This week on The Literary Life, Angelina and Thomas wrap up our encore series on J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter: Book 1. Angelina and Thomas begin the episode with some thoughts on their Aristotelian approach to literature as seen in this series of episodes. After sharing their commonplace quotes, they dive into their discussion of the last few chapters of the book. Some of the ideas they consider are how the entire plot is a series of symbols, alchemy and the allegory of the soul, and the figure of the “wildman” in the literary tradition. They also go over the characters of the centaurs, the significance of the unicorn, more references to Greek mythology, how Harry exemplifies the “chest” of the well-ordered man, and the great importance of the philosopher’s stone as a Christ symbol.

Visit HouseofHumaneLetters.com for classes with Angelina, Thomas, and other members of their teaching team.

To view the full show notes for this episode, including commonplace quotes, book links, and today's poem, please visit https://theliterary.life/282.

Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast and our series on J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter: Book 1. After sharing some thoughts on detective fiction as it relates to Rowling, our hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks discuss chapters 8-12. Some of the ideas they share are the following: Homeric echos and classical allusions in this book, the identity quest, the significance of characters’ names, the four houses and the bestiary, the three parts of the soul, the Christian influence on Rowling’s stories. Angelina also seeks to teach something about symbolism and structure of literature and art as seen through the Harry Potter books.

Visit HouseofHumaneLetters.com for updates on classes with Angelina, Thomas, and other members of their teaching team.

To view the full show notes for this episode including book links, quotes and today's poem, please visit https://theliterary.life/281.

This week we are back with the second part of our remix of Angelina and Thomas’ podcast series on Harry Potter: Book 1 by J. K. Rowling. This week we are covering chapters 3-7. Angelina opens the book discussion with an overview of the literary motifs used by Rowling in the Harry Potter books to help modern readers better understand these kinds of stories. One of the motifs she highlights is the identity quest and how we see Harry on a journey of the soul. She also shares some thoughts on the fairy tale “magic” of these stories in contrast to actual witchcraft as well as the symbolism used to show us that this is a fairy world.

Thomas and Angelina talk about the characters we meet in these chapters, including the symbolism of some of their names. Other ideas discussed in this episode include the importance of alchemy, the Gothic literary tradition, the layers of the quest, the rise of the fantasy genre, and so much more!

Visit HouseofHumaneLetters.com for updates on classes with Angelina, Thomas, and other members of their teaching team.

To view the full show notes for this episode, please visit https://theliterary.life/280.