Book Review: Edmund Kern's "The Wisdom of Harry Potter"

[pennylin]

No: HPFGUIDX 83550

Hi all --

It slipped my mind until just recently that I never did officially do a book
review for Edmund Kern's "The Wisdom of Harry Potter" last summer when I did
some other book reviews.  At that time, I'd read an advance reading copy,
but I didn't think it was good to get people interested in a book that
wasn't yet available.  It's now quite available, so here goes.

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In this thoughtful and perceptive work, Edmund Kern sets out a persuasive
case that Rowling's Harry Potter novels strongly promote a moral code
reflecting many of the ideals of Stoicism.  Noting the tension between fate
and free will in Rowling's works, Kern demonstrates how Rowling's treatment
of this key theme reflects a Stoic outlook: acceptance of what is necessary
or dictated by fate (endurance) but active work on behalf of the greater
good to the extent possible (exercise of free will to respond to what is
within an individual's control and willingness to engage in personal
sacrifice).  Though Harry is stoical in the face of the adversities life
throws his way, he is also Stoic through his recognition of the greater good
and his evident display of empathy for his fellow human beings.  Kern
handily dispels the stereotypes associated with Stoicism and weaves his
convincing case for Rowling as an updated modern Stoic throughout his book.



Rowling's novels are becoming increasingly more complex in themes and in
tone and as Kern clearly recognizes and applauds, the hero, Harry Potter,
and his friends are being faced with the opportunities to engage in
increasingly higher moral reasoning.  Harry and his friends, and by
extension, Harry's younger fans, are learning that moral principles do not
exist in a vacuum, but are to be applied with a view to both context and
balance of sometimes competing and conflicting rules or guidelines.  As he
emphasizes, Rowling's works depict the "real world" with its many
ambiguities in a fantasy setting and thus give children an opportunity to
engage in a meaningful dialogue with adults about competing moral principles
and the decisions made by Harry and his friends.



An advocate of the reader response theory (which holds that a reader
interacts with the text, bringing his or her own background and values to
bear whenever reading a work of fiction), Kern argues that children are not,
any more than adults, merely passive recipients of messages in the books
they read.  He believes that Rowling's novels are popular with, and
accessible to, such a wide range of both children and adults of different
backgrounds precisely because they do not promote any particular political
or religious message.  Many of the outspoken critics of her work are, Kern
believes, carrying reader response theory too far in that they are expecting
her works to conform to their own particular view of how the world operates
or should operate, either from a political or religious lens.  Social
critics believe Rowling is too conservative in not depicting a world where
social issues (gender, racial and class issues for example) have been
resolved.  But, religious critics believe she is guilty of exactly the
opposite: exercising too much imagination in creating her magical world.



Kern divides the principle criticisms against the Harry Potter novels into
three categories: (i) those who believe that the books promote consumerism;
(ii) those who believe the books promote conventional social norms and
problems; and (iii) those who object to the books' fanciful depiction of
magic.  Kern discusses the principal arguments advanced by each of these
groups of critics in turn, but the real strength of this section lies in
Kern's own sensible reactions to the criticisms.  For example, though Kern
believes that the books can be read as Christian allegory or strongly
promoting a Christian world view through use of Christian symbols even if
not explicitly allegorical, this is only one of several viable
interpretations in his mind.  Symbols, as Kern reminds us, can communicate
"multiple and even contradictory meanings."  Ultimately, Kern concludes that
he does not believe that the Harry Potter novels expressly relate any
religious message, Christian or otherwise, but do promote a largely secular
Stoic moral code which is consistent with religious moral teaching.



Kern delights in Rowling's use of historical fantasy based on a rich
cultural heritage of myths and legends.  As a historian of witchcraft and
religious culture, Kern is particularly adept at addressing the concerns
relating to Rowling's depiction of magic in her novels.  He has a historian'
s keen appreciation for her use of the past in these novels, as each book in
the series moves both forward and backward as it reveals to the reader more
and more of the "back-story" narrative.  Since Rowling admitted in one early
interview that she didn't even realize she was writing fantasy literature
until fairly far along into the first book, Kern's assertion that she has
not conformed to the standards of traditional fantasy literature might not
come as much of a surprise to her.  Unlike the social and religious critics
who would prefer clearly idealistic utopias set in an alternate universe,
Kern believes much of the appeal of Harry Potter rests in Rowling's
departures from the traditional fantasy genre conventions.



Kern has written a thought-provoking and sensitive appraisal of the moral
code at work in Rowling's enchanting novels.  Kern's reading of the series
permits readers to put any number of viable interpretations on the overall
message and themes in Rowling's work.  His work itself reflects the Stoic
virtues it explains through its pragmatic and eminently reasonable
discussion of the various criticisms leveled at this wildly popular series.



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The above was a review I did for his publisher for promotional purposes.
This is another great book for the obsessed HP fans of this group, and I
highly recommend it.



Penny