[HPforGrownups] Re: Pullman is Lockhart was Re: The Hidden Key to Harry Potter

[pennylin]

No: HPFGUIDX 60398

Hi --

Kia: <<<<I always thought that everything we post here, has the automatic 
addition of IMO. I state my opinion, I give some objective 
evidence, but I always state my opinion.>>>>>>>>

Actually, no it's not assumed that everything posted here is qualified by "IMO."  

<<<<<<<<So far Harry Potter has been devoid of anything remotely 
resembling God and therefore putting HP in the same league as 
Tolkien or Lewis is just... Either it's wishful thinking, speculative 
interpretation or a very "interesting" attempt to recruit Potter as 
Christian literature. 

IMO.

And I don't like it.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Well, you are certainly entitled to your opinion.  I think it's not going to be possible to say anything for certain with respect to Rowling's intent or the ultimate direction of Christian messages, if any, until the series is completed.  I just posted a book review of various other Christian authors who have written books on the HP series.  The last author I mention (though not a Christian) has written a book relating to the moral principles at play in HP, specifically claiming Rowling as an updated Stoic.  He spends some page time on the issue of the criticisms leveled by certain Christians, as well as the books written by these Christian commentators (Granger, Neal, Bridger, Killinger).  Dr. Kern ultimately concludes, as you seem to do, that religion is just absent from the pages of HP.  He does, however, at least concede that it's *possible* to read the text as a Christian allegory (that such a reading is not completely out in left field).  

Oh, and *all* interpretation is speculative and subjective.  Isn't it?

Shifting to Kristini:

<<<<Lockhart is a very Scottish name. I'll go further than that and say 
its a very *Edinburgh* name. I grew up in Edinburgh, in an area 
called Craiglockhart (also houses the former WW1 hospital where 
patients like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon were treated for 
the effects of shell-shock, including memory loss, cf Pat Barker's 
Regeneration trilogy) - there are dozens of other examples 
of "Lockhart" used as place-name around the city, Lockharton 
Gardens, for example, is slightly nearer JKR's old stamping ground.
I presume this Granger bloke is an American, and therefore wouldn't 
have this knowledge available.>>>>>>>>>>>>

Well, yes, Granger is American, but why would that mean he wouldn't have this information "available"?  I'm doing a presentation on Geography & HP at Nimbus - 2003 next month, and I located Craiglockhart in my standard UK atlas easily enough.  I think that's a very possible source of Lockhart's name, although Rowling did say that the character himself is based on an actual person.

<<<<I do also wonder about this need to convince everyone that JKR is a Christian author.>>>>>>>>>>>

Well, the fact is that Rowling herself has *said* she *is* a Christian.  And, despite being a provincial American, I do recognize that claiming to be Christian has different connotations on the other side of the pond.  I do think though that the question of whether her novels are Christian allegory or intended to be infused with Christian symbolism is a matter of interpretation.  I do wonder too about the opposite trend ....... it seems quite a few people have their own agenda to disprove that HP couldn't possibly be Christian.  I am a Christian, but I don't read exclusively Christian authors or exclusively novels with a Christian message (not by a long shot ----- I read and enjoyed Pullman which is decidedly anti-Christian).  I would love HP no less if Rowling had claimed she was a pagan or atheist.  I will love it no less if she eventually disavows any Christian intent in the series, despite professing herself to be a Christian.  But, I sense that some people would be disappointed if Rowling eventually admitted any Christian elements or allegorical intent.  

Penny



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