I’m with you about The Giver. Wrote my senior thesis for Literary Criticism (B.A.) on it. I was the only person in the class to write about a YA novel. And I got an A (from a professor who rarely gives out As, even!).
(My thesis, if you’re interested, was how Jonas [how I loved that name before the Jonas Brothers…] absolutely represented a Christ figure, paying particular attention to the role of The Giver as Father/God.)
I’ve recommended the Giver trilogy here several times, and included it in this guest post (https://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/guest-post-recommended-young-adult-fiction/). The third book, Messenger, is filled with overt Christian symbolism; the next time I read the trilogy, I’ll look for alchemy. I’m glad you did a thesis on it, Rochelle, and that it was appreciated.
If anyone has read the three books I reviewed in the guest post, I'd be very interested in what you thought of them.