Our friends at The Rowling Library have just published issue #71 of their magazine, and, as always, it is worth the time to download and read it (or just click the link above). From the interview with Neil Packer, a Harry Potter illustrator, to the editor’s review of ‘The Forbidden Forest Experience’ (contrast TRL’s notes with Louise Freeman’s that were posted here just yesterday, A Forbidden Forest Experience: A Bit of Hogwarts Comes to Virginia), The Rowling Library Magazine is a serious reader delight.
I especially recommend this issue’s cover story by ‘Ibid,’ ‘After Seven: In Rowling’s Words.’ What the author has done is to collect all of Rowling’s comments that she made in interviews, tweets, and press conferences post Deathly Hallows about what happened to the beloved characters of her septology and then to re-write this collection as a single article written by the author. It acts like something of an extended epilogue to the Hogwarts Saga’s finale and is very, very well done.
It’s so well done, in fact, that I hope ‘Ibid’ or another TRL writer will collect and write-up using the author’s own words Rowling’s post Hallows comments about the Christian content of the series (e.g., the MTV ‘interview’), her thoughts about the “indestructible soul” and her “intensely spiritual life” (Volkskrant), and the “magic in literature,” “spiritual flux,” “permanent soul,” and reflections on the King’s Cross scene (El Pais, Cruz). These and her various talks on the ‘Open Book Tour,’ the German interview including her Nabokov discussion still not found, and her Today show appearances happened in the year after Deathly Hallows’ publication and represent her great opening up about her core beliefs. It would be a great service if a diligent researcher could collect them all and present them as professionally as ‘Ibid’ did her extended epilogue.
Just saying! Until that wish-upon-a-star collation appears, enjoy the November issue of the TRL magazine — and think seriously about subscribing to their efforts to support the excellent work they do. You’ll get Patricio Tarantino’s brilliant Daily Prophet emails in your inbox if you do!
Speak Your Mind