The reading for Week 12 was chosen by popular ballot.
For Missing Visuals/Aurals from 12/11 Lecture, see bottom of page
The reading for Week 12 was chosen by popular ballot.
For Missing Visuals/Aurals from 12/11 Lecture, see bottom of page
| J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
(1997)
The results from the Nov. 20 balloting are in -- and the selection is a familiar one: last year's winner, J. K. Rowling's phenomenal best-seller Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1998). Copies are currently available at Micawber Books. Other books by J. K. Rowling:
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The Potter Phenomenon
The first three Potter books so thoroughly dominated the best seller
charts -- at one point ranking #1-2-3 on the New York Times hardcover
list -- that they've changed the very nature of the lists themselves.
This past summer, after the fourth book leapt onto the lists as well, the
Times
created a separate ranking for Children's Literature in order to keep the
Potters from perpetually overwhelming all other hardcovers on their "Adult"
list.
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A few questions to think about as you're reading:
• In what ways is this a fitting book -- thematically, stylistically,
culturally -- to end our course?
• What sort of cultural work do you see Harry Potter accomplishing,
particularly for American readers?
• In a related vein: many of the other texts we've read have been concerned
with desire. What sorts of desires does this text represent (within
the text) or fulfill (outside the text)?
• What other kinds of books, particulary children's books, does this
remind you of?
• Is there something unusual about this text, either thematically or
stylistically, that makes it stand out from the other children's books
published in recent years? Why, in other words, is Potter such a
phenomenon?
• Why do you think adults have been so interested in this book?
• Do you think this book is likely to become a cherished classic, the
way such texts as Little Women have become? Or a passing fad,
like Ragged Dick? Why?
| Wild About
Harry  |
It's hard to move around on the internet these days without stumbling
into something Potter-related. Here are links to just a few of the
sites that have sprouted since summer 1999:
Scholastic,
Inc. Official Harry Potter Page (includes discussion guides & reviews)
Plus, here are links to some of the media coverage about Harry, author J.K. Rowling, and/or the Potter phenomenon. The Yahoo site has its own subsets of links to reviews & articles: Yahoo!
Full Coverage:'Harry Potter' Series
Read about the author who has sued Rowling for trademark infringement
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| Key Links for Missing Visuals/Aurals
from 12/11 Lecture
Had the laptop/internet connection been working today from the console, I would have shown you some of the following (NOTE: These links are not yet live, but will be soon. Check back later!) • images
of the British and American book covers
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to see the Fall
1998 TBD Week selection, click here.
return to ENG
366 books & authors page