KU prof compiles academic study of Harry Potter
Collection of critical essays analyzes book and characters
News of the sixth Harry Potter book has been floating around the Internet
for a while, but readers interested in expanding their knowledge while
waiting for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to arrive need look
no further than a book by Giselle Liza Anatol, assistant professor
of English.
While most people might expect to find Harry Potter in the children’s
section of the library, Anatol turned her enjoyment of J.K. Rowling’s
Harry Potter books into an academic exercise.
Reading the books for the first time, Anatol found herself alternately
absorbed by the story and applying an analytical approach. Later, she
found she wasn’t the only one looking at Harry with a critical
eye.
“
As I spoke to a friend in the law school about my ideas, she surmised
that a really interesting article could be written about the Rule of
Law in the books,” Anatol says. “And another friend, who
is a child psychologist, mentioned that she had been thinking about ways
to incorporate the book in her dealings with clients.”
Realizing the potential for viewing the books from a variety of scholarly
perspectives, Anatol “put out a call for papers and began the search
for a publisher.”
The result was Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays (Contributions
to Popular Culture), a book of essays ranging from “Reading Harry
Potter through Theories of Child Development” to “Harry Potter’s
Schooldays: J.K. Rowling and the British Boarding School Novel” by
Karen Manners Smith. The book is now included on several course syllabi
across the country, and Anatol uses a chapter in her own classes.
The book also offers professors and non-academics alike a chance to
see the Harry Potter series as more than just books for kids, Anatol
says.
“
Some adults don’t believe that children’s literature is worthy
of serious critical exploration. They assume it is trivial, and merely ‘fluff,’” she
says.
Because children are more impressionable than adults, Anatol says,
adults have a responsibility to uncover the ideological constructs
underlying
the texts children read. In other words, Harry Potter’s magical
world may have a decisive impact on the way its young readers perceive
the real world.
“
Interpreting the foundational messages and themes is vital for understanding
the ways that young people perceive the world,” Anatol says, “and
the way that, as adults raised with these narratives, we interact with
each other in contemporary society.”