by Dave
Part I of this series: Why Joker Succeeds and Voldemort Fails
“Behind the scenes” is a trope of long standing tradition in many forms of literature. In a recent essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Terry W. Thompson argues that the violent deaths occur off the page as a direct result of Shelley’s love of classical [...]

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by Dave
A standard literary trope is to set characters against each other, playing one’s personna in relationship to another. Typically, we find the “arch”-nemesis, especially in adventure or heroic stories. The main character is opposed by a primary antagonist, and the juxtaposition of these characters reveals something about one or both to the [...]

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by Dave
Travis’s earlier post concerning what we’ve been reading made me think about some purely hypothetical questions. My philosophy major side is creeping out a bit here. I’m not sure of the greater merit of such a question, but I started wondering how an archvillain like Voldemort might find his end in some [...]

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by Dave]
The heart of the classical Hero type drives towards some sacrifice — either in a quest for glory sometimes doomed from the start, or on the behalf of something judged “the greater good”. Classical epic heroes struggle against their humanity, often goaded by the self realization of their partial divinity. They hope [...]

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At Prophecy 2007, I argued that Rowling’s presentation of the growing arm of influence of the Ministry of Magic can be paralleled to Foucault’s concept of modern society as a Pantopticon. The Panopticon was Jeremy Bentham’s idea for a circular prison in which only one security guard could maintain surveillance over every prisoner at [...]

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Spoiler Alert!

Harry took down Voldemort. A massive defeat against the Dark Lord was won. But what of the other issues raised by Rowling throughout the series? What of the social evils she addressed? Some will be disturbed that house-elves are still enslaved at the end of Book 7. What of [...]

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Spoiler Alert!

The most disturbing part of Deathly Hallows is the use of Unforgivable Curses by the Good Guys. This seemed incredibly inconsistent with previous books for several reasons.

a2a_linkname=”A Time to Kill: The Unforgivable Curses in Deathly Hallows”;
a2a_linkurl=”http://thehogshead.org/2007/07/24/a-time-to-kill-the-unforgivable-curses-in-deathly-hallows/”;

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Dumbledore as Fabius Maximus; M. Scott Peck; How should we prepare our kids to read Harry Potter?
This is (most likely) the second to last episode before the release of Deathly Hallows! Remember that you can subscribe through iTunes.
Pub Menu:

The Fabian Society
Fabius Maximus
HogPro: Will Harry Go Through the Veil?
SoG post on Fabian Society
SoG Review: [...]

 

 Hog's Head PubCast #30 [29:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1468)

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I’ll say it again: Rowling likes M. Scott Peck.  No, she hasn’t confirmed it, and perhaps it’s mere coincidence, but read this quote from the illustration Peck uses in Chapter 1 of The People of the Lie.  Here, Peck is advising a client on the course he must take in order to get better:
Easy.  That’s [...]

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Merope Gaunt and the Paradox of Evil and Choice; Why did Voldemort give Lily a choice?; Stephen Fry vs. Jim Dale
One thing I forgot to mention in the Fry vs. Dale discussion: After hearing Dale first and then listening to Fry, Fry really had to grow on me. Didn’t like him at first. [...]

 

 Hog's Head PubCast #28: Evil and Choice [27:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1497)

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Note: This material will appear in an upcoming PubCast (along with further commentary and other related subjects) either midweek or this weekend.
Rowling has given us a paradox concerning evil in the Harry Potter series. At face value, the lesson is very simple, and it has been stated by Dumbledore in two ways:
“It is our [...]

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Commenting on the place of the werewolf (and other evil creatures) in history and literature, Siamak Tundry Nacify offers the following observation:
Throughout history, we have attributed onto others what we viewed as undesirable in ourselves, finding scapegoats upon which we could pin our notions of fault and blame and whose sacrificial death then could bring [...]

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When I wrote the post, “Shades of Evil,” I’d no idea Rowling had used that exact phrase in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2000.  Here’s the quote:
You have a choice when you’re going to introduce a very evil character.  You can dress a guy up with loads of ammunition, put a black [...]

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This post will get more detailed over time.  It’s late, and I’m too tired to get all the citations, but I’ll get them eventually.  I wanted to present one of the dilemmas in the Snape debate and get the discussion going.
The Strongest Evil!Snape Argument: I don’t believe the best Evil Snape argument lies in a [...]

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I think that maybe J.K. Rowling has read and likes M. Scott Peck. Has anyone suggested it before? I haven’t read it anywhere, but I’m beginning to see a link, and I plan to start developing it and see where it goes. Here’s my initial contribution.

[...]

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