The Five Keys & What Makes a Book “Great”

December 29, 2006 by 1 Comment

Eeyore (Pat) wrote after reading my post below on “Postmodernism, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Harry Potter” that:

I understand your point about her being post modern — it makes sense that she is a writer of her times — which is also why it’s always made sense to me that much of the imagery is Christian, because she IS a Christian. I think it would be very difficult for a writer to not let their beliefs or their era influence their writing.

So, how does this all fit in with the Christian message that so many of us see? I’ve thought since HBP that she is not necessarily intending the books to have a Christian, or even religious, point, but that it is there, nonetheless.

I’ll try to answer the question of how Harry Potter can be simultaneously postmodern and Christian by discussing what it means to be a “Great Book” and how the “five keys for the serious reader” work together, to include the keys of Postmodern themes and Traditional Symbolism. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Postmodern Polly, The Five Keys: Essential Patterns, Unlocking Harry Potter

Prayers, please, for Don Holmes

December 29, 2006 by Leave a Comment

Soon after Zossima Press published the first edition of Hidden Key to Harry Potter, I received a call from a man in Bellingham, Washington, about the book. This man, Don Holmes, was a retired Christian book distributor for stores throughout the Northwest US and western Canada. He still delivered books “across the border” once a month though he was in his seventies so he could visit with friends in those stores. One of the books these courtesy drives brought to his attention was Hidden Key. My email and street addresses were in the book so he looked me up. Bellingham is only a ferry ride and short drive from where we lived on the Olympic Peninsula. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes

Postmodern Story Telling: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

December 28, 2006 by 13 Comments

Parts of this post were included in chapter 5 of Harry Potter’s Bookshelf: The Great Books Behind the Hogwarts Adventures (Berkeley, 2009) so it has been pulled down. Reader comments remain.

Filed Under: Postmodern Polly, Unlocking Harry Potter

Five (5) Keys for the Serious Reader

December 27, 2006 by 8 Comments

The book I am finishing the final edits for this week (go to www.zossima.com to order it at the pre-publication special price) is titled Unlocking Harry Potter: Five Keys for the Serious Reader. Almost everything I will write about here at HogPro will relate to one or more of these keys, so let me provide a short introduction to each one, why I think they are important, and how they work together. It helps I think to recall the keys to Moody’s chest in Goblet of Fire. [Read more…]

Filed Under: The Five Keys: Essential Patterns, Unlocking Harry Potter

The Meaning of “Deathly Hallows”

December 25, 2006 by 27 Comments

Merry Christmas to those of you on the Gregorian Calendar! I start this weBlog with the question I have heard the most this last week: “What does the title of the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, mean?” It caused nearly six pages of speculation on my private boards and I don’t think anyone there feels they have a good grip on it yet. Fair warning: I don’t have any sure answers to the question and I am skeptical of anyone who thinks we will know what it means before the book is in our hands.

Having said that, I have not heard or read anyone saying what I have thought about the title so it shouldn’t hurt if I share my reflections. I’ll start with a friend’s collection of Fandom speculation, continue with my first thoughts, which were about Ms. Rowling’s other six titles, and then move into literary alchemy, one of the five keys I think every serious reader of the books needs to get at their meaning. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Literary Alchemy