Reading Re-Reading Harry Potter

Abstract

Readers of the first edition of this book (written in 2002) complained that I had represented the Harry Potter books as entertaining too black-and-white a view. I was fortunate in having responsive readers: not just reviewers and researchers, colleagues, students and friends, but also persons I don’t know felt compelled to write to me. Some of these respondents took issue with my allegedly paying insufficient attention to the ambiguities of the Harry Potter books, particularly apropos the representation of class, race, gender and sexuality, and the politics of values (fascist ‘evil’ and liberal ‘good’). It was averred, for instance, that my argument about the transposition of race relations on the Muggle-Magic relationship and the signification of ‘blood’ failed to take note of the constant interjections of hybridity. In other words, I hadn’t noted that Harry and Voldemort being of mixed Muggle/Magic heritage, and Hermione being purely Muggle-born, etc., constantly undermine any over-signification of ‘blood’ and counter the fascist politics of Voldemort. Similarly, it was pointed out that my argument about characterising a class of servants — the house-elves — as a biogenetically determined species didn’t account for the manner in which power relations are ambiguously distributed between the house-elves and wizards. Even with the first appearance of Dobby in Chamber of Secrets, it was clear that house-elves have at times as, if not more, powerful magic at their disposal; and later, in Deathly Hallows, Dobby’s power overcomes Voldemort and the Death Eaters.