My Project: Learning Literature in Light of Harry

One of the sad things about the continual habit of fundamentalist Christianity to entirely misunderstand the Harry Potter series and engage in book banning is the incredible window it opens for teaching children and teens to love literature.

I’m not talking about the simplistic, “At least children are reading” argument in favor of the Harry Potter novels. That reason wouldn’t be good enough if the books were really, in some blatant way, dangerous for young minds. Rather, I’m talking about pointing to great literature by making connections between J.K. Rowling’s work and other great books. Let’s look at a random sampling of those connections:

• Jane Austen - It’s entirely clear from interviews with Rowling and from the books themselves that Austen is a huge influence. I’ve finally picked up Austen as a result of reading Rowling. I’ve finished Pride and Prejudice, and I’m working through Emma now.
• Shakespeare - Think about Half-Blood Prince. First, there’s the obvious connection between the prophecy and MacBeth. But think also of the humor injected by Rowling into an otherwise serious and dark book through the use of love potions and romantic comedy. Then think of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• Literary Alchemy - Speaking of Shakespeare and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, alchemy has been employed in literature by greats like Shakespeare, and its use in the Harry Potter series has been well-documented by John Granger.
• C.S. Lewis - Speaking of literary alchemy, C.S. Lewis employed it as well. Much has been made of the connections between Hogwarts and Narnia, and rightly so. But less has been made of the equally important connection, whether deliberate on Rowling’s part or not, with the Space Trilogy (see my post on Perelandra).

Add to those four examples the general categories of British Lit, detective fiction, fantasy fiction, Children’s Lit, and Mythology, and the countless other authors that have influenced Rowling, and you’ve got a potentially intriguing approach to literature that just might get some young readers interested in the classics.

So my project is simple. In preparing to go back to school to get a degree in teaching English, I have a lot of review to do (I took all my English classes 8 years ago) and a lot of essential reading that I’ve never done. I’m gathering a reading list, and the filter I’m using to gather it is Harry Potter. The authors and genres that influenced Rowling are the ones that make my list. I’m working through Austen, I’ll start on Dickens soon, and proceed to Tom Brown’s Schooldays, Catch-22, and various other works she’s referenced. In short, I’m doing myself what I’m hoping educators will be able to do with young readers in the future.

If we who are in the field of teaching English (which I will be officially three years from now) play our cards right on this one, Harry can be an incredible resource for connecting young minds with the great literature of the past.