“Are the Harry Potter Novels Great Books?”

October 20, 2008 by 23 Comments

In a Scriptorium ‘Middlebrow’ podCast free-for-all, Profs Paul Spears and John Mark Reynolds of Biola University (THI) argue with the Hogwarts Professor about the virtues and the failings of Joanne Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. There aren’t many slow spots in this exchange and no filler. Lively exchange of blows, all Marquess of Queensbury, of course.

Please score this two-on-one pugilist contest on the subject of Harry’s worthiness to be considered “great” on your fight cards at home. Be sure to notice the shout out to the All Pros at the start and my mentioning “Felicity and others” who corrected me about the Fidelius Charm.

I look forward to reading your scoring of the bout, and, yes, win, lose, or draw, I want a rematch. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Deathly Hallows Lectures

Guest Post: Mad-Eye Moody — Allegorical Figure?

October 20, 2008 by 2 Comments

Mail Bag Annex this week: I just received a great letter that I think deserves its own thread. First, the writer says s/he loved my book. Second, s/he pointed out an obvious error in an argument I made in such a way that I could walk away from it without feeling I’d lost a limb. Third, s/he advances an argument I think is flawed but serious enough to deserve your attention and discussion. Letters from and meeting serious readers are the best part of Potter punditry; I look forward to reading your responses to this reader’s suggestion that Mad-Eye Moody is an allegorical stand-in for… well, you’ll have to read the letter yourself. I’ll post my response(s) in a few days. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes, Plot Points

Mail Bag: GB Shaw Hat Tip in ‘Deathly Hallows’?

October 20, 2008 by 3 Comments

It’s ‘answer the mail’ time here at Hogwarts Professor! Today, there is a letter with a question about a possible tip-of-the-hat in story to George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, the theory that Harry is a ‘mythic hero’ a la Joseph Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces, and some reviews of my books now online. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Deathly Hallows Lectures

The Aeschylus Epigraph in ‘Deathly Hallows’

October 20, 2008 by 18 Comments

After last week’s epic post (‘epic’ in length rather than in value of subject matter, I have to think, because few readers were moved to respond!) on the William Penn epigraph, I promised myself I would tackle the Aeschylus piece from The Libation Bearers that precedes it. This will be relatively brief (!) but, I hope, thought provoking. Greek drama is a little more along my lines of thought and study than late seventeenth century aphorism and epigram collections, if not by much. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Deathly Hallows Discussion Points, Deathly Hallows Lectures

John’s End of Month Book Tour: Dates and Times!

October 17, 2008 by 3 Comments

What was going to be a quick trip to the Midwest to give a Keynote Talk at Searching for Platform 9 ¾: An Academic Harry Potter Conference, in DeKalb, Illinois (Northern Illinois University) has turned into a five day, five lecture mini-tour with my daughter Sarah (who will be visiting two or three schools to which she is applying for admissions). Searching for Platform 9 ¾ remains the ‘big show’ — Travis Prinzi will be there and David Gras, not to mention the Ball (the complete schedule to the conference is below) and that the ‘early bird’ price is still ‘the price’ — but, if you really cannot get out to DeKalb on Saturday, there are now downstate Illinois, eastern Iowa, and south and north side of Chicago options for you to hear me talk at the end of the month. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes