Harry Potter for Nerds has hit the shelves!
Lit critics, myself included, banded together to bring you this volume (edited by Travis Prinzi). The articles inside Harry Potter for Nerds cover everything from Dante’s Inferno’s influence over Rowling’s work, to the literary chiasmus of the series, to the astrological hidden keys to Harry Potter, to the meaning behind the Firenze’s “Mars is Bright” line and other fascinating finds.
Travis Prinzi and John Granger, of Unlocking Press, worked diligently to release this book to the public first at Leaky Conference this past July, and now on Amazon. I’ll be interviewed by Prinzi on The Hog’s Head Pubcast sometime in the coming weeks to talk about my article and the novel I’m currently invested in.
Grab a copy and tell me what you think!
Ummm…How are Harry Potter and Inception alike re: Inferno? Is Dante in everything?
Have you read Paradiso and Purgatorio? Just curious. Once this guy tried to be impressive by telling me he had read Dante’s Inferno. (ooooh ahhhhh!) and I asked if he had read the entire Divine Comedy. He had no idea what I meant. Very disillusioning. Soory but I have known too many people who think it is a ticket to being cool or something. Certainly it is a good thing to read from a cultural literacy standpoint, but I suppose I wish people would read, or at least know about the Divine Comedy. Why do you think they do not? World weary self signing off.
No, Dante’s not in everything, only things influenced by the italian language, romanticism or his actual three-part alchemical reformation led by Virgil himself.
HP & Inception are alike only as they relate to layers. Book One of Harry Potter is the most Algherian of the series (save for Lily’s eyes/Snape) because of the series of trials Harry goes through STARTING with the three-headed Dog Cerebus. Just because they have a common denominator doesn’t mean they’re alike. After all, the Divine Comedy is a HUGE piece of work.
In addition, I think most people have heard of Inferno like they’ve heard of Moby Dick or Hamlet. I haven’t read a lick of Hamlet, but I know what it’s about. I read of Mice and Men in highschool, but not of my own accord. It’s like that for most people with Inferno. Purgatorio? Paradiso? What’s that?
I understand. Just be careful not to let cynicism keep you from recognizing the great literary influences in your life INSIDE the works of other people who were, consciously or unconsciously (Rowling’s the former) influenced by said works.
I seriously think you’ll like at least some of the articles in the book, sis. It’s at least worth a flip-through.
For instance. All deals with the devil point back to Judas or Faust.
BTW that comment was not meant to be snarky. More like “I know way too many people who think Inferno is everything and it kinda bums me out.” It doesn’t mean that your ideas are invalidated by my experiences at all. If there is any criticism it is of my own confusion.
I know what you mean and I intend to curb that ignorance. All three are included in the harvard classics.
You would like Hamlet.
Get the full on every word Kenneth Branagh film version or the old Olivier version to watch. The one with Mel Gibson is okay, but don’t know about seeing it as your first Hamlet.
Are any/all of your Harvard Classics annotated? If not, how brave are you?! Whoa.
Deal. It’s on the list.
Some are notated, some are not. The ones that are only have minimal notation so as not to interfere with the original. Mostly it’s just definitions.
I will get a copy of the book. And I don’t think anyone I know would think I was cynical but you only know me from my comments, which are often difficult to nuance. I will try to be more specific.
Plus I suspect our respective educations while extensive, were different, it just stands to reason.
I was however taught to always look and question and debate, interpret and ask more questions. How do you think I got doberman as a nickname? LOL!
Were you similarly instructed? I would guess YEP.
Anyway, I hope this makes sense. I am trying to stay up until midnight and only have 12 minutes to go!
Sweet.
Yeah, I don’t even think you’re cynical, honestly. What I meant was that cynicism can creep up on all of us, and I’ve personally let it bias me against commonalities within modern art (even if it is pop art). It was more caution than criticism, more alarm bell less accusation.
I was as well, and Socrates recently reinforced my inner questioning engine. Haha.
Good work. I’m sure you made it.
Congrats on the publication! It must be cool to see your work in print.
How is your novel coming along? I saw on your Goodreads that you had Gilfoyle and Rebecca Edwards. I hope those suggestions helped you out with your work. Sometimes when people ask me to look at something, instead of offering constructive thoughts I just have a sort of book title/author “vomit” (sounds gross, sorry) because I think of too many books related to a topic!
At any rate: Good luck with your writing work!