Or at least on we fans, anyway!
A classmate of mine at Old Dominion University forwarded me a survey link to gather data about what drives Harry Potter fans to love the books, and to take part in communities like ours here at The Hog’s Head. The project is a pilot study for a course in [...]
Help a Real Study on Harry Potter!
October 30th, 2008 — , Gryffindor Common Room from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
“The Fall of the House of Usher”
October 14th, 2008 — , American Literature, Beyond the Potterverse, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Hogwarts School of Literature, Philosophy of Composition, The Fall of the House of Usher from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
In America, we’re trained from a young age to equate Edgar Allan Poe with both terror and Halloween. In my experience, reading Poe in an English class was something of a yearly ritual, even if the rationale for the exercise was rather forced. Poe clearly enjoys a better literary reputation than our other horror master, [...]
Related StoresAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland
October 4th, 2008 — , Alice Liddell, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Beyond the Potterverse, Charles Lutwidge, Hogwarts School of Literature, Lewis Carroll, banned books from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
Even though we now consider Alice as perhaps the monumental book of children’s literature, it has been steeped in controversy. Yes, much of that controversy has to do with it’s enigmatic author, Lewis Carroll (ne the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson).
The conspiracy theories swirl around Carroll’s apparent fondness of children, particularly young girls. Those theories are [...]
Twilight Leak and Author’s Reaction
September 4th, 2008 — , Beyond the Potterverse, Midnight Sun, Stephanie Meyer, Twilight, leak from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
I found a story posted on Yahoo! News this morning from Reuters. Apparently, large segments of the final Twilight novel were leaked online, prompting this response from the author, Stephenie Meyer:
“I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on ‘Midnight Sun,’ and so it is on hold indefinitely.”
Of course, there [...]
Half-Blood Prince Game, The Sequel!
August 22nd, 2008 — , Grand Theft Auto, Harry News and Commentary, Harry Potter Culture, World of Warcraft, simulation, spinoff, videogames from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
An article on The Leaky Cauldron has touched on a different issue concerning the Harry Potter videogames: the potential that they might keep making them after Deathly Hallows. The game industry does have a habit of running moneymaking franchises into the ground, especially if they have marketing tie-ins that reach audiences outside of [...]
Half-Blood Prince Game
August 21st, 2008 — , Electronic Arts, Half Blood Prince, Half-Blood Prince videogame, Harry News and Commentary, The Movies from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
So, now that the movie has been delayed, what does this mean for the videogame? Apparently nothing. Some footage was shown at the Lepzig Games Convention (YouTube link here) in Germany over the last couple of days, and the release date is still slated for this November. The link is worth a look just to [...]
Ethics, Law, and Billy Budd
August 9th, 2008 — , Beyond the Potterverse, Billy Budd, Gryffindor Common Room, Law and Literature Movement from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
This is a little outside our interests here at The Hog’s Head, but if you haven’t listened to The Philosopher’s Zone (produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation), it is certainly an interesting program. You can download episodes from the link in the program’s title above, or you can subscribe to it as a [...]
Ethics, Law, and Billy Budd
August 9th, 2008 — , Beyond the Potterverse, Billy Budd, Gryffindor Common Room, Law and Literature Movement from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
This is a little outside our interests here at The Hog’s Head, but if you haven’t listened to The Philosopher’s Zone (produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation), it is certainly an interesting program. You can download episodes from the link in the program’s title above, or you can subscribe to it as a [...]
Voldemort is a Failed Character (Part II)
August 8th, 2008 — , Deathly Hallows, Good vs. Evil, Harry Potter Tragedy, Hogwarts School of Literature, Severus Snape, Snape and Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort Greek Drama, Voldemort character study from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
Part I of this series: Why Joker Succeeds and Voldemort Fails
“Behind the scenes” is a trope of long standing tradition in many forms of literature. In a recent essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Terry W. Thompson argues that the violent deaths occur off the page as a direct result of Shelley’s love of classical [...]
Continue reading → Voldemort is a Failed Character (Part II)
Why Joker Succeeds and Voldy Fails (Part I)
July 17th, 2008 — , Alan Moore, Albus Dumbledore, Batman, Deathly Hallows, Fate and Choice, Frank Miller, Half Blood Prince, Hogwarts School of Literature, Severus Snape, Voldemort, failed character, graphic novel from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
Since Deathly Hallows release last year, I’ve been perpetually puzzled by Voldemort’s characterization in the last two novels. Half Blood Prince humanizes Voldemort in a way that lends HBP a sophistication most of the earlier novels lack — Voldemort’s backstory both enlightens and befuddles the reader, at once shedding light on his origins [...]
Continue reading → Why Joker Succeeds and Voldy Fails (Part I)
HP a “New Classic”
June 25th, 2008 — , Harry News and Commentary, Harry Potter Culture, goblet of fire from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
Jamie and I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly, my favorite section of which is Stephen King’s monthly column in the back of the magazine. While the magazine certainly isn’t especially critically aware or anything, their latest issue lists what they believe are the “new classics” of film, television, books, and videogames. “New Classics” [...]
HP “Prequel”: What Do You Think?
May 29th, 2008 — , Gryffindor Common Room, Harry News and Commentary, Harry Potter Prequel, JK Rowling from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
Check out this news article from the Chicago Sun-Times. For a charity event, several major UK authors were asked to write something on a card to be auctioned to raise money to help those with dyslexia:
Rowling used both sides of her card to hand-write a prequel to her seven-book Harry Potter saga.
Rowling’s “prequel” [...]
Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and the Adventure Story
May 24th, 2008 — , Harry, Hogwarts School of Literature, Indiana Jones, adventure story, genre fiction, hero's quest from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
Jamie and I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls Thursday night. I won’t linger over a review of the film — if you’ve read the criticism on the web, I would agree with some of the more moderate takes on the film. Not as good as [...]
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Continue reading → Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and the Adventure Story
Rowling vs. the Lexicon, Again…
April 15th, 2008 — , Gryffindor Common Room, Harry News and Commentary, JK Rowling, Rowling, Steve Vander Ark, The Movies, The Novels, copyright infringement, lawsuit from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
The copyright case Rowling brought against Steve Vander Ark goes to trial this week, as I’m sure some of you read. I’m not going to offer up anything new about the case, copyright infringement, or her ownership over her work (authorial or otherwise).
I thought I’d give you a couple of links:
This one takes [...]
Family and Some Other Things…
April 9th, 2008 — , Fate and Choice, Harry, Voldemort, death, emotion, love, maturity from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave
Last Wednesday, I found out my paternal grandfather passed away at the age of 88 at 7:30 that morning. My memories of him are sparse and fuzzy — tied to some history before my parents split. I have an odd affliction with memory; nothing serious mind you, just a strange dividing line [...]
Use Your Imagination!
March 15th, 2008 — , Dumbledore, Gryffindor Common Room, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, Hogwarts School of Literature, memory, narrative from Dave the Longwinded @ The Hog's Head
by Dave,
I give a presentation at the College English Association in a couple of weeks discussing storytelling in relationship to videogames. In all my reading for this, one book I’m focusing on is by Marie-Laure Ryan, titled Narrative as Virtual Reality. In one part of her book, she begins discussing how immersive a [...]
Our Hero Harry, the Snaped Crusader (Issue #1)
January 26th, 2008 — , Batman, Harry, Harry Potter, Hogwarts School of Literature, comic books, heroes, postmodern from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head Pubcast - A Harry Potter Blog!
by Dave
Harry is a hero. That Harry Potter draws from long established literary heroic traditions is well documented. Nearly every book length treatment or anthology concerning the series addresses this subject and examines the link between Harry’s more traditional literary roots in alchemical and mythic-heroic traditions and his postmodern deconstruction of the hero [...]
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Continue reading → Our Hero Harry, the Snaped Crusader (Issue #1)
The Great Humbug Irony
December 12th, 2007 — Fate and Choice, Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts School of Literature from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast - A Harry Potter Blog!
by Dave
I’ve said before that Victorian Era novels (whether British or American) have always left me cold. It may be a failing on my part, but if you put passages from Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Henry James, or the Brontes in front of me, I’d have a difficult time distinguishing between them. Dickens [...]
Sharing Our Entertainer: Rowling, Shared Books, and Pop Culture
November 29th, 2007 — Gryffindor Common Room, Harry News and Commentary, Hogwarts School of Literature from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast - A Harry Potter Blog!
by Dave
I know that I’m a bit late on this subject. I’ve been fighting a good case of the flu (which has morphed into a sinus infection), and the Thanksgiving holiday threw me out of the loop, too. Combined with the fact that ideas new to me take some time to percolate and [...]
Continue reading → Sharing Our Entertainer: Rowling, Shared Books, and Pop Culture
Q&A: Voldemort’s Afterlife
November 8th, 2007 — Good vs. Evil, Gryffindor Common Room, Voldemort from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast - A Harry Potter Blog!
by Dave
Travis’s earlier post concerning what we’ve been reading made me think about some purely hypothetical questions. My philosophy major side is creeping out a bit here. I’m not sure of the greater merit of such a question, but I started wondering how an archvillain like Voldemort might find his end in some [...]
Please, Mrs. Rowling, May We Have Some More? Or Might You Simply Shut It, Altogether?
October 23rd, 2007 — Albus Dumbledore, Gryffindor Common Room, Harry News and Commentary, Hogwarts School of Literature from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast - A Harry Potter Blog!
by Dave
Update: Jamie, my wife, has forwarded me a link to an AP news story on Yahoo! The revised reading has begun…
So, we all woke up this weekend with our understanding of our favorite fictional realm…”altered”. I have to admit, my first reaction upon seeing the headline on Yahoo! Saturday morning included [...]
Is it Scary? Horrifying? Or just “Weird”?
October 11th, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
by Dave
To respond a bit to the question of Lovecraft’s “scariness”, I’m beginning to wonder if Lovecraft isn’t mischaracterized a bit. He’s certainly not a master of scaring readers out of their shoes. But his essay “Supernatural Horror in Literature” focuses more on the idea of the “weird”:
The true weird tale has something [...]
Continue reading → Is it Scary? Horrifying? Or just “Weird”?
Fear of “Cthulhu”=Fear of the Unknowable
October 1st, 2007 — Gryffindor Common Room from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
by Dave
Being a postmodern lit guy, the language issue grabs my attention first; it is technique to both reinforce some of Lovecraft’s common themes and points toward the gap between the reader and the actual events of the story. Lovecraft writes very little of his story from the traditional shortstory frame: he eschews [...]
“The Tale of the Three Brothers”
September 27th, 2007 — Deathly Hallows, Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts School of Literature, death from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
by Dave
If a reader drops Deathly Hallows on the ground in expectation of the book opening to the literal center of its story, she will more than likely find Chapter 21, “The Tale of the Three Brothers”. Presented as a children’s story of three brothers attempting to cheat Death, Beadle the Bard’s tale narrates [...]
Voldemort and the Perversion of the Hero
September 18th, 2007 — Fate and Choice, Good vs. Evil, Harry, Hogwarts School of Literature, Severus Snape, Voldemort, death from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
by Dave]
The heart of the classical Hero type drives towards some sacrifice — either in a quest for glory sometimes doomed from the start, or on the behalf of something judged “the greater good”. Classical epic heroes struggle against their humanity, often goaded by the self realization of their partial divinity. They hope [...]
Harry’s Christian Cred
September 11th, 2007 — Defense Against the Harry Haters, Themes from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
by Dave
Harry’s credibility as a Christian symbol/figure fixed well and good within the Christian tradition marks most of the public discussion of HP in the wake of Deathly Hallows. I’m not nearly as well versed in theology and Christian thinking as Travis or Johnny, but I do teach a lot of Rhetoric/Composition for a [...]
When Harry Met Shakespeare
September 4th, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
by Dave
Since we’re at the end of the Harry Potter cycle, the discussion now takes a shift. Travis mentioned in the last pubcast the need to branch SoG out a bit, and inject some discussion of of HP within a broader literary context. Up until now, most discussion at Harry Potter websites has [...]
Fantastic Beasts…the Revised Edition, by Luna Lovegood, Ph.D Cryptozoology
August 31st, 2007 — Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts School of Literature from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
by Dave
Sorry for the wide ranging post, this time. But I’ve left the trail of this one intact in the way I worked through it from start to the point I’ve stopped. I have to confess, one of my favorite pieces of the Harry Potter universe is the giant squid living in the [...]
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Harry Potter Fantasy, Mythical Magic Collectibles
Continue reading → Fantastic Beasts…the Revised Edition, by Luna Lovegood, Ph.D Cryptozoology
Harry Potter and the Dustbin of History
August 26th, 2007 — Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts School of Literature from Dave the Longwinded @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
by Dave
I’m glad to by a part of SoG, and I was honored Travis would ask me to be even one of the folks he entrusted his digital baby to. To get things rolling, I thought I’d start with something pretty straightforward.
The ferocity and tenacity of the two following points strike me about Harry [...]