• Essay
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Do we ever find out what the language of instruction used at Durmstrang Institute is? At Beauxbatons it would have to be French, but although “Durmstrang” sounds German, the Durmstrang students we meet are all of Slavic ancestry as far as we know. On the one hand, German continues to be sort of a “lingua franca”… Read More
• Page Books by Steve Vander Ark About The Reader’s Guide series Welcome to the Harry Potter Lexicon Reader’s Guide series. Each Guide expands a reader’s understanding of and appreciation for the books in the Harry Potter series of books by J.K. Rowling. The commentary and annotations presented are the observations… Read More
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Steve, Bel, Paula and I will be at Prophecy this week; if you see us wave Hi! If you’re wondering why my character pages are stuck in a time warp, well, that’s why. Steve has three presentations this week: Playing in Jo’s World Spend a little time looking… Read More
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“Ah, what a tangled web we weave… Or in this case, what a tangled web Jo Rowling has woven. With one volume left to wrap up all the threads, we Harry Potter fanatics have created a list of all the sphinx-like comments, unfinished story lines, incomplete character trajectories and cryptic references to… Read More
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I’m in fact Lancashire born and bred, which is probably why I’ve always had a very soft spot for Neville, who I’m pretty sure comes from my neck of the woods (the Blackpool pier incident, the fact that his grandmother is a typical Lancashire matriach, the fact that he has a traditional Lancashire… Read More
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Love and death are major themes in J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter books. She herself has said in a recent interview in recent interview in The Tatler magazine that “My books are largely about death.” And in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, one of J.K. Rowling’s chosen spokespersons, Professor Dumbledore, impresses upon Harry that his “ability… Read More
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Luna is clearly Hermione’s mirror. I think Hermione’s rationalism, which is such an important part of the trio’s dynamic, has its downside: an unwillingness to leap before looking; a fear of the unknown. We’ve watched Hermione freeze up in just about every book because her studies haven’t provided her with the answer. Usually Ron and Harry have to pull/prod/jolly Hermione past… Read More