literature [Theme] Page 4

In every book, the preface is the first and at the same time the last thing; it either serves as an explanation of the purpose of the essay, or as a justification and response to critics. But usually readers don’t care about the moral purpose or the magazine’s attacks, and therefore they don’t read the prefaces.

To put it bluntly and openly, Harry's spiritual life, both in the final chapters of The Deathly Hallows and throughout this four-thousand-plus page epic, is presented as the path of a disciple of Christ. There is no overt preaching in the final Harry novel: yet the story is so rich in specifically Christian references and meanings that to deny them would be to miss a huge, perhaps even the most important, part of the transcendental meaning of these books.

Harry's incredible success, both in my home and in homes around the world, is due to the fact that these books speak directly to the human heart - in which, no matter how many dragons guard it, there is always a God-shaped hole, yearning, to have it filled out.

It seems that the Harry Potter books, like modern Aesop's fables, tell us that ultimately it is not knowledge, not special external preparations, not even piety that saves us. Only the properties of our soul - courage, love, inner valor - make us receptive to grace that can bring salvation in spiritual war.

Godless fiction is slow poison for the soul.

Incredibly, Rowling has managed to write a coherent and compelling parable about God's judgment on the spiritual qualities of our souls and our ability to love (or the rejection of love) - and this parable delights readers of the postmodern world, encouraging them to strive for purity of heart and accept the defense of sacrificial love. For generations that have developed an impenetrable immunity against any kind of “fire and brimstone preaching,” such an achievement borders on a miracle.

Reading Harry

Aunt Marge and her bulldog allude to Margaret Thatcher and the English patriots of the old school, whom Rowling sees as pompous, self-righteous monsters.

... the whole book Gifts

The Harry Potter books are classics; not only children's, but also real, without discounts, classics of world literature. These stories are masterfully told - it is worth paying attention to how carefully the entire series and individual books are structured - and carry a huge semantic charge.

In a world where the reality and inevitability of death is often hidden from view, Harry

Reading as such serves an important religious or mythical function.

Readers love Harry

Even if Rowling were an Islamofascist, a Hindu priestess, or a Buddhist hermit, her hands would be tied: an adventure epic written in English and in the English tradition would still come out Christian. It is impossible to cut up one huge carcass of culture into entrecotes, sawing off, say, parliament from religion.