Harry Potter's Bookshelf: The Great Books behind the Hogwarts Adventures [Paperback]

John Granger (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 7, 2009

Harry Potter. The name conjures up J.K. Rowling's wondrous world of magic that has captured the imaginations of millions on both the printed page and the silver screen with bestselling novels and blockbuster films. The true magic found in this children's fantasy series lies not only in its appeal to people of all ages but in its connection to the greater world of classic literature.

Harry Potter's Bookshelf: The Great Books Behind the Hogwarts Adventures explores the literary landscape of themes and genres J.K. Rowling artfully wove throughout her novels-and the influential authors and stories that inspired her. From Jane Austen's Emma and Charles Dickens's class struggles, through the gothic romances of Dracula and Frankenstein and the detective mysteries of Dorothy L. Sayers, to the dramatic alchemy of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and William Shakespeare, Rowling cast a powerful spell with the great books of English literature that transformed the story of a young wizard into a worldwide pop culture phenomenon.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade; 1st edition (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425229793
• ISBN-13: 978-0425229798
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1 x 8.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #365,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Granger is an author, speaker, and professor. A graduate of the University of Chicago, where he studied classical languages and literature, he uses Harry Potter to teach English literature online at HogwartsProfessor.com. He is a frequent speaker at academic and fan conferences and has been interviewed as a "Harry Potter expert" in the "Wall Street Journal," the "New York Times," CNN, and the DVD of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." He and his wife, Mary, have seven children.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

121 of 122 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget Madam Pince, go to the Library with John Granger July 7, 2009

By Elizabeth Hardy

Format:Paperback

In his latest contribution to serious Harry Potter scholarship, John Granger takes on the challenge of analyzing the influence of the "great books" upon the wildly popular series. Rather than a tedious "this looks like that" listing, Granger takes the reader on a delightful journey through the many remarkable literary genres that are woven into Harry's adventures. Using the four layers of meaning (surface, moral, allegorical, and anagogical/mythical), Granger delves into a lively, readable analysis that never gets bogged down in literary jargon, but always remains insightful and thought-provoking. The influences he covers range from the fairly obvious ( Dickens, and all those sympathetic orphans! Austen, and all those surprise endings!) to the more obscure but equally relevant (Sayers's detective novels, Gothic stories whose influence actually puts Harry in a role usually given to heroines).

Summary is used sparingly but effectively. Even "literature geeks" who have read all these books and written papers on them will not find these sections tedious, and they may find handy reminders. Granger frequently unlocks useful insights with his characteristically friendly and accessible "voice." Readers familiar with Granger will not be surprised to see points on alchemy and on Rowling's unique twists on post-modernism, but those who have not read Granger's other works may now be tempted to go further into his work, like the Deathly Hallows Lectures, after getting hints of those topics here.

The text is well documented with readable apparatus, but an index would be nice. This is a valuable addition for any bookshelf of Potter studies, appealing both for novice readers and serious literature geeks. The text will not only help Potter readers to learn more about Rowling's world, but may very well be the key to lead them to read and enjoy the contents of the "compost heap" of literature that influenced Rowling; they may even find this book a safe path into the sometimes intimidating world of literary criticism. Don't worry about the Restricted section; the whole library is a wide-open wonderland with Harry and John Granger.

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Books That Stand Behind Harry July 7, 2009

By Elisabeth P

Format:Paperback

In Harry Potter's Bookshelf, John Granger provides an insightful tour through the literary influences that helped to shape the Harry Potter books. He looks at ten literary genres with representative books and authors that he believes were part of the rich mental "compost" from which Harry Potter grew.

But this book does much more than pay respects to Rowling's excellent artistry in "rowling" together various genres, themes and ideas. It teaches us to think about what it means to be good readers, of Harry Potter and of countless other great books, and what it means to let our experience as readers change us. In his forthright, non-jargony writing style, Granger provides HP enthusiasts with teaching on symbolist literature and how it can and should be profitably read on four levels: the surface, moral, allegorical, and anagogical levels. He explains how this kind of reading, which used to be commonplace, is rarely now understood. And he looks at the Harry Potter books, in light of the great books that came before them, on all four of these levels.

If you've never deeply considered Harry Potter's literary family tree, which includes Dickens, Austen, Bronte, Stoker, Shakespeare, Swift, Chaucer, Goudge and Lewis, you will find much literary food for thought in this excellent guidebook. If I had to choose favorites, the chapters on Gothic elements in Harry Potter (Snape as Heathcliff and Harry as gothic "hero/ine") and on the alchemical scaffolding of the HP books are especially golden, but there is much to mine in every single chapter as we consider the amazing artistry of Rowling the postmodern symbolist.

I have no doubt that teachers wanting to mine the literary riches of Harry Potter with their students will be especially delighted with this book. Readers already familiar with Granger's work will find these ten chapters an excellent distillation of some of his most important teaching on narrative voice, postmodern literary characteristics, the hero's journey, literary alchemy and more. If these themes and Granger's work are new to you, I encourage you to step from the chapters you find fascinating here into some of his earlier books, especially "How Harry Cast His Spell," and "The Deathly Hallows Lectures."

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The book about Harry Potter you've been waiting for... July 7, 2009

By Christina Semmens

Format:Paperback

This is the book about Harry Potter that you've been waiting for. John Granger spectacularly presents all of the reasons for why the Harry Potter series have not only been so popular, but why readers will come back time and again to reread the series. Mr. Granger does this by providing the reader the fundamental keys to understanding Ms. Rowling's series. These keys assist a reader in discerning the four levels of meaning contained in the Harry Potter series, but also will assist a reader in appreciating all great English literature.

A must have book for any Harry Potter fan who wants to know the WHY behind how Ms. Rowling was able to entice millions of reader down the rabbit hole into the magical world of Hogwarts, and then keeps you in this magical "wonderland" throughout the Potter series.