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Editorial Reviews
Book Description:
J. K. Rowling achieved astounding commercial success with her series of novels about Harry Potter, the boy-wizard who finds out about his magical powers on the morning of his eleventh birthday. The books’ incredible popularity, and the subsequent likelihood that they are among this generation’s most formative narratives, call for critical exploration and study to interpret the works’ inherent tropes and themes. The essays in this collection assume that Rowling’s works should not be relegated to the categories of pulp fiction or children’s trends, which would deny their certain influence on the intellectual, emotional, and psychosocial development of today’s children. The variety of contributions allows for a range of approaches and interpretive methods in exploring the novels, and reveals the deeper meanings and attitudes towards justice, education, race, foreign cultures, socioeconomic class, and gender. Following an introductory discussion of the Harry Potter phenomenon are essays considering the psychological and social-developmental experiences of children as mirrored in Rowling’s novels. Next, the works’ literary and historical contexts are examined, including the European fairy tale tradition, the British abolitionist movement, and the public-school story genre. A third section focuses on the social values underlying the Potter series and on issues such as morality, the rule of law, and constructions of bravery.
Customer Reviews
 Just pathetic by H. Houser
This has to be something straight from the J. Evans Pritchard vault of pseudo lit. Pompous and condescending, it merits no mention and no attention. If you are a HP fan, stay away from this garbage.
 awesome literary criticism by S. Mendez
This book is an amazing anthology of literary criticisms of Harry Potter books 1-4. It brings to the forefront Rowling’s social agenda, the fairy tale genre, ambiguity between good and evil, etc. Something that I would like to see in the future are new essays, or these essays rewritten, by the same authors in light of surprising changes to some characters’ development particularly with Snape in Book 6. Otherwise, this book is an amazing read and is thoroughly enlightening.
An impressive anthology of literary criticism by Midwest Book Review
Expertly compiled and deftly edited by Giselle Liza Anatol (Assistant Professor of English, University of Kanas - Lawrence), Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays is an impressive anthology of literary criticism draw from a variety of learned authors who all of whom regard J. K. Rowling’s popular Harry Potter fantasy series as far more than mere popular culture pablum. Examining the Harry Potter works with regard to theories of child development, literary influences and historical contexts, and morality and social values, Reading Harry Potter is a multifaceted exploration of the Potter books as literature with lasting potential influence on both developing and mature minds today.
Simply Excellent. by
Quite simply, this is the book I will use as my primary resource to teach Harry Potter from now on. I teach both undergraduate and graduate English Education majors and plan to order this book for all of my Adolescent Literature sections this coming year. Not only are the essays interesting and diverse, they really show how many different ways a reader can think about a text. Most interesting, however, is how these very different essays (and authors) speak to one another. Overall, a really fine group of essays about some very important works.
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(From 4 total reviews)
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Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 1:01 am under
