[HPforGrownups] Mythic themes (was Re:That Whole Christian Thing)

[Lenore]

No: HPFGUIDX 173465


>Anders:
>   History tells us that many of our Christian celebrations - especially
>Christmas and Easter, - began as pagan festivals.

Katie:
(snips)
>  Maybe JKR did put some Biblical elements into the books, but she 
> also put elements of Classical and Norse mythology, elements of 
> British mythology (Arthur, specifically), and yes, elements of paganism.

Lenore:
Yes, the books are chock full of powerful, ancient symbols and themes from
cultures all over the world, including some of those from Eastern (oriental)
traditions which are even more ancient than the Western use of similar themes.

These symbol patterns are embedded within the unconscious psyche of everyone,
IMO, and this would help explain why we have such an inexplicably 
strong response
whenever the deep patterns are triggered by an artistic work or by other means.

Katie:
>   My mother often says that "Whatever is there, belongs to author." 
> Meaning, I've always assumed, that whether the author attempts to 
> or not, there are going to be many different levels of 
> interpretation in a work.

Lenore:
If it is true that all the ancient patterns (archetypes) are already 
in us, unconsciously,
then it follows that they would influence our interpretation of an 
artistic work, and
certain archetypes would be more powerful and meaningful to us as individuals
than others.

That brings us to a kind of paradox, in which we wonder:  who does the story
or work of art "belong" to, the author or the responder?

JKR didn't create those powerful mythic images which evoke such passion
in us.  But she did gather them up and drop them liberally into the heady
potion which became Harry Potter.  She did use her imagination to weave
her own artistic story form, in which the ancient symbols found a place.

Katie:
>   So, on that hand, I appreciate the different interpretations. On 
> the other hand, however, I really think that boiling the whole 
> complicated and rich story down to Christian allegory really takes 
> a lot away from the books. First of all, that means that the story 
> was already made up for her, that JKR just had to rewrite it, 
> basically. Not very original. (snips)

Lenore:
Yes, NOT original. That brings us to another aspect of this topic.

Maybe we could say that the manner in which authors or artists express the use
of these themes is their own creation.  But the materials which they 
have dipped
into and used to form and shape their work are not theirs. They 
belong to all of us.
We can think of ceramic art using earth; musical compositions using harmonics
which have always existed; in painting, all the colors as materials 
come from earth
but the principles of color have always been there.  Also, a story 
can be told in
many "languages", such as Christian, pagan, classical, oriental, and 
on and on.
The language in which a story is told does not necessarily define the 
parameters
of the story!

Lenore