Harry Potter & Imagination: The Way Between Two Worlds (Paperback)

by Travis Prinzi (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality." Those words, written by Plutarch and quoted by J.K. Rowling in her 2008 Harvard commencement speech, sum up both the Harry Potter series and Travis Prinzi's analysis of the best-selling books in Harry Potter & Imagination: The Way Between Two Worlds. Great imaginative literature places the readers between two worlds - the story world and the world of daily life - and challenges readers to imagine and to act for a better world. Starting with Harry Potter's great themes, Harry Potter & Imagination takes readers on a journey through the transformative power of those themes for both the individual and for culture by placing Rowling's series in its literary, historical, and cultural contexts. Prinzi explores how fairy stories in general, and Harry Potter in specific, are not merely tales that are read to "escape from the real world," but stories with the power to transform by teaching us to imagine better. . - .[Endorsement]: . - . "Harry Potter & Imagination offers a challenging and rewarding tour of the inspirations for and meanings behind J.K. Rowling's lauded series. Travis Prinzi ably explores how the Harry Potter books satisfy fundamental human yearnings, utilize mythological archetypes, and embody their author's social vision. From Arthurian romance and Lovecraftian horror to postmodernism and political theory, Prinzi provides new insights into the Harry Potter phenomenon. Harry Potter & Imagination will not only fascinate and entertain readers, but will also convince them that fairy tales matter." [Dr. Amy H. Sturgis, editor of Past Watchful Dragons] - . - [Endorsement]: . - . "There is no more insightful commenter on the Harry Potter novels than Travis Prinzi - and Harry Potter & Imagination is an ideal showcase for his original thinking and lucid writing. This trail-blazing guidebook into the world of Harry Potter - showing the imaginative way between two worlds - is a must read." [John Granger, author of The Deathly Hallows Lectures and other books]

Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: Zossima Press (December 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0982238517
• ISBN-13: 978-0982238516
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #219,865 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For those who want to think deeply about Harry Potter, December 18, 2008

By	Michael Boyd "Black Angus" (Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I got to the end of the Harry Potter series and knew that this wasn't just a story about a boy wizard and his adventures. Something more was happening in these wonderfully written books. Travis Prinzi's book 'Harry Potter and Imagination' helped me to understand some of the great themes Rowling addresses.
It's a clear and thoughtful exploration of Rowling's views on evil, death, love, forgiveness, gender and race (among many other things) that make the books such a powerful contribution to our culture.
I recommend this book if you want to think more about deeply about the ideas that gripped you and why they resonated with you. Prinzi's book is a tribute to Rowling's genius in that he has used her work to provide much to think about on many different issues in literature and culture.

I learned a lot from reading it and recommend it highly.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Literary and Accessible, December 17, 2008

By	David L. Jones "Dave Jones" (Owensboro, KY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First, full disclosure: I write for Travis at his blog, The Hog's Head. My first venture into discussion with Travis and his readers included a vehement disagreement over the nature of postmodernism as a literary and philosophical movement. Thus, though I write for The Hog's Head, that does not mean its proprietor and I always agree on ways of understanding Harry Potter.

Yet, I've always held Travs Prinzi and his opinions in very high regards. John Granger has said time and time again that Prinzi's insight and intelligence into Rowling's literary machinations rival his own -- no small praise from the most famous of Potter-philes/scholars. And any regular patron of The Hog's Head will know that Prinzi's knowledge and mastery of the HP universe is nearly encyclopedic -- don't read his posts to know this; read his responses to readers' comments. Thus, Harry Potter & Imagination makes at least two cases: one is that understanding the books as an expression of the kind of faerie story analyzed by J.R.R. Tolkien is a productive means of interpreting Rowling's work; the second is that Travis Prinzi's name should be synonymous with HP scholarship from this point forward.

Though Rowling has sought to distance herself from her fantasy antecedents (at least to a degree), that she is indebted to their literary frameworks is apparent to any of readers. Prinzi mines some literary parallels to draw together an understanding of fantasy and faerie articulated in both Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Prinzi makes no effort to hide, from the Introduction onward, that he reads Rowling's books through a Christian lens. Though some literary aesthetes might argue such a lens is too limiting a view through which to examine literature, Prinzi treats it as a point of departure from which to build an exegesis of the texts. His book is analytical, not proselytizing. He sees religious symbolism and iconography all over the books, casts that symbolism within the die of Rowling's personal struggles with faith, and interprets Harry Potter as a chronicle of the struggle and need to believe through the framework of faerie.

Prinzi articulates several arguments that are sure to generate discussion and contribute to the broader scope of HP scholarship. Most notably, he synthesizes some of his analyses regarding Rowling's treatment of social issues into a critique of political change, especially of change as a top-down hermeneutic engendered by those already in power.

As piece of technical research and writing, Prinzi has done his homework and sharpened his prose to clean edge. Though Tolkien's original essays on faerie, along with Lewis's work on faith and literature, are sometimes difficult to understand, especially to modern ears, Prinzi manages to encapsulate the thrust of their theories into easy-to-understand syntheses. His own theories, articulated upon the heels of his critical predecessors (including Granger's work), bespeaks a capable intelligence with ample skill at expressing itself. Prinzi can speak to both the scholar and the average reader -- a skill I suspect is honed through his work at his blog.

Buy the book! You'll enjoy it, and you'll learn something.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Journeying through Platform 9 3/4 with Travis Prinzi, December 23, 2008

By	Johnny Chavez - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Can fairy tales be relevant in an increasingly materialistic world? Are fairy tales just kiddie fare or are they subversive literature designed to inspire social change? Travis Prinzi answers these questions and more in the context of Harry Potter in his masterful book, Harry Potter & Imagination: The Way Between Two Worlds.

The driving force behind Travis' book of course is J.K. Rowling's 2008 Harvard commencement speech where she quotes Plutarch, "What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality." This can be seen in the book's three parts: Faerie, The Creative Hero, and A Political Fairy Tale. From looking at how Harry Potter satisfies "primordial human desires" (Faerie) and correspond to mythological archetypes (The Creative Hero), we can see how Harry Potter inspires a concern for social justice (A Political Fairy Tale). "What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality" indeed.

Throughout the book, Travis skillfully interacts with other Harry Potter literary critics and draws on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle in his discussions on fairy tales, showing that he has become a Harry Potter scholar in his own right. Travis does all this while explaining difficult concepts in a clear manner for the average reader. Everyone has different preferences and while I loved the entire book immensely, I enjoyed and got the most from his discussions on social justice, particularly the chapters on Postmodernism, Fabian Society, Feminism (Ginny Weasley as Susan Pevensie, Vindicated was just brilliant) and the War on Terror. Those chapters are worth the price of the book alone. Travis unashamedly writes from a Christian perspective because JKR is a Christian, and as Travis writes, removing her from that tradition is impossible. Travis' Christian perspective shows most effectively in his conclusions on Harry Potter and social justice. We are truly between two worlds, this imperfect one filled with evil, and the future when heaven and earth will join together, and the world will be set to rights. Travis' words are poignant here for the here and now, namely that JKR has reflected the realities in our world into her world so that we can recognize them and reflect, discuss, and perhaps be the vehicle for change. How can one be angered by Hermione Granger being called a Mudblood and not care about racism in our world? How about oppression, poverty, power plays, and more? Fairy tales are important, not because they allow the reader to escape, but to see the world in a new light and work to change it.

No amount of words can do justice to this book. The reader will not help but be persuaded by the arguments Travis gives in Harry Potter & Imagination: The Way Between Two Worlds, and what are they? That fairy tales matter and that recognizing evil and oppression in Harry Potter can allow us to recognize the same in our world, and act accordingly. Imagining better and producing inward change can have great repercussions for what we achieve outwardly in this world. Travis' book has shown us just that.