The Potter Scholar with Natasha Burge

The Quibbler is a fun bonus episode that will come at the end of every season. For the first Quibbler episode, my husband and I, two Potter fans, chat with my dad – who has never seen a Potter film or read a Potter book. In this episode we see what he's gleaned about the Potter phenomenon over the years and ask him some fun trivia question. Spoiler alert: he thinks Hogwarts is a type of small troll and that a Weasley is something wizards eat. Listen to hear what character he sees a picture of and describes as having “an imminently punchable face,” and wait till you hear what he thinks when I show him Dolores Umbridge - I cracked up! To finish we'll see if he is ready to dive into the world of Harry Potter for himself. https://www.thepotterscholar.comhttps://patreon.com/thepotterscholarhttps://www.instagram.com/thepotterscholar

In this episode I review Harry Potter and Imagination by leading Potter scholar Travis Prinzi. This book covers many intriguing topics, and I dive into a few of them, beginning with why fairy tales are important in our modern lives. Prinzi examines 5 fairy tale writers who came before Rowling and in whose footsteps she is following: George McDonald, G.K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle. Then, I look at why the media often denied this lineage and painted Rowling as sui generis. Discussing dehumanization as the ultimate evil, Prinzi makes the case for why Rowling depicts courage as the most important of all virtues. I think look at why Harry was perhaps on the wrong heroic path in the first-half of the series and what it was that set him right. This episode ends with my final verdict on Harry Potter and Imagination and whether or not I recommend it.https://www.thepotterscholar.comhttps://patreon.com/thepotterscholarhttps://www.instagram.com/thepotterscholar

Host Natasha Burge asks the question: does Voldemort have “a mind of metal and wheels?” She uses this phrase of Tolkien's to explore the ways in which Voldemort exemplifies the modern mindset of “the machine,” an ethos of efficiency, profit, and progress by any means necessary, an ethos of mindless consumerism that seeks utopia through technological means and ruptures our connection to tradition and roots. Natasha begins with an exploration of Voldemort's childhood and the emotional wound that forms the core of his character. In his flight from death, Voldemort is willing to transgress all limits of morality, and as he dehumanizes others he ultimately dehumanizes himself. Natasha also discusses why Dumbledore was on track to potentially being an even more fearsome villain than Voldemort. Then she explores Jacques Ellul's writing on the society of technique, in which technology is no longer a tool but a goal in itself. Ultimately, she argues that Harry is the counterpoint to the mindset of the machine. https://www.thepotterscholar.comhttps://patreon.com/thepotterscholarhttps://www.instagram.com/thepotterscholar

Host Natasha Burge follows Harry's progress through the final stage of his hero's journey, as Harry's kindness and moral courage give him the wisdom and strength to face Voldemort. This is the red stage of Harry's alchemical transformation, and we can see him drawing on all of the lessons that have transformed him over the past year. Natasha also counters criticism that Harry is a “flat” character and explores suggestions that Harry's symbolic death and rebirth at the end of every year contain religious themes. Harry follows in his mother's footsteps, learning that self-sacrificial love is the most powerful form of magic and that there are worst things in life than death. Finally, using the wisdom of initiatory myths, we can understand why Dumbledore's mentorship of Harry in the aftermath of every climactic scene is so crucial, and what it can teach us about the need for integration in our own lives. Finally, we end on a discussion of why death is at the heart of myth and why the “boring” ending of the Potter series is actually so profound. https://www.thepotterscholar.comhttps://patreon.com/thepotterscholarhttps://www.instagram.com/thepotterscholar

Host Natasha Burge discusses J.R.R. Tolkien's “On Faerie Stories” to explore four aspects of fantasy literature – fantasy, escape, recovery, and consolation – that make it such a powerful tonic in our modern lives. She discusses the despair and nihilism that spread through British society in the aftermath of WW1 and why Tolkien and C.S. Lewis believed fantasy literature could be an act of hopeful resistance. Concluding with the question “is Harry Potter a faerie story?” Natasha highlights some of the reasons why the Potter series has stood the test of time. https://www.thepotterscholar.comhttps://patreon.com/thepotterscholarhttps://www.instagram.com/thepotterscholar

Host Natasha Burge charts Harry's mythic progress as he makes a leap of faith to cross the threshold of Platform 9 and ¾ and begin his journey into the perilous realm of Hogwarts. Along the way, Harry makes friends and enemies, confronts the temptation of the Mirror of Erised, and, under the watchful eye of Dumbledore, reaches the albedo stage of his alchemical transformation. Also in this episode – discussions of character building, the trickster energy of the threshold, and the beginning of chiastic echoes that will be echoed later in the series.   

In this episode host Natasha Burge analyzes the Potter series through the lens of literary alchemy, charting Harry's spiritual transformation through the three stages of the alchemical cycle. In each book, and across the series as a whole, the challenges Harry faces are designed in such a way that they break him down, purify him, and ultimately allow him to become a hero. And as Harry is transformed, so too is the reader.https://www.thepotterscholar.comhttps://patreon.com/thepotterscholarhttps://www.instagram.com/thepotterscholar

Natasha charts Harry's progress through the hero's journey from the call to adventure to the threshold, along the way discussing the beginning of his alchemical transformation. As Harry's mundane world becomes entangled with the otherworldly, he has Hagrid to guide him, but will he be ready to cross the threshold? Also discussed is world-building, liminality, and hierophany. https://www.thepotterscholar.comhttps://patreon.com/thepotterscholarhttps://www.instagram.com/thepotterscholar

Host Natasha Burge shares her background as a writer, reader, and scholar, and asks why fantasy literature is so rich with meaning. She then offers a road map for the podcast, re-reading the Potter series with deep dive episodes on special topics and sequential episodes exploring the books through various lenses, like the hero's journey and literary alchemy.https://www.thepotterscholar.comhttps://patreon.com/thepotterscholarhttps://www.instagram.com/thepotterscholar

Follow along as host Natasha Burge explores the literary techniques, thematic elements, and philosophical insights that can be found in the Harry Potter series. This podcast is a chance to return with joy and curiosity to the magic of the books that mean so much to us. Wands out!