JK Rowling’s books about the Hogwarts wizard have been the subject of academic debate.
From a piece in the Telegraph...
In the 600-year-old halls of St Andrews University, a group of leading
academics is discussing a piece of literature. Not just any old literature:
this, they say, is “the narrative experience of an entire generation”. In a
series of 50 lectures, culminating today, the scholars will debate themes of
death, empathy and paganism, as well as comparisons with J R R Tolkein and
Chaucer. Their subject? The seven Harry Potter books by J K Rowling.
The conference, A Brand of Fictional Magic: Reading Harry Potter as
Literature, is the first event in the world to look at the series as a
literary text. Sixty academics from the US, South Africa, India and
Australia will examine the themes, allegories and narrative structure of the
boy wizard’s adventures. Organiser John Patrick Pazdziora, from the
university’s School of English, has invited discussion on topics such as
British national identity, politics and education.
“As a literary text it’s a fertile area of study,” he tells me. “There are so
many allusions and connections to myths in her work. Now that the films are
over and Pottermore.com has launched, it’s time to start analysing them.”
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