Episode 8: Have You Tried Not Being Liminal?


What links Game of Thrones to Harry Potter? What do Roald Dahl and Diana Wynne Jones have to do with it? And where does alchemy figure in all of this? Part I of an examination of the Metaphorically Queer Liminal Being, the ruling archetype of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Episode 8: Have You Tried Not Being Liminal?

Watch the Episode 8 video on YouTube.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Alchemical Harry Potter

Image
  PUBLICATION NEWS: The Alchemical Harry Potter is now available for purchase from McFarland! (My chapter is in Part III, below.) From the publisher:  When Harry Potter first boards the Hogwarts Express, he journeys to a world which Rowling says has alchemy as its “internal logic.” The Philosopher’s Stone, known for its power to transform base metals into gold and to give immortality to its maker, is the subject of the conflict between Harry and Voldemort in the first book of the series. But alchemy is not about money or eternal life, it is much more about the transformations of desire, of power and of people—through love. Harry’s equally remarkable and ordinary power to love leads to his desire to find but not use the Philosopher’s Stone at the start of the series and his wish to end the destructive power of the Elder Wand at the end. This collection of essays on alchemical symbolism and transformations in Rowling’s series demonstrates how Harry’s work with magical objects, people, a
Read more

Essay: Blood Sport

Image
When Harry first enters the wizarding world, where someone stands on Quidditch is a metaphor for how well they fit into that world. That Harry takes to flying immediately clearly delineates him as a soldier, a warrior. It also contributes to the animus between him and Draco Malfoy, who first mentions the word “Quidditch” to Harry. For Harry to join the Gryffindor house team as a first year and actually be good at it cements the separation between them. In addition to there being an archetype aligning with each book in the series (see QuantumHarry, the Podcast, Episode 2: This Old Man ), JK Rowling has also engaged in a clever bit of self-referential recursion. Each of the seven obstacles to the Philosopher’s Stone also aligns with one of the seven books in the series, and links to a significant theme in each book. The first obstacle to the Stone is “Fluffy”, the three-headed dog Hagrid loans Dumbledore to guard the trapdoor leading to the Stone. Harry initially sees Fluf
Read more