Critics and Harry Potter. Again.

[pegkerr]

Very interesting post from Prof. John Granger (http://hogwartsprofessor.com, syndicated at hogwartspro) here about Harold Bloom's (and other literary critics, e.g. A.S. Byatt's) continual rants against the Harry Potter books. Granger gamely attempts to answer the question of why Harold Bloom waxes so wroth on this particular subject and finds it rather uphill work. You may remember my addressing this topic earlier when Order of the Phoenix came out (And now let the sneering begin. . .) I've read a couple of Professor Granger's books, and although I tend to disagree with his conclusion that almost everything in the HP books essentially boils down to Christianity, he has certainly made some intriguing and original observations, and I have particularly appreciated his insight into the alchemical references in the books. (David Lenander, I keep meaning to point you toward his books; I think you would be particularly intrigued by his thoughtful discussion comparing Rowling to the Inklings).

Edited to add: Hmm. That syndicated feed doesn't seem to be updating properly.

Comments

[handworn.livejournal.com]

Oh, I saw that...I just meant, was there anything actually Christian-like in the books besides the sacrifice? (And, I suppose, besides the fact that Aslan was said to be the son of the Emperor-Across-The-Sea, a/k/a God.)

[zwol.livejournal.com]

If memory serves, the allegory becomes more and more obvious as one goes on through the books, but I do not remember clearly enough to give specific examples -- the only thing that's coming to mind is the bit at the very end of The Last Battle where Aslan reassures the Calormene that he will count good deeds done in Tash's name (Tash having just proved to be a false god) as if they had been done in Aslan's name. And I'm pretty sure that's not orthodox Christianity. So, um.