Re-Reading Harry Potter

by Suman Gupta

This is the first extended text-based analysis of the social and political implications of the Harry Potter phenomenon. Arguments are primarily based on close readings of the first four Harry Potter books and the first two films - in other words, a 'text-to-world' method is followed. This study does not assume that the phenomenon concerns children alone, or should be lightly dismissed as a matter of pure entertainment. The amount of money, media coverage, and ideological unease involved indicates otherwise. The first part provides a survey of responses (both of general readers and critics) to the Harry Potter books. Some of the methodological decisions underlying this study itself are also explained here. The second part examines the presentation of certain themes, including gender, race and desire, in the Harry Potter books, with a view to understanding how these may impinge on social and political concerns of our world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Harry Potter, Literary Criticism

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needs a better line editor, but that's neither here nor there.

If you've read the first edition but haven't been able to get your hands on the second, try and find it. Most memorably, the additional chapters in the second edition take a look at the impact of Potter and fandom on non-English speaking parts of the world, and the importance of translators as cultural interpreters in the success of the franchise. Interesting stuff.

Despite the crit being fairly dense at times, I still enjoyed this.

[joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was about to give it 3 stars, not four.
The first chapters were quiet boring but towards the end it got better and better- Although I do not agree with the author in several matters, it is still a nice elaboration on the Magic world in Harry Potter.

[Zoé☀️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great way to read a piece of literary criticism in a more fun and easy way - it doesn’t take too much mental power and the short chapters can split the reading into nice little chunks. Unfortunately it was published before The Order of the Phoenix so it doesn’t take into account all of the Harry Potter series, but I think the commentary remains relevant, and it’s interesting to get a perspective immersed directly in the « Harry Potter phenomenon ». I didn’t necessarily agree with all the observations but it was really thought-provoking!

[Mark Beardmore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but only the second half is about "reading harry potter" imo

[Alea · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first two thirds of this book was written in 2002, when only four of the harry potter books was out. That was really clear sometimes, and it was something that bugged me a lot. Some of the arguments the author made was just wrong if you take all the books into consideration. Many things that are pointed out as problematic felt like they got better/got a solution in the last books. (the author did coment on this shortly in a chapter of the last third of the book, which is written after the last hp-book came out, but I don't think she makes any good arguments about it there either)

I'm not saying all of it was bad. There was some great points about the story, most which I hadn't thought about before. But that's the only thing that makes this book any interesting at all, you do start to think about some new perspectives.

Also, it may just be me, but sometimes I had a really hard time following the arguments. I know it's supposed to be a more scientifically written book, but sometimes the language just felt to advanced for this kind of book.

If you want some new perspecives on thing, maybe give this a try. But I'm sure there are books written later that makes better arguments about the whole serie.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book brings up some interesting comments on the social and political implications of the HP novels - and has an interesting chapter on religious critical anaylis (from the author's non-religious perspective.) It is somehwat dated and not as easy to read as the I think the author thinks it is.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Suman is a guy who likes to quote himself rather than use a better structure for the book. And this is a fan book written as an attempt to build fame like a Lacan or Foucault: using fancy words to tell nothing.

[Frida · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what I think to be a very well assembled book of critical views on Harry Potter. Stirred some serious questions although the reading itself was slow and tideous

[Emily Cait · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful starting point for thinking about HP's connection to 'fantasy literature'.