Anyone know these HP-related books?

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 12728


> And do you think that the Schaffer book will be any help

I am currently reviewing this book for the group. I will say that 
there is a lot of interesting material there and a lot of good stuff. 
However, there is a lot of problems with the book, a lot. They fall 
into three categories: 

1) straight factual errors (e.g. "Hogwarts is frequently surrounded 
by a thick fog, making it hard to see"), 

2) assumptions on the author's part, stated as fact, but which are 
without actual basis, along the lines of our assumption that James 
Potter was in Gryffindor or that the Lestranges tortured the 
Longbottoms - (sorry, don't have the Beacham book here so I can't 
give you examples from that book right now, but believe me, they're 
there), 

3) and ridiculous connections with everything from mythology to 
Biblical stories which imply that the HP books have all this deep 
connection to history and western culture, most of which is simply 
poppycock. 

I recognize that last as the kind of thing I did with poetry etc. in 
my college lit classes, finding all the deep meanings in Keats and 
Milton and Shakespeare. Hey, that kind of thing is just plain 
misplaced with Harry Potter. Rowling is NOT making all those 
connections and if SHE isn't, it isn't there, plain and simple. She 
didn't put Harry in a blanket on the Dursley's front porch to make 
him a symbol of the baby Jesus in swaddling clothes in the manger or 
Moses in a basket in the bullrushes or any such nonsense. She DID 
take a fairly standard image in our society of a baby abandoned on a 
doorstep, sure, but if that stereotypical image has its roots in 
Jesus or Moses (which I doubt), that doesn't meant that HARRY POTTER 
does. The Beacham book makes those kinds of direct connections, which 
is utterly indefensible. There are also even more silly connections 
made, such as the one that Pettigrew's missing finger indicates that 
he has "trouble making a point." How could she even write that? All 
of that sort of thing is lit criticism at its most pretentious, 
embarrassing, and foolish.

But like I said, there is plenty of good stuff too. And the trick is 
to separate the good stuff from the bad. I can do it, sure, but then 
I'm steeping in this Harry Potter stuff and I majored in literature 
in college, so I can spot the errors and assumptions and recognize 
silly allusions for what they are. What about kids? Teachers? Fans 
hungry for more about their favorite books? I just shake my head in 
dismay that this kind of schlock is published. If you choose to use 
this book as a resource for a paper, make sure you understand it for 
what it is and be careful; it's a minefield.

Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon