Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan

Re-Reading Harry Potter

  • Book
  • © 2003

Overview

Authors:
  1. Suman Gupta

    1. The Open University, UK

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 16.99 USD 39.99
Discount applied Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 16.99 USD 54.99
Discount applied Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (20 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. The Text-to-World Approach

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Book Covers

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 3-7

    3. Children and Adults

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 8-13

    4. The Seriousness of Social and Political Effects

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 14-23

    5. Text-to-World Assumptions (Some General Definitions)

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 24-28

    6. A Thought about Open and Closed Texts

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 29-32

    7. The Irrelevance of J.K. Rowling

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 33-39

    8. Children’s Literature

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 40-54

    9. Fantasy Literature

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 55-66

    10. Religious Perspectives

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 67-74

    11. Locations and Limitations

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 75-81

  3. Reading the Harry Potter Novels

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 83-83
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Three Worlds

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 85-92

    3. Repetition and Progression

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 93-96

    4. Evasive Allusions

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 97-98

    5. Blood

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 99-110

    6. Servants and Slaves

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 111-120

    7. The Question of Class

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 121-126

    8. Desire

      • Suman Gupta
      Pages 127-132
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

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.

Reviews

'Suman Gupta's book, Re-Reading Harry Potter, should be required reading for anyone who takes the Harry Potter novels seriously. His study will make a major contribution to the already-flourishing scholarship on the Harry Potter series/phenomenon because it is incisive, reflective, and original. Gupta's major purpose is to understand what constitutes the popular phenomenon of the books and their social and political implications and effects by using a text-to-world methodology. He is critical and most perceptive, pointing out the contradictions and ideological tendencies of the novels with great clarity. His explanation of the Harry Potter phenomenon is most convincing and fits well with his critique of unthinking reading and of elitism that are disturbing forces in modern society which often account for literary bestsellers.' - Professor Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota, USA

'...a closely argued piece about the sinister side of the Potter phenomenon...If Gupta is right, the secret of Harry Potter's success must be that the books offer what we 'unthinkingly' desire, or, worse, that there is a growing tendency towards irrational belief.' - Times Higher Education Supplement

Authors and Affiliations

  • The Open University, UK

    Suman Gupta

About the author

SUMAN GUPTA teaches at the Open University UK. He has written five books, the most recent of which are Corporate Capitalism and Political Philosophy (2002) and The Replication of Violence: Thoughts on International Terrorism After 11 September 2001 (2002).

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation