Thoughts for the Serious Reader of Harry Potter
A very happy St Valentine’s Day from all at Hogwarts Professor to you dear close readers!
Robins are red,
Strike’s name is Blue,
Beatrice Groves –
Has written for you:
Beatrice Groves, Research Lecturer and tutor at Trinity College, Oxford, and author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, has written a Hogwarts Professor Guest Post: Valentine’s Alchemy. To find out more about love, both sacred and profane, in Ink Black Heart, join Prof Groves after the jump:
I am a loyal fan of the Strike and Ellacott Files podcast, and look forward to new episodes every couple of weeks. But, if you peruse their website, you’ll find they also have a blog: a hidden gem that is easily overlooked if you, like me, usually jump straight to Spotify to hear the broadcast. I want to give a shout-out to a couple of recent posts there, because I think they present ideas our Serious Striker readers would enjoy discussing.
The first, by “Amber” hypothesizes that Robin’s new suitor, Ryan Murphy, is secretly a member of the Halvening. I scoffed at the notion at first, but Amber points out evidence that is impossible to unsee. Like the pregnant Madeline hypothesis, I really *hope* this idea doesn’t come to pass— poor Robin deserves a few dates with a decent guy after the series of disasters that were Matthew “Flobberworm” Cunliffe, Saul “Dickhead DeMorris Umbridge” and Hugh Jacks (no nickname needed, as his given name is embarrassing enough), and I’d like her experience a fun, casual relationship before her and Strike’s inevitable coupling.
The second, is a series of three posts (Parts I, II and III) on the Tannhäuser opera, the one the “portly Russian” is talking about at Annabels. Opera is far from my area of expertise, but this Wagnerian work apparently starts with Leda and the Swan and “centres on the struggle between sacred and profane love, as well as redemption through love.” The plot of the opera? A young knight struggling to free himself of the sexual hold Venus has over him, and prove himself worthy of the love of a virtuous woman.” “Marty Ellacott” takes us through all three acts, connecting the opera’s plot to Strike’s spiritual journey in The Ink Black Heart and the entire series. Anyone with an interest in mythic, Christian and spiritual themes in the Cormoran Strike series should read these posts. I left the first post convinced Tannhäuser is the Rattenbury of The Ink Black Heart; a minor mention that unlocks a lot about the story.
Please check out these remarkable posts!
On the 21st January J. K. Rowling changed her Twitter header to give us another clue about the upcoming Strike instalment The Running Grave. Beatrice Groves, Research Lecturer and tutor at Trinity College, Oxford, and author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, has written a Hogwarts Professor Guest Post: Round Tower Churches and Rowling’s New Twitter Header. Join Prof Groves as she delves into the history and myth of the distinctive Round Tower Churches of East Anglia, and that of Aylmerton in particular, after the jump:
We are very fortunate that long time stalwart of the Hogwarts Professor – Chris Calderon has submitted a guest post. Now that it is likely Dylan Thomas will be providing the epigraphs to The Running Grave, what can the epigraphs of the Strike series tell us about both the character of the protagonist and the overall narrative arc? To find out follow after the jump!
There is something undeniably pleasing about a well stocked bookcase. Other people’s hold the promise of spotting volumes you own, creating a spirit of kinship. Unknown tomes inspire curiosity and envy. What other possession could create such a window on the psyche? A visible curriculum vitae, of someone’s career, hobbies and passions. Where a person has come from and where they hope to be going.
In the spring of 2020 when J. K. Rowling re-arranged her bookshelves in rainbow colours, I joined many commentators in having a mild sense of horror. How on earth would you find the book you were looking for? There is some puritan sense that the value of the book, the beauty, lies in what it contains, rather than what it looks like. We are urged to never judge a book by it’s cover, no matter how lovely. On reflection, and after spending many happy hours trying to identify the books on Rowling’s shelves, I think I was being unfair. My own, much more modest collection, is organised by theme and date of acquisition and size. A system almost impenetrable to anyone but me, so why not by colour of the spine? The effect is certainly visually striking, and in an age of remote working with video conference the look of ones bookcase is more important than ever.
So what to do, if you have no interest in books or literature, but still want to have the visual effect of a well stocked and colour coordinated library? Fortunately Juniper Books have you covered:
Inside the Picture Perfect—and Highly Lucrative—Business of Book Styling
Without having to trouble yourself with what the books contain, you can purchase colour coordinated books by the foot!
When we curate books by the foot, we preserve the organic look of the books as published while creating an organized and uniform looking shelf or library. We pay attention to the details of each book we select, ensuring the books sit well together in terms of color, size, publication era, and the decorative appeal of the spines. The text on the spines will vary in color.
Juniper Books
If your conscience cannot quite get past judging a book by it’s contents, then Juniper Books also produce some lovely (if quite expensive) dust jackets for classic book series. Harry Potter is well represented, but Strike is likely to have to wait until the series conclusion. In the wake of the much trumpeted story in the right-wing press of a book binder removing Rowling’s name from copies of the novels, I was a little disappointed to see Rowling’s name featuring on only one of the four sets offered.
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