We’ve come to the end of Prophecy 2007. There’s a closing ceremony and feast tomorrow morning, which we’ll miss. There’s a ball going on right now, and then probably a full night of fan fic readings and discussions in the Common Room. But we’ll be sleeping through that.
Tricia and I spent a few solid hours at dinner with John Granger, and it was an absolute blast. I look forward to the next time we’ll get together to talk. Thanks again for dinner, John.
It’s been a good time. My Voldemort and Phoenix papers went well, and (sshhh!) I recorded them. I have to find out about the legality of posting them here as podcasts (I signed some paper giving recording rights to Prophecy so they could sell the talks, and I don’t know if that means I can’t post them here…). As long as it’s OK, I’ll post both of them as upcoming podcasts. Sadly, I did not think to hit “record” on my Garageband program until after the first talk, which Tricia says was the best.
We’ll make the trip back home to pick up our daughter again, re-entering the Muggle world of buying and selling houses and other related chaos. We didn’t get to as many presentations as we wanted to (I was so busy finishing up my own!), nor did we get as many pictures as we wanted to (I’ll post a few soon), but we did manage to meet several other people who loved an academic approach to the series, and it’s been a great time and a necessary vacation.
I’ll be back to regular writing and podcasting (I hope!) very soon. Welcome to all new readers who have found this site as a result of Prophecy 2007. It was great to meet you, and perhaps we’ll see each other again next year at Portus and/or Terminus.
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When you get the chance, it’d be interesting to hear more about how your presentations were received. How many people, who, what kinds of questions and comments, and so on. As well as podcasts (or text versions) of the talks themselves, of course.
Travis,
Well done. Glad you enjoyed it. I’m sure John Granger would’ve been a good talker at dinner!
I’m looking forward to where SoG is going in terms of literary discussion. Looking at Lovecraft images in the Harry Potter series would be a lot of fun?!
Matthew
I wonder how they sell recordings of the talks…hmmm. I’ve never heard of that before.
Congratulations, again. I’m sure it went great and I hope you’re permitted to post them. Can’t wait!
reyhan, will probably podcast on the talks and how they were received, maybe as an intro or conclusion to the talk itself if I can post them.
Matthew, an excellent suggestion. I’m toying right now with this idea for when DH discussion begins to dwindle: Start reading together through books in JKR’s library and relating them to HP. I’m not sure if Rowling has ever said anything about Lovecraft, but since I’m eager to finally get to that book, that would be a great project to do anyway.
Except that I had a project sprung on me while at Prophecy…I’ll fill you all in when I have details. Sorry for the secrecy at present.
shadowquill, I think the selling of the talks is new to this conference. Keep an eye on the website. I’m sure there will be details. Warning, though: They’re charging $14 a talk. Which is insane. $99 for the whole collection, which is actually quite a deal given how much $14 a talk would add up to.
Travis, I went to both of your Saturday presentations after my friend told me how excellent your first presentation was, and I must say that your Voldemort one was hands down my favorite lecture of the weekend. I loved how academic your lectures were and how they included religious undertones. Like you, I was originally wary about ready Harry Potter because I had heard so much about it being anti-Christian. Needless to say, I am infinitely grateful that my friend convinced me to start reading them years ago!
I look forward to reading more of your thoughts and to listening to your podcasts. You were a very eloquent speaker at Prophecy – thank you so much!
I attended both your Voldemort and Phoenix lectures and enjoyed them both. I hope you’ll be able to post them both here.
I would really have like to have gone, but my schedule (like so many of us) did not permit. However, my greatest consolation is that I get to hear all about it from everyone here.
Just wanted to chime in that I, too, appreciate Harry as Christian-undertoned fiction as belive that Ms. Rowling is rather a Chestertonian in disguise who deserves to be celebrated by instead of persecuted.
I also wanted to mention that I found an interesting new book on Amazon yesterday that may soon add to our discussions called “Harry Potter and the Sleeping Dragons”. (I was intrigued enough that I pre-ordered my own copy.) Here’s the link to paste in your browsers (though I suppose you could also find it through a title search like I did):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0979422981?tag=ramancepcom-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0979422981&adid=0TAB0BT7WC1N6Q5C894X&
It’s great to see that more and more of us have long-since been appreciating Harry for what he truly is (ie: not evil) and it will be interesting if our “Jo is inkling” camp continues to grow. I think that it will thanks in part to sites like Sword of Gryffindor and HogPro.
Travis, thanks again for this site and keep up the good work. Though Harry Potter has had his last book, there are many of us for whom he will always live on.
James
Hello Travis,
I’m a bit of a newcomer to your site and podcast (I’ve been a regular lurker for about a month and a half, via HogPro of course). I’m overjoyed at what I’ve listened to and read so far, especially the piece on Merope Gaunt.
If you don’t mind being cited, I’m definitely planning on including a further analysis of culpability in my senior honors thesis (I’m a Theology and English double major). It really helps to illuminate the roundness of characters and the applicability of Rowling’s world. I can’t wait for your transcripts! Thank you so much for your humble and insightful work!
Awaiting her Patronus,
Rena C. Black
Thanks for some amazing talks, Travis. I did not know you nor read anything you had written before Prophecy, but you were by far the most thought-out and intriguing presenters. I missed Grangers first talk, but did purchase the cd’s. I just thought the Phoenix presentation was truly..the highlight of Prophecy (being the geek that I am and going for the talks instead of the fandom) Nice work. There’s so much to read here…that I’ve just decided to subscribe to your podcast as my baby step into your world.