November 9th, 2008 — , C.S. Lewis, Harry Potter & Imagination, Harry Potter & Imagination (Book), Hogwarts School of Literature, Imagination, John Granger, tolerance, transformed vision from Travis Prinzi @ The Hog's Head
A great C.S. Lewis quote courtesy of The Kibitzer:*
In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I [...]
Related StoresOctober 29th, 2008 — , Defense Against the Harry Haters, Fairy Tales, G.K. Chesterton, Harry Potter and Imagination, Hogwarts School of Literature, Magic in Literature, scientific fatalism from Travis Prinzi @ The Hog's Head
OK, so that’s not really happening. But my book, Harry Potter & Imagination: The Way Between Two Worlds, opens with a chapter on the importance of mythological and fairy-tale thinking as opposed to what G.K. Chesterton called “scientific fatalism.” Richard Dawkins has decided to write the opposite book, positing the possibility that fairy tales are potentially [...]
Related StoresContinue reading → Debate on Harry Potter: Travis Prinzi vs. Richard Dawkins
October 22nd, 2008 — , Harry Potter Culture, Harry Potter Great Books, Harry Potter Great Literature, Harry Potter Sorting Houses, Hogwarts School of Literature, John Granger from Travis Prinzi @ The Hog's Head
Professor Stephen Brown of Ulster University, after conducting an interview study of readers ages 7 and up, says there are four types of Harry Potter readers, and they correspond to the four houses:
His research found ‘Hufflepuff’ readers take the tales at a slow, steady and systematic pace and enjoy re-reading the books over and over.
‘Gryffindor’ [...]
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 StoresOctober 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 [...]
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)
August 7th, 2008 — , Hogwarts School of Literature, Philip Nel, Rowling and Tolkien, comparing Tolkien and Rowling from Travis Prinzi @ The Hog's Head
by Travis
Philip Nel, author of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels: A Reader’s Guide, contributed an excellent article to The Lion and the Unicorn in 2005. In “Is There a Text in this Advertising Campaign,” Nel argues effectively in favor of the series’ literary merits (contra the position of John Pennington, in particular, and A.S. Byatt [...]
August 5th, 2008 — , Harry Potter Conference, Harry Potter Culture, Hogwarts School of Literature, James Thomas, Termins from Travis Prinzi @ The Hog's Head
Sadly, I’m unable to attend Terminus, the Harry Potter conference in Chicago which starts Thursday of this week. I do, however, want to encourage any Hog’s Head readers, if you’re going, to make sure you attend James Thomas’s presentation. Here is the abstract:
The Omegas in the Alphas: Rowling’s Dazzling Use of Foreshadowing
James Thomas
Rowling’s Harry Potter [...]
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)
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 [...]
Continue reading → Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and the Adventure Story
May 15th, 2008 — , C.S. Lewis, Hogwarts School of Literature, Michael Ward, Narnia, Prince Caspian from Behold a Phoenix @ The Hog's Head
by Johnny
Michael Ward is the author of Planet Narnia, a groundbreaking work in C.S. Lewis and Narnia studies, which is stirring excitement and discussion. In his book, Ward argues that each novel in the Narnia series corresponds to one of the seven planets of Medieval Cosmology. I met him at the February 2008 meeting of [...]
May 1st, 2008 — , Hogwarts School of Literature from Behold a Phoenix @ The Hog's Head
by Johnny
I came across an interesting article by Devin Brown on Christianity Today, which shows some similarities between the title character Prince Caspian and the life of C.S. Lewis.
Brown, who is a Professor of English at Asbury College, wrote:
Lewis and Caspian share another element—one more significant than all the others, for it changed the [...]
April 17th, 2008 — , Hogwarts School of Literature from Behold a Phoenix @ The Hog's Head
by Johnny
The film release of The Golden Compass last December brought to the forefront the novel on which it was based as well as the rest of the His Dark Materials trilogy. The author and outspoken atheist Philip Pullman has raised concern over statements concerning Christianity throughout his fantasy trilogy, particularly in the last installment, [...]
April 14th, 2008 — , C.S. Lewis, Hogwarts School of Literature, Michael Ward, Narnia from Travis Prinzi @ The Hog's Head
Common Grounds Online has a lengthy write-up on Michael Ward’s Planet Narnia.
Related StoresMarch 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 [...]
March 6th, 2008 — , Book Reviews, C.S. Lewis, Hogwarts School of Literature, Michael Ward, Planet Narnia from Behold a Phoenix @ The Hog's Head: A Pub for Potter
by Johnny
Anyone reading the literary criticism of The Chronicles of Narnia will notice that C.S. Lewis scholars have no answers regarding the supposed disorganized, “hodgepodge” (as Tolkien referred to his friend’s creation) that characterizes the series. That is until Michael Ward and his seminal work, Planet Narnia came along. Ward believes that the popular explanation [...]
March 2nd, 2008 — , Hogwarts School of Literature from Travis Prinzi @ The Hog's Head: A Pub for Potter
by Travis
In many ways, I’m just coming to the discovery of the wonder of George MacDonald. I became an instant fan of his “Princess” stories, and his musings on the Imagination are must-reading for all who would study fantastic literature. He is a key mentor for three of my favorites: Tolkien, Lewis, and [...]
Continue reading → Recommendation: Diary of an Old Soul / The White Page Poems
February 27th, 2008 — , Hogwarts School of Literature from Travis Prinzi @ The Hog's Head: A Pub for Potter
An Orthodox lecturer is arguing that Rowling’s Voldemort is the full realization of Dostoevsky’s Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment. That seems a big stretch to me; there’s a ton of human left in Raskolnikov all through the book, in my opinion.
I made a very generalized thematic link between Crime and Punishment and Harry Potter way [...]
February 18th, 2008 — , Albus Dumbledore, Good vs. Evil, Harry, Harry Potter, Hogwarts School of Literature, Severus Snape, Watchmen, comic books from Travis Prinzi @ The Hog's Head: A Pub for Potter
by Dave
A standard literary trope is to set characters against each other, playing one’s personna in relationship to another. Typically, we find the “arch”-nemesis, especially in adventure or heroic stories. The main character is opposed by a primary antagonist, and the juxtaposition of these characters reveals something about one or both to the [...]
Continue reading → The Snaped Crusader (#2): The Rise and Fall of Harry’s Nemesis
February 5th, 2008 — , Hogwarts School of Literature, Hogwarts School of Theology, Podcasts from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head Pubcast - A Harry Potter Blog!
Christian Mythmaking: Why did Tolkien, Lewis, L’Engle, and Rowling create? How is story true? How does it make meaning? How does it place us in this world? The Christian “myth” is examined in light of fairy tale-tellers.
You can subscribe to the Hog’s Head PubCast through iTunes, and VOTE for the month [...]
Continue reading → Hog’s Head PubCast #43: Christian Mythmaking
January 29th, 2008 — , Hogwarts School of Literature, Podcasts from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head Pubcast - A Harry Potter Blog!
An Author and Her Story; Did Rowling borrow from LeGuin?; L’Engle: “Obey the Story”
You can subscribe to the Hog’s Head PubCast through iTunes; you can also write a review there. Vote for the Hog’s Head PubCast at Podcast Alley! (See the VOTE link on the left side). Let’s get this podcast much [...]
Continue reading → Hog’s Head PubCast #42: Author, Servant of Story
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 [...]
Continue reading → Our Hero Harry, the Snaped Crusader (Issue #1)
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 [...]
December 5th, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature from Behold a Phoenix @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast - A Harry Potter Blog!
by Johnny
NarniaWeb, a news website devoted to the Narnia films, has posted the first trailer for the next Narnia movie, Prince Caspian, today. This is certainly newsworthy for Harry Potter considering that J.K. Rowling has said in past interviews that C.S. Lewis is a “genius” and that “[h]e was a very learned man and created [...]
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
November 17th, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature, Severus Snape from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast - A Harry Potter Blog!
by Travis
This is not an academic essay. It contains random musings, and I welcome all comments, questions, and declarations of heresy.
In many ways, my 6 year detour from English and literature studies into Theology prepared me well to be able to handle the fringe Christian response to the Harry Potter series, but put me [...]
November 13th, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast - A Harry Potter Blog!
John Granger has started an incredibly important discussion (one I hope to contribute significantly to with my forthcoming book) in his article, Harry Potter as “Shared Text:” Books and Meaning that will Define a Generation?
Since this is precisely the overarching theme of my book (how Harry Potter works as mythopoeic literature, becoming a “folktale” which [...]
Continue reading → John Granger: Harry Potter as Shared Text, and My Responses
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 [...]
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”?
October 10th, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
by Travis
Matthew had asked which Harry Potter character obviously hails from Innsmouth. I immediately thought, “Voldemort, of course.” He had meant Umbridge. Of course. Toad-like.
But I want to explore Voldemort as thematically Innsmouthian. If you haven’t finished the story yet, don’t read this. Come back to discuss when you’re [...]
Continue reading → Dehumanization: Voldemort, the Innsmouthian
October 8th, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
by Travis
H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale. ~ Stephen King
When I read “The Call of Cthulhu” last week, I began to have second thoughts about the possibility of H.P. Lovecraft Month succeeding. It was a story told from a sort of [...]
September 30th, 2007 — Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts School of Literature from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
I planned to record a pubcast today on H.P. Lovecraft with some biographical information and the like, but alas, working on this new house stole all my time. I’ve provided below a list of Lovecraft links, including a biography and an essay he wrote on “Supernatural Horror in Literature.”
And now, if you have not begun [...]
Continue reading → H.P. Lovecraft Month, Week One: The Call of Cthulhu
September 28th, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature, Podcasts from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
More on the fundamentalist response to Harry Potter; H.P. Lovecraft Month; “The Last Dementor”
There will be another podcast in just a couple of days, which will be an official introduction to H.P. Lovecraft Month, with biographical information.
I’ve added an H.P. Lovecraft section to the Store of Gryffindor.
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 [...]
September 25th, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
by Travis
Whereas SoG is dedicated to the pursuit of great literature through the window of Harry Potter, and whereas October is a month for the celebration of the imagination and scary stories, and whereas H.P. Lovecraft’s stories have been a primary influence on many of today’s horror story writers, the Blogengamot is officially christening October 2007, “H.P. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Continue reading → Fantastic Beasts…the Revised Edition, by Luna Lovegood, Ph.D Cryptozoology
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 [...]
August 22nd, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature, Podcasts, Symbology, death from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
The Meaning of the Phoenix: Love’s Victory Over Death in Harry Potter
The transcript of this pubcast is also available.
Remember that you can subscribe through iTunes, and also that you can say nice things about me there. Search for “Hog’s Head PubCast.”
Continue reading → Hog’s Head PubCast #33: The Meaning of the Phoenix
August 22nd, 2007 — Albus Dumbledore, Harry, Hogwarts School of Literature, Symbology, Voldemort, death from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
This essay is also available in audio form in PubCast #33.
From The Epic of Gilgamesh to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the question of death has been explored in the pages of literature, not least in mythological works. There is hardly a more universal human experience than death, and its chilling finality has caused [...]
Continue reading → The Meaning of the Phoenix, Prophecy 2007 Version
August 17th, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
Regular commenter David Jones, better known here as “Dave the Longwinded,” has contributed the following essay. I commend it to your careful attention, and I look forward to your comments!
“Toward an Epistemology of Interpretation”
Continue reading → Guest Essay: Toward an Epistemology of Interpretation, by David Jones
August 7th, 2007 — Hogwarts School of Literature from Travis Prinzi @ Sword of Gryffindor :: Hog's Head PubCast
I’m finally starting to catch up on some links that I’ve been wanting to post. Here is a book that I plan to order and review here at SoG as soon as I’m not poor anymore (which, after the costs of Prophecy 2007, will be sometime in 2047). Past Watchful Dragons, edited by Dr. Amy H. [...]
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