Re-Reading Harry Potter
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Re-Reading Harry Potter Second Edition Suman Gupta Professor of Literature and Cultural History The Open University
chs 1 21 and 24 and bibliography Suman Gupta 2009; ch. 22 Milena Katsarska 2009 ch. 23 Suman Gupta and Cheng Xiao 2009 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 2nd edition 2009 978-0-230-21957-1 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN-13: 978 0 230 21958 8 paperback ISBN 978-0-230-21958-8 ISBN 978-0-230-27971-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230279711 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
Contents Acknowledgements vii Part I The Text-to-World Approach (2002) 1 1 Book Covers 3 2 Children and Adults 8 3 The Seriousness of Social and Political Effects 14 4 Text-to-World Assumptions (Some General Definitions) 24 5 A Thought about Open and Closed Texts 29 6 The Irrelevance of J.K. Rowling 33 7 Children s Literature 40 8 Fantasy Literature 55 9 Religious Perspectives 67 10 Locations and Limitations 75 Part II Reading the Harry Potter Novels (2002) 83 11 Three Worlds 85 12 Repetition and Progression 93 13 Evasive Allusions 97 14 Blood 99 15 Servants and Slaves 111 16 The Question of Class 121 17 Desire 127 18 The Magic System of Advertising 133 v
vi Contents 19 Movie Magic 141 20 The Beginning 151 Part III World-to-Text (2008) 165 21 Reading Re-Reading Harry Potter 167 22 The Bulgarian Connection in Harry Potter 183 23 Harry Potter in China 198 24 The Harry Potter Fan Fiction Text 217 Notes 237 Bibliography 260 Index 274
Acknowledgements I am grateful to colleagues of the Open University Literature Department for allowing me the space and time to write this book. The School of Arts at Roehampton University has provided me with access to the facilities of that institution. I have used these extensively and am grateful to colleagues at the School. Thanks are due to numerous friends even those who were noncommittal or dismissive with whom I have discussed parts of this study. Readers and editors for Palgrave Macmillan have made significant contributions in finalizing the book. As always, and despite her doubts about these formal gestures, I particularly acknowledge Xiao Cheng s contribution to the process of writing this. I have thrashed out most of the ideas here with her before committing them to paper. My son, Ayan-Yue Gupta, played a substantial part in my thinking about the area of this study. This book has not been prepared, authorized or endorsed by J.K. Rowling, the publishers or distributors of the Harry Potter books or the creators, producers or distributors of the Harry Potter movies. Harry Potter & the Philosopher s Stone Copyright J.K. Rowling 1997 Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets Copyright J.K. Rowling 1998 Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban Copyright J.K. Rowling 1999 Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire Copyright J.K. Rowling 2000 Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix Copyright J.K. Rowling, 2003 Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince Copyright J.K. Rowling, 2005 Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Copyright J.K. Rowling, 2007 vii