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. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Part I: The Text-to-World Approach (2002)......Page 10 1 Book Covers......Page 12 2 Children and Adults......Page 17 3 The Seriousness of Social and Political Effects......Page 23 4 Text-to-World Assumptions (Some General Definitions)......Page 33 5 A Thought about Open and Closed Texts......Page 38 6 The Irrelevance of J.K. Rowling......Page 42 7 Children's Literature......Page 49 8 Fantasy Literature......Page 64 9 Religious Perspectives......Page 76 10 Locations and Limitations......Page 84 Part II: Reading the Harry Potter Novels (2002)......Page 92 11 Three Worlds......Page 94 12 Repetition and Progression......Page 102 13 Evasive Allusions......Page 106 14 Blood......Page 108 15 Servants and Slaves......Page 120 16 The Question of Class......Page 130 17 Desire......Page 136 18 The Magic System of Advertising......Page 142 19 Movie Magic......Page 150 20 The Beginning......Page 160 Part III: World-to-Text (2008)......Page 174 21 Reading Re-Reading Harry Potter......Page 176 22 The Bulgarian Connection in Harry Potter......Page 192 23 Harry Potter in China......Page 207 24 The Harry Potter Fan Fiction Text......Page 226 Notes......Page 246 Bibliography......Page 269 C......Page 283 H......Page 284 M......Page 285 R......Page 286 Z......Page 287 This book discusses the political and social presumptions ingrained in the texts of the Harry Potter series and examines the manner in which they have been received in different contexts and media. The 2nd edition also contains extensive new material which comments on the later books and examines the impact of the phenomenon across the world. Addressing the 'phenomenon' of Harry Potter and the scholarly and media attention that has been devoted to the novels and adaptations, this updated new edition of Re-Reading Harry Potter discusses the political and social presumptions that are ingrained in the books, in terms of political ideology, class and race, gender and sexuality. The book features four new chapters which move beyond the text-to-world method of the first edition to assume a world-to-text method, with the complete series of novels in view. A comprehensive new Introduction contextualises this second edition, and examines themes of religion in the later books in the series, the impact of the Harry Potter phenomenon in non-Anglophone markets (such as China), and the enormous rise of Harry Potter fan fiction
