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The fastest-selling book in publication history, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS was a critical success and is loved by fans around the world. In THE DEATHLY HALLOWS LECTURES, John Granger reveals the Potter finale's brilliant details, themes and meanings. Even the most ardent of Harry Potter fans will be surprised by and delighted with the Hogwarts Professor's explanations of the three dimensions of meaning in DEATHLY HALLOWS to include why Ms. Rowling chose to make Lily's eyes green, why Harry buried Moody's eye where and when he did, and why Ollivander prefers the three wand cores he does. Ms. Rowling has said that alchemy sets the "parameters of magic" in the series; after reading the chapter-length explanation of DEATHLY HALLOWS as the final stage of the alchemical Great Work in THE DEATHLY HALLOWS LECTURES, the serious reader will understand how important literary alchemy is in understanding Rowling's artistry and accomplishment. The other seven chapters explore, among other things, the five writing tricks Ms. Rowling uses to work her story magic, the deciphering of the "Triangular Eye" symbol for the three Hallows, Harry's "struggle to believe" in Albus Dumbledore, why Ms. Rowling revealed that she "always thought" of the Headmaster as gay, and the more than 25 echoes of her first book, PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, in DEATHLY HALLOWS. Did you wonder why Fred died in the end? Why Harry went underground seven times in Deathly Hallows? Granger explains how Ms. Rowling's story formula required these twists - - - as well as two trips to King's Cross and two meetings with Albus Dumbledore at story's end. John Granger, the Hogwarts Professor, has spoken about the meaning and magic of Harry Potter at major universities from coast to coast and as a Keynote Speaker at fan conventions in the United States and Canada. Enjoy these lectures to learn the ins and outs and fascinating depths of DEATHLY HALLOWS - - - information unavailable anywhere else… (more)
User reviews
I have seen Deathly Hallows as a Christian liturgical process. John Granger sees this too, but overlays it with a spiritual alchemical process, somewhat in the sense that Jung saw alchemy. Granger is careful to break the book up into three sections, each corresponding with an alchemical process. First is the nigredo (black) period in which Harry has a real dark night of the soul with Dumbledore and what he has meant for his life. The second is the albedo (white) stage, after light comes back into his life, abetted by Ron Weasley, who has reappeared, and Harry's "baptism." The third is the rubedo (red) stage, which happens mostly back in Hogwarts, and Harry follows a Christlike passion and resurrection in his final successful fight with the Dark Lord. Granger sees the epilogue as a bit of latter-dy trinitarian experience, whereas I have been thinking of a Whitsunday experience.
Granger likes the idea of the medieval fourfold interpretation of scripture and applies it iwith something of a variation to Deathly Hallows. The four types of interpretation are literal, moral, symbolic (or allegorical), and anagogical. Granger uses these categories: surface, edifying, and alchemical. To some degree the alchemical resembles the anagogical, and he sees the symbolic as permeating the three other types. Nevertheless, multiple layers of meaning are to be found in scripture, Deathly Hallows, and other great works of literature. And the meanings interpenetrate in both types.
The authors Granger most oftern refers to are C.S. Lewis, Dante, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Shakespeare. A whole chapter is spent on Dante and his Divine Comedy, and comparing that with Rowling's story.
Another significant influence on Granger is that of traditonalism, the "sophia perennis". This is the idea that there is an underlying unity in all the great religions, that we have largely overlooked in the modern age. The exponents that Granger refers to most often are Rene Guenon, Frithjof Schuon, and Titus Burckhardt. So, while Harry Potter has many Christian ovetones in his journey, anyone can appreciate him, as the hero is following a traditional path of understanding and transformation that speaks deeply to our soul.