Harry Potter : The Boy Whose Story We Have Always Heard

KRAJNÍK, Filip. Harry Potter : The Boy Whose Story We Have Always Heard. In Crhová, Marie; Weiss, Michaela. Silesian Studies in English 2018 : Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of English and American Studies (6th-7th September 2018). Opava: Silesian University in Opava, 2019, p. 108-115. ISBN 978-80-7510-398-7.

Basic information

• Original name: Harry Potter : The Boy Whose Story We Have Always Heard
• Name in Czech: Harry Potter : Chlapec, jehož příběh jsme vždy slýchávali
• Authors: KRAJNÍK, Filip (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Opava, Silesian Studies in English 2018 : Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of English and American Studies (6th-7th September 2018), p. 108-115, 8 pp. 2019.
• Publisher: Silesian University in Opava

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Proceedings paper
• Field of Study: 60206 Specific literatures
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Publication form: printed version "print"
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14210/19:00113528
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• ISBN: 978-80-7510-398-7
• UT WoS: 000658853200013
• Keywords (in Czech): J. K. Rowlingová; Harry Potter; dětská literatura; archetypální kritika; Jordan B. Peterson; Maps of Meaning; metamýtus
• Keywords in English: J. K. Rowling; Harry Potter; children’s literature; myth criticism; Jordan B. Peterson; Maps of Meaning; meta-myth
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

The present paper attempts to establish the reason behind the enormous popularity of the Harry Potter series – a topic which has been abundantly commented on in recent years by both experts in the fields of literature and culture, as well as professionals from the publishing industry, although with no clear consensus. Employing the concept of myth as an essentially psychological phenomenon, as presented by the Canadian psychologist Jordan B. Peterson is his Maps of Meaning (1999), the article argues both that Harry Potter is a fundamentally mythological story which strongly resonates with basic human experience of the world and that it is J. K. Rowling’s adherence to archetypal story-patterns, rather than her originality, that makes her series for readers so easy to relate to.

Links

• MUNI/A/1396/2018, interní kód MU: Name: Researching Communication in English: Paradigms, Strategies, Developments (Acronym: RCE)

Investor: Masaryk University, Category A