Harry Potter and the Conclusion of The Book 1450+

THIS IS PART XI IN A SERIES

• PART I

• PART II

• PART III

• PART IV

• PART V

• PART VI

• PART VII

• PART VIII

• PART IX

• PART X

This is the conclusion of my series Harry Potter and the History of the Book. Will I revisit Harry Potter in a book history context again on this blog? Most definitely. What I discovered as I prepared for this project was that analyzing Harry Potter through a book historical lens could easily be a lifetime’s work for a book historian. But this project is at an end. 

The project is based on lectures and learnings from my Fall 2021 course The Book 1450+ with Annette Lamb and Lydia Spotts at IUPUI. A blog is a somewhat casual and it can be easy to overlook the research bloggers do to prepare for their readers; this post will explain my process and the reasons behind the decisions I made. If you make it to the end, you’ll be rewarded with cat photos {I think having or liking cats is a general pre-req to studying library science}.

Topic Selection and problem statement

Initially I struggled with choosing a topic for this project. I liked ALL THE THINGS about book history and couldn’t decide. A week ago, in a panic I messaged my instructors with three ideas. One was ‘meh,’ one was great but resources were limited {see Harry Potter and the Book as Cultural Icon} and one was this one.

I also knew I wanted to continue the book history blog I created earlier in the semester. I wanted to continue engaging a variety of audiences in the wonders of the history of the book. I needed a subject matter that could bridge the gap between the general public and academia. As it turns out, the Harry Potter series could do just that.

Analyzing the Harry Potter series meant I would have almost too many resources to choose from but that meant I could shape the project in any way I chose, tailoring research and results to fit my concept. I worried Harry Potter was too easy, and maybe too childish. Then, as I mentioned in my introductory post to this project, I was surprised to find that the journal Book History, did not have any papers on the series. Other searches in academic papers showed that a lot of research had been done and so I was left with my overarching question: why wasn’t Harry Potter in the book history literature? As I reflected on the research we had read in class, much of it was on classics like Jane Eyre; authors like Dickens, Austen, Poe, even Tolkien appeared. Or the research was on much older books and topics like Robert Darnton’s research into the production of the Encyclopédie created between 1775 and 1800 (Darnton, 1979). While more modern topics like eReaders were included and J.K. Rowling appeared in at least two class lectures, the comprehensive reviews of more current books was not robust Also, young adult books are still working their way into being considered ‘serious’ literature. Add to that the fact that Rowling isn’t dead and her famous book series is still being remade, reprinted, and reinvented. It can be easy to research something stagnant but something still living, and breathing can be more challenging; as I realized when trying to find primary source material or an archive for Rowling. 

Liking all the things about book history meant I didn’t want to zoom my focus into just one book history topic covered in class. I needed a subject matter that would let me talk about everything I had learned. The Harry Potter series was the perfect option. While my research may have to be updated as things with its transmedia empire evolve, as well as things with its now controversial author, enough time had passed for there to be plenty of sales figures, reviews, research, and articles to form a strong basis for a project. I also needed an organized way to approach the chaotic sounding ‘all the things’ and decided that approaching the entire book cycle by partially recreating each of our course modules would provide that structure. And so, Harry Potter and the History of the Book was born. 

Statement of need for study

I’ve addressed some of this in my statement above but a big driving factor for the need to study Harry Potter and the history of the book was that, while research and scholarly articles exist about the books and its author, as well as the books’ structures and commercial viability, it hadn’t yet been brought comprehensively into the book history realm. The Harry Potter series is fun and magical but also a set of seven well-researched and well-written fiction books that have left a permanent mark on our society. Children’s books such as Alice’s Adventures Underground (Carroll, 1865) have been analyzed through a book historical lens, why not Harry Potter as well?

“In the United States, book history has been relegated to library schools and rare book collections. Step into any rare book room and you will find aficionados savoring bindings, epigones contemplating watermarks, érudits preparing editions of Jane Austen; but you will not run across any ordinary, meat-and-potatoes historian attempting to understand the book as a force in history. It is a pity for the generalist could learn a great deal from the specialists in the treasure houses of books” (Darnton, 1979, p. 2).

The need for the blog format

I took Darnton’s quote above and extended it several steps further from the [outdated term] meat-and-potatoes historian, to making book history accessible to the average reader. If readers are integral to the communications circuit, shouldn’t they be able to read and understand research that involves them? I’m a first-generation college student and it took me a decade to apply to grad school because I didn’t have enough money and didn’t think I had the right education to get in. I’m now in a position that many people can’t or won’t ever be in. Does this mean they can’t or won’t understand book history? Does that mean it’s no relevant to them? Nope! So, this is my humble attempt to break down some barriers and share my knowledge with others in a relatable way.

In addition to the need for analyzing the content I choose to review, I felt like there was also a need for this in-depth research to be presented in a casual and accessible format. Given that this subject matter hadn’t yet been presented to a formal journal like Book History, I could have written a paper for submission. But that seemed like the obvious and not-fun choice. I have also been working throughout the semester to present work that is academic and well-researched while simultaneously being approachable and relatable. With a blog I’m able to use first person and include personal connections along with a million citations. 

Description of strengths and limitations of approach

Strengths

The format I chose, the blog, allows for a casualness that is not possible in a scholarly paper. I can directly engage the audience and include personal reflections, bridging the gap between cold academia and relatability. This format also allowed for more fun when writing and a flexibility in vocabulary choices. I could write creatively because I wasn’t worried about my reputation with a peer-reviewed journal. 

The blog allowed for a freedom of length and a varied research focus. If I were writing a paper for a professional journal, I likely would have had to focus in-depth on one of the many aspects of the book cycle; with the blog I could touch upon and research all of them, which was my desire. I also had no length limitations. If research results were limited in one area, I could keep that post short but, if I had discovered a wealth of information or felt that there were many points to make on a particular topic, I could make the post longer. Had I created a website, I could have made my writing any length I wanted but people don’t often go to non-news websites for lengthy reading; people do generally expect to read when they visit a blog, and they often expect to learn something. The blog was a great space to create a casual learning environment.

This format offered an ability to include citations in non-traditional ways such as linking directly to a fanfiction database, YouTube video, and a podcast. In a paper, the links would have been relegated to the end in the citations sections and would have limited the possibility that an engaged reader would have gone on to research more on their own. The format also allowed for direct linking to topics I had covered previously, thus negating the need to repeat earlier findings; the reader was given the choice to learn more if they want or to continue reading the information at hand. 

Weaknesses

The major weakness in using a blog is that it is not a professional space. The casual writing style I chose could limit how I am perceived as a professional and whether my research is taken seriously in the field of book history. My decision to focus on a variety of topics may make it seem like I am unfocused in my work or unable to do in-depth research.

While it is also a strength, another weakness is the length of each entry. I could lengthen certain discussions, like that about the ones about book as artifact or as knowledge, but I had to keep in mind that blog readers are probably not prepared to read a 20-50 paper about one thing. As is often the case, there was a lot more research about each topic covered but the need to keep a specific type of reader engaged and willing to continue with an eleven-part series meant I had to balance brevity.

A weakness about the topic I chose is that my research had to involve resources that are not always considered professional. Since J.K. Rowling is very much a living, and active author, there wasn’t an archive of primary source material like original manuscripts or letters to editors and publishers to consult. Instead, I had to use a Twitter feed. It’s incredibly handy to have such insight into an author’s mind but I’m not sure academia has quite figured out how to deal with that yet. It also meant I was frequently consulting popular magazines and online writing that was not necessarily peer reviewed such as an opinion piece about the sexual orientation of a main character or the BBC article about Rowling’s transphobic comments. 

The time frame I was working within also presented some challenges. I frequently encountered warnings on websites for book reviews and sales figures because the content was more than ten years old. While there is still research about the Harry Potter series being done, the bulk of research and writing falls in the early 2000s and slows drastically around 2013. Currently that’s a gap of almost 9 years for a set of books and an author that are still affecting society. I had to my best to not let assumptions or guessing manifest in the writing. For instance, it would be very interesting so see how Rowling’s 2020 Twitter comments impacted readership and sales; there are many papers about segregation and oppression and lack of diversity in the series but not from a perspective that considers trans people. That left me limited on discussing the issue, I have my own opinions but couldn’t compare them with more objective research. 

Process in completing the study

         Once I had settled on the topic, I did preliminary research. When the Book History journal search came up dry, I decided to try a less conventional route. Since my topic is very much a part of pop culture, I began with a Google search for ‘harry potter’ and ‘academia’ to see what was out there. On the first page of results, I came across multiple LibGuides with books dedicated to published academic works about the series, this meant I should be able to find material in the IUPUI databases. I used Academic Search Complete because in my experience, even on searches with many results, the rate of irrelevant material is low. Besides peer reviewed journals, the database also contains book reviews and a healthy about of newspaper and magazine articles; I knew a mix of all these sources would be necessary for a contemporary research topic. The database search began with a basic search for ‘harry potter,’ limiting results to what I had full text access to. I scrolled through every page of search results (yes, every page), downloading article titles that seemed relevant to some part of the book cycle. I ended up with about 50 articles to review, many ultimately weren’t as relevant as I had initially thought but enough were close enough to get started.

            My next step was to make an outline. This is not normally part of my process, perhaps because I was trained in fine arts, I usually just gather some research materials and an idea and work things out as I go. However, I knew the sheer amount of information to get through and discussion points meant I needed to stay on track and organized, even if I did deviate occasionally as things progressed. Throughout the nine-page outline I included notes about which part of the Harry Potter series to pull from and which articles or course lesson pages had good quotes or resources. At this point I also used unconventional resources like harrypotter.fandom.com if I was having trouble pinpointing an exact character appearance or plot point. While this wouldn’t normally be considered a reliable resource, let me just tell all the academics out there that fans are very particular! I didn’t use any quotes or references from this site but instead used it to help direct the quotes I would pull from the books themselves. 

            Next, I began taking pictures and writing. I tried to use the physical resources {books} in the photos in a way that would relate to the topic at hand. To minimize the time spent laboring over photos, I did simple set ups in my apartment with my iPhone and Airdropped the images to the computer I was working on. I wrote directly in my blog’s editing interface so I could see in real time how things would look to my readers. I use a Mac and Safari which means I have spelling and grammar tools built in like Microsoft Word; that was very helpful in creating an efficient writing process. I continued researching as I was writing, re-reading articles and searching for more if I found the ones I had sourced earlier weren’t as complete as I had initially thought. For some posts, like Harry Potter and the Book as Commodity, I needed to perform more targeted searches than my first foray into Potter academia and so I always had Academic Search Complete open in a browser tab for searching in real time. I was lucky in that my topic has had so much written about that relatively simple search like ‘harry potter’ and ‘sales’ or ‘harry potter’ and ‘book burning’ quickly turned up relevant results. As a fan of the series myself I was already aware of some online resources that would be helpful such as the BBC, Rowling’s Twitter feed, Mugglenet.com, and the WizardingWorld.com. In the case of the article cited for Dumbledore’s sexual orientation, I had first read that in a media literacy course a couple years back and so I was able to return to old notes to correctly search for the resource.

            To feel a sense of accomplishment that would keep me working, each posted was published as I finished it. Occasionally I would go back to update something but for the most part I considered them done after publishing. I thoroughly enjoyed spending so much time with these books and this research and there is a lot more research still needs to be done. I am very likely to do more of it myself but in the event that someone else would like to pick it up, I’ve listed some of the questions I couldn’t or didn’t get to below. 

Lingering questions

• How do we analyze books and authors in the age of social media? How do we work with these new types of primary sources and an ever-changing media environment?  

• How do we analyze and reevaluate book history in a transmedia environment? {I only came across one article about transmedia; though it’s important to remember this wasn’t the main focus of my research}

• How have Rowling’s transphobic Twitter comments and subsequent interviews impacted her readership and sales of her books? –Relatedly, how do Rowling’s own life experiences effect these comments and her writing?

• Has cancel culture impacted Rowling’s iconic image and that of her books?

• What are the positives of the criticism to Harry Potter and its lack of diversity? For instance, in a Nerdette podcast interview, Tomi Adeyemi mentions loving the series but not seeing herself or her culture’s mythology represented, and so Adeyemi created the Legacy of Orïsha series which was released to great fanfare. 

• What impact has historical marginalia had on its fictional representations? Why hasn’t this been studied before?

• How can we use the ability of art history to {somewhat} separate the actions of an artist from their work for books with problematic authors so that we can hold multiple truths at the same time? 

• What is the effect of social media and influencers on the cultural perception of books and specific topics surrounding books? How does this also impact the book as commodity?

“Harry’s journey has allowed us to believe in magic—not just the magic of flying brooms, unicorns, and people being turned into ferrets or teapots into tortoises, but also the magic that we can find in new discoveries, in friendships, in good people working together to make the world better, and in ourselves. The books continue to resonate because they give readers a hope for magic in the world and within themselves, hope that we can always do better, and hope that good will ultimately win out” (Kolongowski, 2017, p. 5).

Thank you!

Many thanks to my partner who made sure I was fed the entire semester and had clean clothes to wear to work the morning after a long night of reading and/or writing {he’s also just a genuinely good human}.

Thanks also too…

Dr. Livingston, my faithful study buddy. She miraculously managed to behave this entire time and made sure I left my computer or the study couch from time-to-time.

To Mr. Bingley who is just the sweetest and a great food alarm clock and didn’t get too sick while I was working.

Citations

Carroll, L. (1865). Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass. Signet Classic.

Darnton, R. (1979). The business of enlightenment: A publishing history of the Encyclopédie 1775-1800. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Kolongowski, J. (2017). Life lessons Harry Potter taught me: Discover the magic of friendship, family, courage, and love in your life. Ulysses Press.

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

Harry Potter and the Book as Reader Experience

THIS IS PART X IN A SERIES

• PART I

• PART II

• PART III

• PART IV

• PART V

• PART VI

• PART VII

• PART VIII

• PART IX

There are many ways to approach the book as reader experience. If the author kicks off the book cycle, it is logical to with the reader (Darnton, 1982). For what is a book without its reader; a doorstop maybe?

To give the most basic definition, reader experience is anything and everything that relates to how readers interact with the text they’re reading. Do they read aloud or quietly to themselves? Do they keep a diary about what they read? Or do they highlight, mark, and take notes directly inside the book (Lamb, 2021)?

I covered the general reader experience in more depth in my posts about video games as a new form of reader experience and I discuss some of what readers will learn from the Harry Potter series in the Book as Knowledge post in this series, fanfiction in the Book as Intellectual Property, and the some of the transmedia reader experience is talked about in the Book as Commodity. So today I’m going to tackle an aspect of reader experience that’s particular to one specific book in the series: marginalia.

Ahh oh no, I threw an incredibly academic work at you! Not really. An easy way to remember marginalia is in the word: margin. Marginalia is writing, doodling, etc in the margins of text. It could also include names written inside covers, bookplates, or items put inside a book. Basically it’s anything added to a book by the reader (Lamb, 2021). From what I gather, marginalia is about as old as books and sharing information. An early human would paint on a cave wall and someone else would come along and paint next to it. And so an interactive history was created of how people interpreted the landscape. In a 2013 studies, authors McHatton and May suggest that marginalia makes the margins of a text a transformative space. The authors construct a poem out of the marginalia they find a textbook and discuss its importance in helping the student that wrote it reach understanding about what they were reading. The margins are where learning journeys happen, where you can examine what you know and don’t know, and challenge the status quo of the text in private (McHatton and May, 2013).

Image of marginalia in the Book of Hours at The British Library

If you’re looking for examples of historic marginalia, just search ‘marginalia’ in the digitized manuscript collection at The British Library. In the catalog record for the Book of Hours, use of St. Omer, it’s noted that this volume is known for its unusual marginalia. Things are indeed interestesting {see photo above}. A strange and colorful plant-like border surrounds the grid that is the actual text. Stemming from the border are human-animal hybrid creatures. From this we learn that marginalia can not only help understand a text but also enhance and decorate it.

Librarian notes in Lancelot-Grail (The Prose Vulgate Cycle) at The British Library

Before even reaching the text of Lancelot-Grail (The Prose Vulgate Cycle) at The British Library, the reader encounters notes that expand upon the text of the book {see the two images above}. There are various librarian notes dating from 1894-1965 with details about the book title, catalog numbers and what appear to be notes about related items in the library’s collection. Marginalia can also tell us a story about where the book has been and who it belonged to previously. Which brings us back to Harry Potter.

Image of the fictional marginalia in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Rowling, 2005, p. 189)

I admit, I was a little taken aback that our class module on Marginalia didn’t include fictional marginalia because Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the first thing that jumped to my mind as I began learning about it. Then I tried to do a project about it and realized it might be with good reason, there aren’t many examples of fictional marginalia out there. I’m not going to give everything away because I’ll still probably do a post about other marginalia represented in fiction but suffice it to say that my classmates and I only came up with 5 examples, the Half-Blood Prince being one of them. Also, many articles and essays about marginalia hone in on a specific book or time period, making it difficult to analyze things more broadly. Marginalia in fiction is often based on many, often nameless examples, not just one thing. So let’s discuss how Harry has his own reader experience within our reader experience.

Note-like marginalia in Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna Canon Medicinae, Book 1, Fen I at The British Library.

Like the notes on the margins of the manuscript image above, this is how Harry encounters his marginalia.

“To his annoyance he saw that the previous owner had scribbled all over the pages, so that the margins were as black as the printed portions…It was really very irritating, having to try to decipher the directions under all the stupid scribbles of the previous owner, who for some reason had taken issue with the order to cut up the sopophorous bean and had written in the alternative instruction…” (Rowling, 2005, p. 189).

Harry is annoyed, and many of us can relate to this feeling, of how poorly the previous owner treated their textbook. But, when cutting the beans prove difficult for Harry, he changes his mind and follows the instructions shown two images above. Suddenly he’s doing better than Hermione! Because someone used the margins of the book to help them understand the text, Harry is able to learn from a student who came many years before him. Harry excels in his Potions classes until…

“‘SECTUMSEMPRA!’ bellowed Harry from the floor, waving his wand wildly.
Blood spurted from Malfoy’s face and chest as though he ha been slashed with an invisible sword” (Rowling, 2005, p.522).

The half-blood prince had not only left things he learned about the potions recipes but also thoughts, musings, and spells such as the one above. A textbook might be an authoritative resource but the marginalia is a reader interpretation and subject to errors and faults, and evil.

I attempted to find other examples of evil marginalia but it doesn’t seem to be a hot topic of scholarly research. So I took to Google, as one does. A search for ‘evil marginalia’ was not as exciting as it sounds. I did find a blog post about humorous and absurd marginalia— there is a skeletal image, but that’s about as evil as it gets. A project at Bryn Mawr goes so far as to describe some marginalia as profane but that’s it. Then, about three pages into the search result I struck gold leaf…kind of {pun intended}. Apparently medieval killer rabbit marginalia is a thing and it was written about by the venerable British Library.

“Vengeful, merciless and brutally violent... yes that’s right, we’re talking about medieval bunnies” (British Library, 2021, first paragraph).

If you’ve seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you’ve seen a fictional adaptation of these mediEVIL bunnies. Animals and rabbits were not uncommon in marginalia at the time but in the late 1100s things turned dark. Apparently, book margins were a place where the world could be turned upside down and so, naturally, the normally docile rabbit began to pick up scepters, swords, and bows and unleashed their pent up frustrations on the humans inhabiting the margins with them. The rabbits can also be seen with axes, waging wars against humans and other animals, and…baking cookies (British Library, 2021)? I suppose the moral of the margins is that not all doodles are innocent.

Was the curse in the Half-Blood Prince based on these medieval bunnies? Possibly. We do know that Rowling definitely did her research when it came to historical representations in her novels. The major point that Rowling drives home is that marginalia not only gives the reader a chance to directly engage with a text through note-taking, it also provides a space where readers can interact with each other across time. For better or worse, marginalia enhances and expands upon the reader experience by sharing interpretation that came before.

Title page from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince featuring the textbook belonging to the half-blood prince.

Citations

The British Library. (2021, June 21). Medieval killer rabbits: when bunnies strike back. Medieval Manuscripts Blog. https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2021/06/killer-rabbits.html

Darnton, R. (1982). What is the history of books? Daedalus, Vol. 111.

Lamb, A. (2021). The book as reader experience, course reader for The Book 1450+ at IUPUI.

McHatton, P. A., & May, S. (2013). Moving Margins: Using Marginalia as a Tool for Critical Reflection. International Review of Qualitative Research, 6(1), 143–147. https://doi.org/10.1525/irqr.2013.6.1.143

Rowling, J.K. (2005). Harry Potter and the half-blood prince. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic.

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

Harry Potter and the Book as Cultural Icon

THIS IS PART IX IN A SERIES

• PART I

• PART II

• PART III

• PART IV

• PART V

• PART VI

• PART VII

• PART VIII

Ooof, I’m actually somewhat dreading this post because there is so much to that could be covered! With the amount of sales the Harry Potter series in all its forms has seen, as well as the fact that it continues to be published, in many forms and languages, 24 years after its initial release, Harry Potter is clearly iconic. Heck, one of the work study students I hired this year included being a fan of the series on her resume and now I’m considering adding my own Hogwarts house {Gryffindor} to my LinkedIn profile.

As many positives as can be drawn from this popular and enjoyable series, icons aren’t beloved by everyone. Sometimes the things that make something popular are because it sparks controversy. I have given a lot of attention to the good things in Harry Potter: what we can learn about teaching, life, and human history; J.K. Rowling’s rags to riches story; fan fiction; and sales revenue. I think it’s time to get a little bit darker and also look at how Harry Potter is an icon that some people just love to hate.

As of February 8, 2001, the Harry Potter series was topping ALA’s list of challenged and banned books. PUblisher’s weekly also reports that books in the series first entered the banned books ranks in 1999; so just shortly after their US debut (Maughan, 2001). Challenged books are ones that receive "a formal written complaint filed with a library or school about a book's content or appropriateness" (Maughan, 2001, fifth paragraph). The numbers surrounding challenged books are never quite accurate because the ALA estimates that only about 25% of challenges are actually reported (Maughan, 2001). Keep in mind that a challenge does not mean that a book is actually removed from the shelves; sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t, that decision is often left up to a library director or other governing board.

And, if that formal written complaint doesn’t get the job done and you really hate the book, you can always burn it…

Book burning is just one form of libricide which is the intentional destruction of books and libraries (Lamb, 2021). For many people, the idea of book burning conjure up images of Nazis, and they were certainly infamous for the their book burning but the purposeful destruction of knowledge has a long history. It’s a form of oppression, attempting to remove items of cultural importance that share knowledge of a people or society or empower free thinking in an oppressive state. In Burning Books, Haig A. Bosmajian discusses the magic and power thought by civilizations dating back to ancient times to be inherent in written knowledge (Bosmajian, 2006). When describing why groups such as the Nazis burn books, Bosmajian says “the allure, the magic and power of the public fiery ritual is is much more gratifying to the book burner who is interested in displaying the utter destruction of the book and author…Even a child is attracted to the flame, aware that something fearful and dangerous, something enticing is taking place with finality” (Bosmajian, 2006, p. 24). Bosmajian (2006) goes on to explain that many cultures saw fire as the best way to destroy evil and if you really feel a book is evil, drawing the connection to needing to burn it is not that difficult to do.

"It was supposed to be a local church gathering of about 500 parishioners to usher in the new year…But when congregants ceremonially fueled a bonfire with copies of Harry Potter and other books, the December 30, 2001, event drew a far greater response” (Ishizuka, 2002, first paragraph).

If you think book burning is a thing of the past, it’s not. In 2003 Blaise Cronin reported two other book fires at churches that included books from the Harry Potter series, one fire also included The Complete Works of William Shakespeare and the other included Disney movies (Cronin, 2003). Book Riot does a weekly round of book censorship and as recent as November 12 reported a Virginia school board suggested burning books, though Harry Potter was not on the list (Book Riot). Why is the Harry Potter series so often subjected to censorship, banning, or worse? Commonly reported reasons are that it teaches witchcraft and spells, that it’s antifamily, and that it teaches children that lying and revenge are OK (Cannon and Cataldo, 2001).

As awful as book burning is and as much as these reports likely make you cringe, it’s not all bad. Interestingly, Cronin suggests that book burning actually helps to fight censorship. “The irony is that firebrands throughout history have probably done much more in the long run against censorship than for their own causes” (Cronin, 2003, Fires Fight Censorship). Fires cause outrage amongst those who disagree and help solidify anti-censorship sentiment (Cronin, 2003). And there’s probably also something to that old adage that any attention is good attention. A public fire makes the thing you are trying to destroy more interesting which in turn is likely to increase sales and readership.

Image of a Pride flag hanging outside a house.

But wait there’s more!

True to form with the Harry Potter series, this book as a cultural icon is not all doom and gloom. Rowling gave us an iconic gay character in the Hogwarts headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Rowling famously didn’t admit Dumbledore was gay until after the books were published; which, of course, sparked its own controversy {the late admission, not the gay part…well, also the gay part} (interview transcript is preserved on LeakyCauldron.org). Some readers rejoiced, some felt like it was too little too late, some felt like it was yet another reason to burn the books, and some said ‘who cares?’ But this does matter. Dumbledore was a belovéd character; I spent a week disbelieving and mourning his death in real life when I first finished The Half-Blood Prince. The fact that fans learned he was gay after they finished the books means that they loved, trusted, and mourned this character as a human; they normalized him in their own way and enjoyed reading about him. The inclusion of queer characters has been on the rise in the last decade plus but at the time of this admission, there weren’t many role models out there (Harris, 2007). Or the ones that did exist were stereotypically gay waving hands awkwardly and eyeing anything male that moved. In Dumbledore Rowling gave the world an iconic character who could [mostly] competently run a large organization, teach, care for and look out for others, and was the most powerful person in his world all while being gay. Dumbledore’s sexual orientation isn’t his defining characteristic, it’s just one part of who he is and that matters.

Citations

Bosmajian, H. (2006). Burning books. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.

Cannon, A., & Cataldo, A. L. (2001). Muggles vs. the wizards. U.S. News & World Report, 130(20), 28.

Cronin, B. (2003). Burned Any Good Books Lately? Library Journal, 128(3), 48.

Harris, M. (2007, October 30). Dumbledore’s outing: Why it matters. EW.Com. https://ew.com/article/2007/10/30/dumbledores-outing-why-it-matters/

Ishizuka, K. (2002). Harry Potter Book Burning Draws Fire. School Library Journal, 48(2), 27.

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

Harry Potter and the Book as Knowledge

THIS IS PART VIII IN A SERIES

• PART I

• PART II

• PART III

• PART IV

• PART V

• PART VI

• PART VII

The book as knowledge seems like possibly the easiest way to understand a book. We all likely learned from textbooks and printed readings in school so, of course, duh, books contain knowledge. But, what types of knowledge are books imparting to their readers? And wait, hang on, the Harry Potter series is fiction, it’s all made up, how does that contain knowledge?! Well, let me explain…

In Foucault at School, Shira Wolosky (2013) argues that through the variety of teaching and disciplinary methods presented at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry {Dolores Umbridge, Professor Snape, Professor Trelawney, Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin} readers learn about the way to approach teaching and learning. Through other, more metaphorical lessons children also learn about slavery or indentured servitude and the historic oppression of women {via house elves} and oppressive governments (Wolosky, 2013). In the season three finale of Monstrum, Dr. Emily Zarka (2021) mentions how werewolf and belovéd professor Remus Lupin is a stand in for the social ostracization many sick people felt in the early years of the AIDS epidemic. Rowling’s fictional world mirrors our own and human history, allowing readers to explore both the good and bad in a safe fictional form internalizing and interpreting right and wrong for themselves.

Andrea Bixler suggests that teachers can learn about teaching through the books as well. Bixler points to tried and true teaching methods that are either well-received or fail in the books providing teachers reading the stories opportunities to reflect on their own practices. We see professor Snape interrogate Harry about potions in Harry’s first every potions lesson. While questioning students is good, doing so without them having any prior learning experience is not good at all. Active learning is another great teaching method but when applied by Gilderoy Lockhart via some pixies and approximately zero instruction, things are not great at all (Bixler, 2011; Rowling, 1998 & 1999).

Of course, not every lesson to be learned from a book is taught by teachers and magical classes.

“For 12-year-olds {Muggles and wizards alike}, the world starts to become strange. Your parents start to become real, flawed people, your friends become people you no longer recognize, and you don’t want to look in the mirror most days. No matter how tangled things became in real life, I could always find my friends again, where I left them, at Hogwarts” (Kolongowski, 2017, p. 2).

Jill Kolongowski (2017) dedicated the entirety of her first published book to the lessons about friends and family that readers can take from the Harry Potter series. This is, perhaps, where fiction excels. Fiction allows readers to live other lives; encounter people, creatures and circumstances that may or can never exist for them in the real world. Seeing friends and family portrayed with both positive and negative characteristics and watching how the characters respond gives readers a basis for resolving their own life challenges. Through a series of chapters named after spells from the books, Kolongowski explores everything from community and belonging to the dangers of power and laughter during the worst of times. As I write this post, during the holidays during a pandemic in a city that is often shamed for the sheer number of unhoused people that live here I think about Kolongowski’s statement that “Hogwarts… brings peace through food” (Kolongowski, 2017, p.13). In a relatively simple way, by showing Harry’s excitement over the feasts in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, Rowling helps readers who always had a roof over their heads and full bellies an understanding of the importance of safety and food to those that are lacking. Readers in less fortunate circumstances are provided with a fictional situation they can relate to (Rowling, 1998-2007).

Kolongowski (2017) also points out how the books are really not very funny or lighthearted. We have comic relief through the Weasley twins Fred and George and moments of true fun at Quidditch matches and in Dumbledore’s candy inspired office passwords. What Rowling has done for readers is woven fun throughout thousands of pages of drama and challenges, teaching readers “that laughter will always come back again” (Kolongowski, 2017, p. 139).

As much as the books contain darkness, we also cannot avoid the lessons of sexism between the pages. The smartest character, who saves her friends again and again and again, is not the heroine of the saga. Hermione Granger provides plenty of assists but it’s Harry Potter who’s name is in the series’ title and Harry Potter who ultimately defeats the dark wizard. Hermione is not only book smart but also possesses an emotional intelligence that makes her a fierce friend (Kolongowski, 2017). While I wish it was a female, BIPOC, trans, or non-binary wizard that got their own book series, or that Hermione performed the last spell that brought about Voldemort’s end, that doesn’t mean she isn’t teaching us all along. “From Hermione we can remind ourselves that we need to listen to women… We need to trust that women are smart and capable…Thank god for insufferable know-it-alls” (Kolongowski, 2017, p. 155).

While Hermione is quite possibly the embodiment of knowledge within the Harry Potter series, readers are also getting an education through the history and cultural references embedded within the world itself.

Historical image of a mandrake from The Sorcerer’s Companion

The knowledge hidden within Harry Potter

I think that Rowling’s strength lies within the history and mythology she has littered the pages of the series with. Similar to the wizard students we are reading about each book has something new to learn about our world with each turn of the page. From hippogriffs and mandrakes to the sorcerer’s stone and professor Lupin, there are endless searches that will turn up historical results from the content of the series.

Kronzek and Kronzek have a 271 page book to help readers understand some of the history and mythology that lurks within Harry Potter’s pages; and that only get us to the fourth book, Goblet of Fire since The Sorcerer’s Companion was published in 2001. I’m going to discuss just a few but there’s a proper citation below for anyone wanting to learn more.

Herbology and plants

While we would call the study of plant botany, not herbology, this is an enduring field of study for humans. The first know book about uses of plants is from China in 2800 BCE and examining plants effect on humans, both good and bad, has been ongoing ever since (Kronzek and Kronzek, 2001). Plant fact and lore plays a central role in Rowling’s series, both through Herbology and Potions classes and plant questions are among the first things readers encounter at Hogwarts. “‘Potter!’ said Snape suddenly. ‘What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?’” (Rowling, 1998, p. 137). Readers will have to do a bit of research for that answer but right away we learn that plants are going to be important at this school. One standout plant is the mandrake. In the books {and movies} it cries and can knock people out (Rowling, 1999). Mandrakes in real life don’t have faces but rather a “long, pointed root” which can “grow three to four feet long and is forked like a carrot grown in rocky soil” (Stewart, 2009, p. 105). They are in the nightshade family and were used as sedatives, so the fainting as a response to encountering one is close to fact (Stewart, 2009). They were also often depicted as plant people with faces as can be seen in the image above and so Rowling gave us a bit of history in its depiction in Chamber of Secrets.

Alchemy and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Rowling throws history in our face from the start with the first book in the series. Alchemy was the study of turning common metals into gold. The practice was based on art found in Egypt and as stories evolved over time, there was special stone that would be able to perform this as well as create the Elixir of Life which, like in the book, would grant one immortality. Nicholas Flamel was, in fact, a medieval alchemist and belief in the stone was widespread at this time so it makes sense that this character and the stone would be included in a magical saga (Kronzek and Kronzek, 2001).

Remus Lupin

One of my favorite nuggets of history and mythology Rowling included was a puzzle piece that I completely missed on my first reading of the Prisoner of Azkaban: Professor R. J. Lupin (1999). Romulus and Remus were brothers suckled by a she-wolf who would found the city of Rome when they grew up. in a disagreement over which hill was the best one to found Rome on, Remus was killed by his brother (wikipedia). In case that wolfish reference was enough, Rowling also gave this professor a last name based on the Latin name for wolves: Canis lupus (wikipedia). A man with a wolfish name…man-wolf…werewolf <— ahh, there is it!

If we were all a bit more like Hermione and spent time studying the details in Rowling’s texts, we could certainly learn a lot.

Further research

There is a lot of content out there for anyone that is interested in doing further research about how the Harry Potter series has influenced a variety of academic fields. One fun one is this Ologies interview with a chemistry professor who works spells into her class.

Citations

Bixler, A. (2011). What We Muggles Can Learn about Teaching from Hogwarts. Clearing House, 84(2), 75–79. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/10.1080/00098655.2010.507825

Kolongowski, J. (2017). Life lessons Harry Potter taught me: Discover the magic of friendship, family, courage, and love in your life. Ulysses Press.

Kronzek, A.Z. and Kronzek, E. (2001). The sorcerer’s companion: A guide to the magical world of Harry Potter. Broadway Books.

Rowling, J.K. (1999). Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic Press.

Rowling, J.K. (1999). Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic Press.

Rowling, J.K. (1998). Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone. Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Press.

Stewart, A. (2009)/ Wicked plants: The weed that killed Lincoln’s mother & other botanical atrocities. Algonquin Book of Chapel Hill.

Wolosky, S. (2014). Foucault at School: Discipline, Education and Agency in Harry Potter. Children’s Literature in Education, 45(4), 285–297. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/10.1007/s10583-013-9215-6

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

Harry Potter and the Book as Commodity and as Print Culture and beyond

THIS IS PART VII IN A SERIES

• PART I

• PART II

• PART III

• PART IV

• PART V

• PART VI

Given the amount of success the Harry Potter franchise has had, it not too difficult to imagine the books as a commodity. Just to be sure we’re on the same page. {pun intended} let’s define commodity:

1. an article of trade or commerce, especially a product as distinguished from a service.

2. something of use, advantage, or value. (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/commodity)

My professor included this great quote from Trish Travis to get our minds thinking about the book as commodity {the original paper is no longer accessible so I will cite my course reader here}: “separate (yet inseparable} from their lives as texts, books live for us as commodities, as a specific kind of for-profit media form within a saturated communications environment. Yet thinking about the book as a commodity, as a good that is good for thinking, does not come naturally” (Lamb, 2021, p.1).

I think the easiest way to consider a book a commodity especially in terms of such a popular series as Harry Potter, is to think about the sales. Yes, the stories are belovéd but all that love equals a lot of money for publishers, booksellers, toy makers, movie studios; all the businesses tied to getting the book and related products into our hands, or making us want to buy those items. Related to the book as commodity is the book as print culture. Print culture in general terms relates to how the way a book is produced and presented affects the society that receives it. I’ll look at both of these things in this post.

“Books, movies, even a theme park: The boy wizard's greatest trick is generating sales” (Bulik, 2007, p. 1)

Every Teacher Librarian issue with a bestseller list between the years of 1998 and 2007 that I was able to find on the Academic Search Complete database had at least one Harry Potter book listed. The tallies listed in Bulik’s article Harry Potter, the $15 Billion Man are staggering:

• $390 million in advertising sales, the same as Burger King and Apple for the same year. Bulik notes that most of the advertising was for items related to the books because the books “mostly sell themselves” (Bulik, 2007, p. 1).

• Rowling had a movie deal with Warner Bros. by the time the books were published in the US and the movie studio was involved with Mary GrandPré’s illustrations for the US editions (Rowling, 1998). Bulik estimates DVD sales of the movies at over $1 billion in 2007.

• Packaged items, like the t-shirt and tie pictured above, as well as chocolate frogs, and Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans were $11.8 million

• Book sales were at $9 billion just after the seventh book’s release (Bulik, 2007).

That’s honestly an inconceivable amount of money and the numbers are only increasing, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, one of the latest version of the series {the Minalima edition} is listed eighth on Bookshop.org’s November 2021 bestseller list. The books have literary merit but also a serious amount of financial cred. At 24 years old, the series has built itself quite the fan base and each new edition {with a new cover design to help it “sell itself”} has a built-in consumer market among those who want to collect it, gift their friends the series in their house colors, or spread the love to the little ones in their lives.

As I mentioned when examining Harry Potter as author work, Bloomsbury paid a meager $1960 for the Philosopher’s Stone manuscript, and the editor famously told Rowling not to quit her day job (Harmon, 2003). According to a Forbes article from 2002, Rowling faired better with Scholastic in the US where editor Arthur A. Levine apparently loved it from the start. Scholastic would pay $105,000 for the rights to print in the US, which was apparently about ten times higher than average. It seems worth it consider the book sold 23 million copies upon it’s debut (no author, Forbes). “…the series proved to publishers that young audiences are ‘not just willing to read a book, but would follow the stories they loved the end of the earth’” (Matthews, 2020, p.120). Here we see the crossover between commodity and print culture. The publisher is out to sell books but no matter how it’s presented or advertised, if it’s a bad story and readers don’t like it, it’s not going to become a commodity or have a lasting impact on culture.

Image of a Chocolate Frog box and Wizard Trading card; two real-life items created from commodities listed within the Harry Potter series.

Commodity within Harry Potter

The reason there are packaged items to reach astronomical sales numbers in our world is because those same items {Chocolate Frogs, Wizard Trading Cards, Fizzing Whizbees, to name a few} is because they exist in Harry’s world. It’s a world of many things but one where money matters. We know Ron is poor and Harry was left a small fortune by his parents (Rowling, 1998). After winning the Triwizard Tournament, Harry donates his winnings to the Weasley twins Fred and George so they can begin their own candy commodity company (Rowling, 2000). But, if we’re focusing specifically on books as commodities, consider the fact that one of the few places we get a description of in our first visit to Diagon Alley is Flourish and Blotts (Rowling, 1998).

“They bought Harry’s school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these” (Rowling, 1998, p. 80).

That last sentence really clinches the book as commodity in the wizard world. The bookseller is doing such a great job of selling interesting titles that even a non-reader would want them. Booksellers, as we know from Mr. Darnton, booksellers are integral a key component of books as commodities and integral to the book cycle. In fact, we meet Charles Joseph Panckouke a publisher/bookseller on page 17 of Darnton’s 617 page story of a book, The Business of Enlightenment, we meet Panckouke another 30 times according to the index and some of Panckouke’s letters are reprinted in the books appendix (1979). In contrast, paper is cited 12 times. That’s right, the bookseller is mentioned more than twice as often as the material the book was printed on. The only conclusion we can draw is that the book as a product is a very important component of its existence. Rowling also recognizes this importance and we reconvene at Flourish and Blotts in The Chamber of Secrets; this time it gets its own chapter title. “‘We’ll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your schoolbooks,’ said Mrs. Weasley “ (Rowling, 1999, p. 57). Going to the bookstore is a staple of preparing for the new school year at Hogwarts and readers get the sense that books would have a hard time existing in the wizard world without the likes of Flourish and Blotts.

Image of a tabletop platen press; a type of letterpress machine.

The Book As Print Culture

If booksellers get the books into the hands of readers, print culture is about the form those books take and the impact the printed word has on the reader and the culture at large. When thinking about the book as print culture, you can thing about a book’s, and by association printing’s, impact on “communications and systems of authority, orality and literacy, impact of printing, reading authorship control and censorship, and copyright” (Lamb, 2021). Essentially, print culture is a lot of things but since the booksellers, who are looking at books as a form of commerce, are important to getting print culture to readers, I thought representing these two parts of the book cycle together made sense.

Let’s consider the importance of printed books for a moment. Before printing arrived in Europe in the mid-1400s books were handwritten and took a lot of time to make. The old adage “time is money” is true, if a book took a long time to make it cost a lot of money so only the rich had books and just about everyone else was illiterate an bookless. When I was assisting with print history lectures at San Francisco Center for the Book, the Studio Director Chad Johnson used to say “consider Europe 500 years before 1450. The rulers and borders were different but the technology was not too different at all. Now consider the world 500 years after Gutenberg innovated the printing press…we’re developing rocket science because we’re only a decade away from putting a man on the moon!” A bit of history is glossed over in that quote but suffice it to say, the printed word was very important. A lot of people complained about the Church but Martin Luther was one of the first to have access to a press print his complaints in plain German and kick off the Reformation (Johnson, n.d. but also all the time).

What’s Harry Potter’s impact? The Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (2001) “many adults seem to be rejoicing in the fact that the Harry Potter books have brought the pleasures of book reading to a new generation of young readers…(Comber and Nixon, p.746). On the next page a librarian states that they like the books because “they have lured children from computer screens to books, has enticed boys from non-fiction to fiction…and has gotten families communicating about the books and wider issues…”(Nicola, 2001, p. 747). These quotes are not unlike some of my own encounters with the books. I devoured them and they kept me reading for pleasure (and from wasting all my tips at the bar) through my undergraduate years. Also, my mother ran daycare out of the house growing up and one of the girls she babysat wasn’t the biggest fan of reading but one day mentioned she like the Harry Potter books. To keep the girl interested in reading, my mother challenged her to a reading race (my mother can read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in a day). They talked about those books every weekend for years creating a fond memory around printed matter.

Of course we cannot forget that the Harry Potter series is now a transmedia one expanding beyond the books to movies, digital works, an interactive digital realm and video games (Garcia, 2017). According to USA Today, the entire series was released digitally in March 2012 via Pottermore {now the Wizarding World} (Clark, 2012). The digital realm for Harry Potter also includes a confusingly named J.K. Rowling Archive featuring additions and explanations to the popular stories about everything from wand cores and magical laws to vampires and patrons charms. The release of the books in digital form doesn’t appear to have slowed it print popularity, especially knowing that both Scholastic and Bloomsbury continue to re-release the titles.The variety of ways to interact with the stories makes them incredibly accessible regardless of your reading age, level, or format of preference. The books’ popularity is ongoing and more studies need to be done but I have a hunch that having Harry Potter in print, digital, or whatever comes after, will continue to impact the lasting impression they have on society.

Citations

Bulik, B. S. (2007). Harry Potter, the $15 Billion Man. Advertising Age, 78(28), 12–13.

By Cindy Clark with wire reports. (n.d.). Now on sale: Harry Potter digital books. USA Today.

Comber, B. and Nixon, H. The Harry Potter phenomenon. (2001). Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44(8), 750.

Darnton, R. (1979). The business of enlightenment: A publishing history of the Encyclopédie 1775-1800. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Harmon, M. B. (2003). J.K. Rowling: The Real Life Wizard Behind Harry Potter. Biography, 7(9), 82–85.

Harry Potter And The Triumph Of Scholastic. (2002, May 9). Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/2002/05/09/0509harrypotter.html?sh=1fb2c8f356f7

Lamb, A. (2021). The book as print culture. Course reader from The Book 1450+ at IUPUI.

Lamb, A. (2021). The book as commodity. Course reader from The Book 1450+ at IUPUI.

Matthews, C. (2020). J.K. Rowling. TIME Magazine, 195(9/10), 120.

Rowling, J.K. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic.

Rowling, J.K. (1999). Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic Press.

Rowling, J.K. (1998). Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone. Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Press.

Nicola, R. (2001). Returning to reading with Harry Potter. (2001). Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44(8), 750.

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

Harry Potter and the Book as Intellectual Property

THIS IS PART VI IN A SERIES

• PART I

• PART II

• PART III

• PART IV

• Part V

As mentioned in the image above, intellectual property is a tangible creation of the mind. If a great idea lives in your head, it’s not intellectual property and can’t be protected by copyright laws. If that is idea is given a physical manifestation, like, say, the 16 pounds that comprise the seven books in the Harry Potter series, then that is intellectual property (copyright.gov).

“Copyright laws emerged out of necessity when the earliest printing presses were introduced into the book trade” (Ng, 2012, p.531). The first ever copyright law is known as the Statute of Anne, dating back to 1710, and copyright law has continually expanded around the world ever since (Ng, 2012). A major component of copyright law is to protect someone’s ideas so that another person cannot pass them off as their own and profit from them. It’s important to remember that copyright isn’t eternal. In the US, works with known authors have a copyright that is the length of the author’s life plus 70 years (copyright.gov). This means that, eventually, someone could reprint or remake the Harry Potter series in its entirety without violating the law, but that will be a long time from now. It’s important to remember that copyright expiration isn’t a bad thing. “The knowledge commons is enriched with the expiration of the property right”… (Ng, 2012, p. 561). There are also exception to copyright laws such as Fair Use which allows some borrowing and adaptation of copyrighted work within certain parameters.

Fair use is what I will examine in this post, focused on a very specific offshoot of the Harry Potter series: fan fiction.

Image of the cover os Rosencrantz & Gildenstern are Dead

“Fan fiction, generally speaking, is a work created by a writer set within the world of a previously created franchise” (Chatelain, 2012, p. 199).

Fan fiction reimagines parts of a beloved story and creates new plots and characters. A work that uses dragons is not necessarily The Hobbit fanfic simply because it uses a concept and creature J.R.R. Tolkien popularized. However if the prose has the dragon living in Middle Earth and meeting hobbits, that would be fan fiction. Fan fictions uses enough parts of the original created world so that readers can understand what is taking place (Ng, 2012).

You have perhaps heard of fan fiction or fanfic but perhaps you think you haven’t read it? I’m willing to bet you have at least encountered it before. There’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Rosencrantz & Gildenstern are Dead, heck even the book on my nightstand right now: Little Thieves, is fan fiction because it retells a Brothers Grimm story reusing characters and settings. The important thing to note about these particular examples though is that they don’t violate copyright laws because all the original works they are based on are old enough to be out of copyright protection. With Harry Potter fan fiction things are more controversial when it comes to copyright.

Fans of stories create fan fiction for a variety of reasons, some just want to continue enjoying something they loved. Others might include more diverse characters and storylines to represent themselves and those like them in a popular universe. The primary goal of fan fiction is to provide more entertainment for other fans. While some fan fiction might be published for sale, like the examples I listed above, with the internet a lot of it is now available for free online (Ng, 2012). Fanfiction.net is one such online community with fan fiction on a variety of franchises and in all sorts of mediums from prose and poetry to videos and music. A general search for ‘Harry Potter’ in the database turns up over 94,000 results. The short description are clear about how each piece adds onto and adapts the Harry Potter series with some, such as a work by AndThenYellow titled End of Harry Potter disclaims “I don’t own Harry Potter.”

“The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors, but ‘[t]o promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts’” (Ng, 2012, p. 202).

The statement above was issued by the US Supreme Court because they believed the caveat in copyright protection is to “ensure that others will be allowed to ‘build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by a work,’ while simultaneously ‘assure[ing] authors the right to their original expression’” (Ng, 2012, p. 202).

Are you confused? Admittedly, I kind of am too. The gist of the issue is that materials put out into the world are meant to enhance it, and what good is it if people can’t build upon the ideas of other because of incredibly restrictive copyright laws?IF we simplify things to the benefits of sharing information consider: what if China hadn't shared DNA details about the SARS coronavirus 2 virus? Scientists would not have been able to build on that quickly to create vaccines. To bring it back to fan fiction and Harry Potter, within copyright regulations is the fair use doctrine. Fair use allows people other than the original creator to “use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports. There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes, or percentage of a work. Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on all the circumstances” (https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html). Without defining the percentage of a work that can be used it’s difficult to deem that all fanfic is protected by fair use. Even the courts have a difficult time deciding and while the US Supreme Court has a history of deciding in favor of those that are building on artistic works, appeals courts have a history of deciding in favor of the original creator.

So, in short, it’s complicated.

It’s highly unlikely that the 94,000 plus users on Fanfiction.net need to fear lawsuits. Just thinking about the practicality of actually doing that makes my brain want to explode. From what I can tell, the majority of them have expanded upon Rowling’s original creation with their own artistic inventions: a new ending, a new character, a new time period set in the wizarding world, etc {disclaimer: I am just an aspiring book historian NOT a lawyer}. Now, if any of these works take all seven books and repost them in their entirety tweaking just a few prepositions and pronouns; they’re likely to face copyright infringement. All the folks borrowing some of Rowling’s settings and concepts to make their own works are likely falling under fair use.

Aside from the fan fiction mentioned above, I have not read much myself. But I have imagined characters more like myself {queer, non-binary} in the Harry Potter universe and fan fiction gives a delightful way to explore these possibilities. As one fanfic author describes it “‘For me it’s sort of like an acting or improvisation exercise,’ …’You have known characters. You apply a set of given circumstances to them. Then you wait and see what happens’” (Grossman, 2011, p.1). Lev Grossman (2011) goes on to explain fan fiction as a conversation between readers and the culture a book created. While some people may worry that fan fiction means authors will lose money, Ng (2012) speculates that it actually makes readers more connected to the stories and more willing to spend money on the original franchises. The vast majority of fan fiction I came across in research for this post assumes readers have read and are knowledgeable about the original works; they are not a substitute for the Harry Potter series. And, at the end of the day {or the blog post, if you will} that’s how I feel. If I have an amazing experience with a piece of fan fiction, I’m going to go back and reread the parts of the original series to fully understand the connections. Rowling has also created an online universe for fans to continue interacting and fan fiction allows fans to continue building upon that. It’s all entertainment for the world to enjoy and as one of the fanfic authors Lev Grossman (2011) chatted with in his smartly titled article The Boy Who Lived Forever, “‘We don’t own nonfictional people,’ … ‘and at the end of the day, I don’t think we can own fictional ones either’” (p.9).

Citations

Austen, J. and Grahame-Smith, S. (2009). Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Quirk Press.

Chatelain, M. (2012). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Copyright Law: Fan Fiction, Derivative Works, and the Fair Use Doctrine. Tulane Journal of Technology & Intellectual Property, 15, 199–217.

Grossman, L. (2011). The Boy Who Lived Forever. TIME Magazine, 178(3), 44–50.

Ng, A. (2012). Literary property and copyright. Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property, (7)10.

Owen, M. (2021). Little Thieves. Henry Holt and Company.

Stoppard, T. (1967). Rosencrantz & Gildenstern are Dead. Grove Press.

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

Harry Potter and the Book As Author Work II

THIS IS PART V IN A SERIES

• PART I

• PART II

• PART III

• Part IV

When the discussing the book as author work in the context of the Harry Potter series, we shouldn’t avoid looking at the authors represented in the book. While Rowling doesn’t seem to represent herself as one of the authors, we do see various types of authors, giving readers insight into the working of media.

Chapter header featuring an image of Gilderoy Lockhart from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The first author we formally meet is bumbling yet conniving Gilderoy Lockhart. “‘We can actually see him!’ Hermione squealed. ‘I mean, he’s written almost the whole booklist!’” …

“Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard’s hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair” (Rowling, 1999, p. 59).

In Lockhart Rowling gives us a shining example of the author as genius and celebrity. Everyone know’s his name, he’s pretty sure he’s a genius, and he has a stack popular novels to his name. He’s fitting the profile Haynes (2005) was arguing against in their paper about the concept of author as genius. Haynes argued that an author should be studied not only for their popular works but also how they treat and communicate with people such as their publishers. We don’t need to speculate what would happen if Lockhart was separated from his genius because Rowling does that for us. Readers eventually learn Lockhart was bumbling because he altered facts in his books and stole the heroic acts he committed from others; he claimed them as his own. He is, however, gifted with memory charms, so that no one could ever tell the truth. This evil fact-alterer gets his due when a memory charm backfires and he loses his own [memory] (Rowling, 1999). If only that had happened to Frederic Wertham, perhaps readers wouldn’t still feel guilty about reading comics (Tilley, 2012). While Rowling is clearly telling readers we should watch out for those that obscure the truth, she does give us one interesting twist. We meet Lockhart again in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies. “‘Why hello there!’ he said. ‘I expect you’d like my autograph, would you?’” (Rowling, 2003, p. 509). It seems that, while he’s lost his memory, Lockhart still considers himself a celebrity and genius. Perhaps it’s built in?

Chapter heading from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I’ve already discussed gossip columnist Rita Skeeter when I looked at the special quill she uses to take notes while she conducts interviews. She’s worth mentioning again as another unreliable member of the media. While her stories are based in fact, she doesn’t care to check references as long as her stories will make headlines (Rowling, 2000). Once again Rowling seems to be warning readers about unreliable members of the media and sensationalism. We meet Rita again in Order of the Phoenix when Hermione forces her to write Harry’s story of the return of Voldemort (Rowling, 2003). Readers come across Skeeter one more time in The Deathly Hallows. “‘Harry, Rita Skeeter is a dreadful—’ … ‘She’s written a book about Dumbledore, you know!’” (Rowling, 2007, p. 153). While no one seems to like her, her book does contain some interesting and damning information about Headmaster Dumbledore, his treatment of family members, and his past involvement with dark wizard Grindlewald. These controversial topics are presented as facts in the universe in the Fantastic Beasts film saga.

And speaking of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, perhaps the most famous author within the Harry Potter series is Newt Scamander, although readers wouldn't know it until long after the seventh book had been published. Although in the original series Scamander is really only mentioned as the author of the textbook he wrote, he gets is own film saga with two movies already released and more on the way. While in the movies we learn otherwise, in the original Harry Potter series, there isn’t really mention of any controversy surrounding Scamander and so Rowling elevates him to an unwitting celebrity.

In her books J.K. Rowling shows us two types of authors, those who are truthful and faithful to what they do, and those who aren’t. The unreliable authors are loved and hated, and misfortune befalls them while the truthful ones are elevated. Perhaps Rowling is working a bit of media literacy into her novels?

Citations

Haynes, C. (2005). Reassessing “genius” in studies of authorship: The state of the discipline. Book History 8, pp.287-320.

Rowling, J.K. (2007). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic.

Rowling, J.K. (2003). Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic.

Rowling, J.K. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic.

Rowling, J.K. (1999). Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic Press.

Tilley, C. (2012). Seducing the innocent: Frederic Wertham and the falsifications that helped condemn comics. Information & Culture (4)47, pp. 383-414.

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

Harry Potter and the Book as Author Work

THIS IS PART IV IN A SERIES

• PART I

• PART II

• Part III

Every book needs a creator; that creator is the author. This seems like an obvious statement and indeed, when viewing Robert Darnton’s (1982) communication circuit from left to right, the author is the first part of the circuit. However the author was not always considered particularly important. When discussing the concept of authors as geniuses, Haynes notes “long after the invention of printing, there was no such thing as an “author” in the modern sense of the term. Even if the term “author”… began to appear as early as the sixteenth century, it retained the medieval connotation of “authority” and “actor,” as opposed to “genius” or “subjectivity” until the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century (Haynes, 2005, p. 310). Even Darnton, who put the author at the forefront of the book cycle does not put a heavy emphasis on authorship in The Business of Enlightenment and puts more emphasis on the publishing, supply chain, shipping, and selling of the volumes in question (1979). “By the eighteenth century, however, authorship had begun to change, in idea and practice” (Haynes, 2005, p.311). During this time “there term author began to acquire its modern sense of individual and original genius. Authorship gradually became identified with a subjective personality. Moreover, it was increasingly linked with the male gender” (Haynes, 2005, p.311). While Haynes ultimately argues that book historians need to “exorcise the demon of the “genius” that has haunted literary authorship” (2005, p. 316), the author as genius or in more modern terms as celebrity is still very much present today and J.K. Rowling is not exception.

“Remember…you’ll never make any money out of children’s books, Jo. Keep your real job” (Harmon, 2003, p.83).

The statement Rowling’s editor made upon purchasing the first book in what would become a global phenomenon for a measly $1,910 seems laughable now. Let us not forget that Rowling even had to tweak her name {Joanne} because “little boys wouldn’t read stories written by women” (Harmon, 2003, p. 84). Before becoming the author of a trans media franchise, Rowling had it somewhat rough. During her pre-teen years, Rowling struggled at school and her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when Rowling was 12. She barely graduated from Exeter, survived an abusive relationship and wrote Harry Potter while doing her best to make ends meet living on welfare (Harmon, 2003). Rowling has said that when the idea for a book about a boy wizard came to her on a train ride she felt “lightheaded and exhilarated—something akin to falling in love” (Harmon, 2003, p. 83). Now if this doesn’t seem like a stroked of genius, I’m not sure what would be. Speaking of genius, I have heard rumors that Rowling was so desperate to write the start of the story that she did it on cafe napkins. The truth of this is debated online and I wasn’t able to find strong evidence but, true or not, I think it likely stems from two facts:

1. Rowling told Bustle she wrote the first descriptions of Hogwarts on an airplane barf bag;

2. and Rowling couldn’t afford to photocopy the original manuscript of Philosopher’s Stone so she used a typewriter to create copies to send out to publishers (Harmon, 2003).

Needless to say, after the initial sale Bloomsbury need to print a few more than the initial 500 copy print run and the rest is literally literary history (Harmon, 2003).

I was hoping to include some images or links to Rowling’s original manuscripts but she hasn’t yet donated her papers to any archives. In a July 2021 interview with BBC Radio 4 Rowling admits to still having all her manuscripts, and to perhaps doing something uncouth like throwing them in a fire, eek. This biography and interview give us an image of Rowling as a genius and tormented artist. She has graced the cover of so many magazines she can also easily be considered a celebrity.

If you are looking for primary source material for Rowling, she is quite famous for her Twitter feed where she outspoken on many things. When reviewing the author as genius, we must also accept that geniuses have their flaws. In 2020 Rowling tweeted comments denying the existence of transpeople (BBC, 2020). Many people felt harmed and angry by these comments while other rallied behind Rowling. It should be noted that other authors have also been controversial including Roald Dahl who is know for making anti-semitic comments (Talbot, 2005). I do not have the space to run through the many sides of the story around Rowling’s comments but they need to be mentioned for a few important reasons. Rowling’s Twitter feed is like a living archive, it gives historians and readers insight into who she is as a person. Studying an author’s archives is a common method of learning more about them and their books. The Haynes (2005) article I quoted from in the introduction to this post makes the case for abandoning the author as genius in favor of studying them as part of a bibliographic whole (Haynes, 2005). If Rowling was studied only from her Twitter feed and interviews, we’d be missing an important part of who she is as a creator. The Harry Potter series was already being studied from a range of angles including its lack of diversity; Rowling’s comments provide some answers as to why this might be.

The success and impact of the Harry Potter series cannot be denied and controversies such as Rowling’s point to the importance of the many facets of book history; studying the book from a variety of angles gives us better insight into what it is and how it came to be.

Citations

BBC News. (2020, June 11). JK Rowling responds to trans tweets criticism. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53002557

Darnton, R. (1982). What is the history of books? Daedalus, Vol. 111.

Darnton, R. (1979). The business of enlightenment: A publishing history of the Encyclopédie 1775-1800. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Harmon, M. B. (2003). J.K. Rowling: The Real Life Wizard Behind Harry Potter. Biography, 7(9), 82–85.

Haynes, C. (2005). Reassessing “genius” in studies of authorship: The state of the discipline. Book History 8, pp.287-320.

Rowling, J.K. (1998). Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone. Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Press.

Talbot, M. (2005). The candy man: Why children love Roald Dahl’s stories—and many adults don’t. The New Yorker, July 11, 2005 issue.

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

Harry Potter and the Book as Artifact II

THIS IS PART III IN A SERIES

• PART I

• Part II

The book as artifact is about the physical features and materials that comprise a book. I’ve already discussed a lot of the materials and physical features of the Harry Potter series but let’s jump back inside the books. I’ve already discussed the lighter, thinner, cheaper paper used in the US paperbacks. This contributes to the lower cost of those editions. After reading an article in Alternatives Journal, I’m now seeking out a copy of the Canadian version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Vancouver-based Rainforest Books took tactile to another level, choosing to print all 255,000 words of the longest book in the series on ancient forest friendly paper (Rogozinski, 2004). This bold move reminds us that the publishing industry and bookmaking in general can be a wasteful pursuit and actions like these, taken with such a popular book that sold over 13 million copies in 55 languages, could make other publishers pay attention to their materials choices. 

“Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magic substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard’s wand.” (Rowling, 1998, pp. 83-84).

Much like using recycled paper to print the fifth book in Canada, materials play an important part in the story of Harry Potter as well. While not all the materials descriptions in the series are book related, I wanted to bring up a few to enforce the importance of the materials used to create things. In the quote above we see the importance of the ingredients used in a wand core; a wizard is nothing without their wand. In fact, the materials of Harry’s wand and Voldemort’s— the wands are brothers— will prove key as the story progresses because the similar ingredients mean that they cannot easily fight each other with their own wands (Rowling, 1998 & 2000).

Hogwarts students take notes with parchment and quills, the original manuscript writing tools for early books (Rowling, 1998; Houston, 2016). When historic materials aren’t used, we see the damage they can cause. “You don’t mind, Harry, if I use a Quick-Quotes Quill? It leaves me free to talk to you normally…” (Rowling, 2000, p. 304). When gossip columnist Rita Skeeter uses a quill charmed to write automatically, readers see the truth of situations is drastically altered or even fabricated. Perhaps this hints at how some people thought the automation of the printing press was black magic? Speaking of dark magic, let us not forget Professor Umbridge’s detention quill…

“Harry raised the sharp black quill and then realized what was missing.

‘You haven’t given me any ink,’ he said.

‘Oh, you won’t need ink,’ said Professor Umbridge with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice.

…

He let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Harry’s right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a scalpel…” (Rowling, 2003, pp. 266-267).

Professor Umbridge replaces ink and parchment with skin and blood in her detention sessions. The image conjured up in Umbridge’s office is reminiscent of anthropomorphic books, which are books bound in human skin. While not usually this gruesome, author Megan Rosenbloom speculates that books bound in human skin were connected to unjust medical practices, the prison system, and slavery (Rosenbloom, 2020).

Image of parchment and Harry Potter’s hand with letters carved into it from a chapter header in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

And then there are the books inside the book

Rowling mainly describes text and reference books within the Harry Potter series, and we’ll get to those later, but she also shows readers some very interesting book objects.

“He had to start somewhere. Setting the lamp down carefully on the floor, he looked along the bottom shelf for an interesting-looking book. A large black and silver volume caught his eye. He pulled it out with difficulty, because it was very heavy, and, balancing it on his knee, let it fall open.
A piercing, bloodcurdling shriek sprite the silence — the book was screaming! Harry snapped it out, but the shriek went on and on, one high, unbroken, earsplitting note” (Rowling, 1998, p. 206).

In the first book in the series, Rowling gives readers a glimpse into the unusual nature of books in the wizarding world. While dust jackets are used to entice readers to choose a book to purchase, the enticing cover of the screaming book was a foil and meant danger for Harry (Stevenson, 1997).

Perhaps the most unusual book in the wizard universe is introduced in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling, 1999).

“Harry got a surprise as he looked in at the bookshop window. Instead of the usual display of gold-embossed spell books the size of paving slabs, there was a large iron cage behind the glass that held about a hundred copies of The Monster Book of Monsters. Torn pages were flying everywhere as the books grappled with each other, locked together in furious wrestling matches and snapping aggressively” (p. 52).

While readers don’t get to learn what The Monster Book of Monsters is made out of, this curious and voracious book leaves readers asking a very important question integral to the study book history: how did this book come to be? It also reminds me of the poor quality wood-pulp paper that came into popular use in the Victorian era. It had to be treated so much that it was actively destroying itself from the moment it was made. It is still the most common type of paper used in trade publications and so the very books we love are slowly eating themselves, it’s just not as exciting as it was in Harry Potter.

Citations

Houston, K. (2016). The book: A cover-to-cover exploration of the most powerful object of our time. W. W. Norton & Company.

Rogozinski, E. (2004). Harry Potter and the Order of Green Paper. Alternatives Journal (AJ) - Canada’s Environmental Voice, 30(3), 17.

Rosenbloom, M. (2020). Dark archives: A librarian’s investigation into the science and history of books bound in human skin. Picador.

Rowling, J.K. (2003). Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic.

Rowling, J.K. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic.

Rowling, J.K. (1999). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic.

Rowling, J.K. (1998). Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone. Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Press.

Stevenson, N. (1997). Hipper, brighter and bolder. (Cover story). Publishers Weekly, 244(7), 139.

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

Harry Potter and the Book as Artifact I

This is part II in a series, read part I here.

The book as artifact

Book history reminds us that books are a lot more than just stories on a page or device. When considering the book as artifact, we’re thinking about all the physical things that make up that story: the book covers, the dust jackets, the paper it was printed on, the illustrations, the typography; all those components that we see and feel through the act of reading.

The Harry Potter series is about a boy wizard growing up in a magical school while learning the world isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. The books that contain those stories are seven robust volumes {numbers 4 through 7 could easily be considered tomes} clocking in at 3,341 pages {story only} and weighing 16 pounds {US hardcover weight}. I personally own the first US hardcover and paperback editions and Scholastic {Rowling’s US publisher} has four print editions currently for sale on their website. Bloomsbury, the books’ UK publisher, has what appears to be ten different editions in English alone on their website as well as editions in Latin, Ancient Greek, Welsh, and Irish. There’s clearly a lot to talk about, let’s dive in.

Two stacks of Harry Potter books side-by-side. The left stack is the first US paperback copies; the right stack is the first US hardcover copies.

In my 10.27.21 post I studied the difference between the hardcover and paperback editions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. In that post I discussed the similarities and differences in hardcover and paperback, to sum it up:

• both versions have the same number of pages meaning that the typographic layout is the same despite the paper being smaller;

• the illustrations are the same within the book and on the covers; the hardcover illustrations are on the dust jacket while the paperback’s are on the cover stock itself;

• The paper used for the paperback is cheaper, thinner, and more acidic than the hardcover leading to yellowing at the edges and browning in the interior.

Before moving on from the first book in the series, it’s also important to note a major difference between the American and British versions: the British version, and still is, released with the title Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. While they are essentially the same thing, the US version received a title change because the Arthur Levine, the editor, thought “sorcerer’s stone” sounded more magical (Biedenharn, 2015).

OK, let’s look at some other physical aspects of these delightful novels…

All 7 US hardcover editions of Harry Potter without their dust jackets

A rainbow of color and a hint of texture

The first US hardcover editions of Harry Potter are not just catchy because of their wonderfully illustrated dust jackets. I’m a big fan of reading books without the dust jackets. Publishers tend to put most of their design efforts into the dust jacket and I don’t want to ruin all that work. Also, if my tea spills on the cover or my cat cleans her paw on it, the dust jacket will cover up any mess. My dust jacket etiquette is supported in the literature. Dust jackets were first used by the British to “protect books from the human enemy” {apparently there weren’t that many cats back then} (Massey, 2005). Massey also studied the, let’s say ‘attractiveness’ of dust jackets when their library streamlined their cataloging processes and began leaving dust jackets on circulating books instead of removing them. Massey (2005) reports a 54% increase in check-out rates of books with their dust jackets left on. So why are dust jackets so dang good looking? Why, it’s advertising, of course! In the 1980s there was a shift in how books were sold, especially children’s and young adult books. Independent book sellers were on the decline but buying books at larger corporate bookstores or other retail stores was on the rise. If no one was personally recommending a book to someone, then the books needed to sell themselves. Introducing: the rise of graphics on dust jackets (Massey, 2005; Stevenson, 1997). For a study conducted in 1997 for Publisher’s Weekly, Nanette Stevenson says that the dust jacket is answering two important questions “What is this book about?” and “Who is the reader?” (Stevenson, 1997, p. 139). These questions are easily answered by the Harry Potter dust jackets. While the Sorcerer’s Stone dust jacket doesn’t show Harry with the telltale wand, he is riding a broom with a castle in the background; so the uninitiated reader can guess the book is about a boy witch {riding a broom is awfully witch-ish} at a castle. That’s not exactly everything but close enough that you’d probably pick up the book the find out more. Assuming that after readers are going through the books in order, each subsequent dust jacket hints at what’s inside: Chamber of Secrets features the sword of Gryffindor and a phoenix, Prisoner of Azkaban has a hippogriff, and The Deathly Hallows has a structure in the background reminiscent of an old gladiator coliseum- may the best survive and the loser die…

Dust jackets are likely to be damaged or removed and, as a bookbinder, I’m always curious about what’s underneath. Since a book is likely to eventually be parted from its dust jacket, a well-loved book will end up on display naked. I haven’t yet stumbled upon research supporting my theory but when a book is well designed under the jacket, I take it as a sign of care by the publisher; this is a book that they think will sell well and that people will keep around long after the fancy design tears and bends.

While much more plain, without their dust jackets the Harry Potter series is still exciting. Each hardcover is a different color and the spine cloth on each volume is a color that contrasts the cover color {see photo above}. Looking closely, each cover is also blind debossed with a diaper pattern {diamond pattern}. This pattern mimics what is seen on the half title and title page when you open the books {see below}. It’s a clever little tactile treat for the fingertips that ties to the visual delight just inside.

Cover debossing beneath the dust jacket on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Half title page from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Title page from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Before we go any further into the book, we have one more thing to look at, the end sheets! The bright, solid colors don’t stop at the covers. Each book in the series begins and ends with a bright end sheet that contrasts the colors on both the dust jacket and cover underneath. While the books are printed in black and white, the pop of end sheet color hints at excitement to come.

Front end sheets from all seven books in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling {please pardon my air filter, it’s the end of wildfire season in California}.

Between the covers

“The page is the atom of the book, its most basic building block…For almost two millennia the page has been the primary way that we have accessed reading. The page is where words assume order, and it is that order that has helped shape the meaning of words for us” (Piper, 2012, p.512).

The quote above is from an academic article that is actually considering the evolution of books and the page format in the digital era. While considering this future it brings up the fundamental importance of the printed page which, like the atom comparison above also “consists of smaller elements” (Piper, 2012, p. 512). Next we’ll look at two elements clearly visible in the pages of Harry Potter.

Typography

Typography looks at the style of letters chosen for the text of a book. Commonly {and mistakenly} called fonts on digital interfaces, some well-know typefaces include Arial, Times New Roman, Gill Sans, and Cambria. I learned in college that serifed typefaces, the ones with feet or strokes at the end of the strokes making up the letters, are easier to read in print while sans serifed font {without or ‘sans’ feet} are easier for digital reading (Coles, 2012). True to this statement, the Harry Potter books are printed in serifed type. According to the colophon, the main text of the books is 11.5 point Adobe Garamond, “a typeface based on the sixteenth-century type designs of Claude Garamond, redrawn by Robert Slimback in 1989” (Rowling, 1998-2007, colophon). The chapter headings are in another serifed typeface but this one looks a little haphazard. The letters are asymmetric and play around with the baseline; not every letter sits straight on the same line {checkout the Rs and H in the title pages above}. The typeface also plays with the line weight, some strokes are thin and some are thick, but inconsistently so (Coles, 2012). This lends a sense of movement and energy to the letters. According to the Harry Potter Fanzone, this typeface, called Lumos {a spell to cast when you need light}, is based on Quidditch and the broomsticks and golden snitches that are part of the game. Now, the signature Harry Potter typeface is the one used for the covers. There are still serifs but they’ve become more curved and organic and, famously, the P in Potter is a lightening bolt, just like the scar left on Harry Potter’s head when Lord Voldemort tried to kill him. Apparently this typeface was based on the one in Mary GrandPré’s original illustrations for the book covers (Harry Potter Fanzone). The typefaces tie cleverly tie together the physical object that is the books in this series. Even before opening the first book, the title with the lightening bolt is telling readers something about the main character. The Lumos typeface is remind readers that there is action in every chapter and the Adobe-Garamond of the main text is making the book legible.

Chapter heading from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Illustrations

Illustrations have had an interesting history in books. For a long time, due to limitations in printing technology, they were black and white woodcuts (Houston, 2016). They didn’t always relate directly to the content in a book and the same images would be used again and again for a variety of books to break up the text (Lamb, 2021). Print technology drastically improved in the Victorian era allowing for better illustration reproduction and the content in images at this time is more directly related to the story (Houston, 2016). A great example of this shift is Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Underground, illustration by Sir John Tenniel. Each of the original four editions included illustrations (Lastoria, 2019) as did Carroll’s original manuscripts, now in the collection at the British Library. Illustrating young adult chapter books is a trend that continues today, with evidence easily spotted in the US Harry Potter editions.

The illustrations in the US editions of the Harry Potter series are another are another magical element fans are attached to. Mary GrandPré is the illustrator for the US versions of the first editions, brought on by Warner Bros. in 1998 (Rowling, 1998-2007). GrandPré’s artwork appears on the covers and at the start of each chapter inside the book. Her drawings work in both the black & white interior and the exterior covers of the book. Each illustration gives a glimpse of what’s inside, whether it’s the entire book or the more granular chapter. While a new reader could guess from the drawings what might happen in the book or the chapter, the uniqueness of GrandPré’s is that they seem to be intended for the second, third, or 100th reading. Each hidden element won’t be fully understood until you’ve finished reading and return again.

Piper (2012) described pages as frames that “not only allow us to look through, but also at, to see something that has been distilled” (p. 515). This is exactly what is happening with the combination of typefaces and illustration on and about the US Harry Potter series: they are giving us a window into what’s within, inviting us to take action and read the story. I have a British edition of the paperback for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I was eager to spot difference between the texts back when I was studying Shakespeare and art history in London but looking at it in comparison with the US version, it’s definitely lacking. There are no page illustrations, only the Hogwarts logo on the title page and a larger serifed typeface in italic for the chapter headings. While the title is the same, it seems to be lacking the dynamism of the US versions without the embellishments. The Harry Potter tales get darker and more adult-like after the ending of the fourth book. The lack of fun graphics in the UK version of the fifth book seems emblematic of that.

Chapter heading from the UK paperback Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter heading from the US version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Citations

Biedenharn, I. (2015). Unlocking the Secrets of Harry Potter. Entertainment Weekly, 1357, 31–33.

Coles, S. (2012). The anatomy of type: A graphic guide to 100 typefaces. Quid Publishing.

Houston, K. (2016). The book: A cover-to-cover exploration of the most powerful object of our time. W. W. Norton & Company.

Lamb, A. (2021). Course reader for The Book as Artifact from History of the Book 1450+ at IUPUI.

Lastoria, A. (2019). Lewis Carroll, art director: Recovering the design and production rationales for Victorian editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Book History, 22. pages 196-222.

Massey, T. (2005). Attracting New Customers. Library Mosaics, 16(4), 17.

Piper, A. (2012). Book was there: Reading in electronic times. Chicago University Press.

Stevenson, N. (1997). Hipper, brighter and bolder. (Cover story). Publishers Weekly, 244(7), 139.

Rowling, J.K. (2004). Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Rowling, J.K. (2003). Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic.

Rowling, J.K. (1999). Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets. Arthur A. Levine Books An Imprint of Scholastic Press.

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

Harry Potter and the History of the Book {an 11 part series}

THIS IS PART I IN A SERIES

• PART II

• PART III

• PART IV

• PART V

• PART VI

• PART VII

• PART VIII

• PART IX

• PART X

• PART XI

I’m wrapping up my semester-long book history class and I think it’s time to do a deep dive into the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (1998-2007; US editions) and give them their place in book history. This series has been analyzed from many angles and a quick search the Academic Search Complete database for “Harry Potter” search brings up 5,413 results; 420 of those are in academic journals covering everything from library science to psychology to mathematics. Some fun article titles include Using Harry Potter to Introduce Students to DNA Fingerprinting & Forensic Science (Palmer, 2010); Middle Earth, Narnia, Hogwarts, and Animals: A Review of the Treatment of Nonhuman Animals and Other Sentient Beings in Christian-Based Fantasy Fiction (Morris, 2009); and Searching for the Harry Potter/ STEM Connection: Do You Need a 'Room of Requirement' in Your School? (Tassell, 2014). I’m going to go with yes, every school needs a Room of Requirement on that last title.

Interestingly, despite the thousands of search results and hundreds of scholarly papers focused on the Harry Potter series, when I searched for what work had been done in the realm of book history in the aptly named Book History journal, I got exactly 5 results, none of which really focused on the Harry Potter series or its author and one of which was about Charles Dickens and 19th century literature {er, I’m guessing maybe Dickens knew someone named Harry Potter…}. So, this means I have my work cut out for me as I use this mini series to convince you, dear readers (Brontë/Bell, 1847/2009), that the Harry Potter book series deserves a place among the ranks of other classics analyzed by book historians.

Now, the lack of results in one journal does not mean that Rowling’s popular series hasn’t been analyzed for aspects of book history such as its literary content, connections to history, importance in education, etc {there are too many titles to cite here}; it means that it these analyses have been isolated to the realms of literature studies, or science, or history, or education and not brought back to the book cycle <— that is what I will attempt to do. Let’s get started.

Image of a front end sheets of a book. The end sheet is red and attached to it are its old card catalog record and due date sheet from pre-digital times at SFPL.

What is book history?

This is a valid question. In very broad terms, book history is the history of books in all their forms and how they have impacted humanity. Of course, there is a lot that contained in that definition. The introduction to Robert Darnton’s {famous book historian’s} The Business of Enlightenment (1979) is titled” The Biography of a Book” and the word biography really gets at what book history is. A human biography would cover someone what made someone who they are/were: their parents, physical features, youth, early adult years, career, great achievements, reinvention, retirement, etc. Book history covers how a specific book format came to be, how the content developed, the production processes, the author that created it, various versions of said book, and its cultural impact. Darnton (1979) says that the questions a book historian asks “could be multiplied endlessly because books touched on such a vast range of human activity— everything from picking rags to transmitting the word of God. They were {are} products of artisanal labor, objects of economic exchange, vehicles of ideas, and elements in political and religious conflict” (p.1). So, book history is not just about the final physical object you dread packing when moving but also about paper makers and bookbinders and delivery drivers and bookseller or libraries, and readers.

All the aspects that books can be studied from, as my professor reminded me in an email, is called the book cycle; Darnton (1982) called it the communication circuit, showing each part of the cycle listed above as a cyclical route. Each and every aspect of book history relates to and overlaps with the others.

“By recounting the life story of the Encyclopédie, this book is meant to dispel some of the obscurity of books in general” (Darnton, 1979, back cover).

Darnton explains and examines the entire book cycle in The Business of Enlightenment by looking at a single series {Diderot’s Encyclopédie volumes} and I will employ the same method for the Harry Potter series. To modernize things a bit, I’m going to label my aspects of book history after the titles my professors Annette Lamb and Lydia Spotts (2021) used for our book history lectures: the book as artifact, author creation/work, intellectual property, commodity, knowledge, print culture, cultural icon {cue my Gryffindor tie}, and reader experience. I’ll explain it all when we get there, it’s going to be fun. Ready?

Image of the inside flap of the dust jacket from the first US printing of the hardcover edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (1998).

Warning: here be spoilers!

Introducing Harry Potter

Did you read the warning? There are probably going be a lot of spoilers in this series. If you haven’t read the books or watched the movies, go ahead, take a few days, knock it out. Otherwise, given that the books are currently 24 years old, there’s been a incredibly popular movie series based on the books, and the characters continually appear in popular magazines to this day, I don’t feel too bad telling you the gift Harry receives from Mrs. Weasley is a hand-knit sweater with the letter H on it; among other things (Rowling, 1998).

Although he doesn’t know it at the start, Harry Potter is a famous wizard born to famous wizard parents who died tragically at the hands of the evil wizard Lord Voldemort (Rowling, 1998). Harry’s famous in the wizarding world because Voldemort couldn’t kill him as a baby; Harry is the “the boy who lived” (Rowling, 1998, p.1). Harry doesn’t grow up in the wizard world, he lives with his non-magic {muggle} aunt, uncle, and cousin in suburban England where he’s treated like shit and his room is a closet under the stairs. Then he turns eleven, a giant makes him a birthday cake and uses an umbrella to give cousin Dudley a pig tail and Harry receives his welcome letter to Hogwarts, the magical education school.

The series follows Harry, his best friends Ron and Hermione {her-my-oh-knee}, his enemies {there are a lot of them}, and his professor including venerable headmaster Albus Dumbledore through Harry’s seven-ish years of schooling. There are adventures, misadventures, a really boring history class taught by a ghost, more ghosts, and everything culminates in a battle against Lord Voldemort.

Since its first publication, the Harry Potter series has topped bestseller charts {and as of today is still listed as #22 on Amazon’s best seller list}, never left challenged or banned books lists {Business Insider listed it among other 2021 challenged books on August 4, 2021}, has been reprinted in countless languages and version, and has its own transmedia empire with a digital world on the internet, movies, video games, a play, theme parks, and I’m probably missing something.

It would take me a lifetime to analyze every aspect of this book and its importance and maybe I’ll do that eventually. If you think I missed something important or want to chime in, leave a comment <— that’s the beauty of this format, you can talk back to the teacher. For the purpose of this series, I’ll tackle key elements in the stories and use academic research to tie them into the book cycle; it’s like I’m Hermione and did your homework for you.

Now turn to page…

Part II: Harry Potter & the Book as Artifact

Citations

Brontë, C. as Bell, C. (1847/2009). Jane Eyre. Penguin Books.

Darnton, R. (1982). What is the history of books? Daedalus, Vol. 111.

Darnton, R. (1979). The business of enlightenment: A publishing history of the Encyclopédie 1775-1800. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Lamb, A. (2021). Course readers for Book History 1450+ at IUPUI.

Morris, M. C. (2009). Middle Earth, Narnia, Hogwarts, and Animals: A Review of the Treatment of Nonhuman Animals and Other Sentient Beings in Christian-Based Fantasy Fiction. Society & Animals, 17(4), 343–356. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/10.1163/106311109X12474622855183

Palmer, L. K. (2010). Using Harry Potter to Introduce Students to DNA Fingerprinting & Forensic Science. American Biology Teacher (National Association of Biology Teachers), 72(4), 241–244. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/10.1525/abt.2010.72.4.8

Rowling, J.K. (1998). Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone. Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Press.

Tassell, J. (2014). Searching for the Harry Potter/ STEM Connection: Do You Need a “Room of Requirement” in Your School? School Science & Mathematics, 114(8), 365–366. https://doi-org.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/10.1111/ssm.12095

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

The Electronic Reader Experience via Video Games IV

My exploration of the reader experience via video games has been heavily focused on direct connections between books, stories, and games {posts I, II, and III}. I think this established the benefits of this particular digital format for books. I’m going to wrap up this miniseries with a more personal reader experience: note taking and learning.

Whether with paper, a highlighter, and a pencil or on a digital tablet with a stylus, we’ve all marked up text to take notes and help learn from what we are reading. Or, maybe we’ve just pretended to do that while doodling in the margins {don’t worry, I won’t tell}. Note taking to remember information has a long history and was so integral to the human experience that Shakespeare included the practice in Hamlet. “Faced with the task of remembering, Hamlet himself holds a table-book” (Stallybrass, Charter, Mowery, and Wolfe, 2004, p. 414). Table-books, or more commonly, commonplace books, had a variety of uses but are frequently known as a tool, similar to a notebook, that readers would use to record passages and thoughts about what they were reading to keep important information organized and available for future reference. “Repetition is itself a memorial system, but the moment of copying from table to commonplace book also allows for organization through digestion and distribution…” (Stallybrass, Charter, Mowery, and Wolfe, 2004,p. 412). Reading is all well and good but readers need to digest and understand information, it is how knowledge is expanded. Yeo (2007) also refers to a commonplace book as a “thesaurus, a storehouse of quotations for later use” (p.56). We might call it a notebook, prior to the twentieth century it was called a commonplace, but regardless of the name, note taking while reading important for the storage and organization of the content a reader is encountering.

The stylus has enhanced digital note taking turning it into a process that mimics what would be done with pencil and paper. How do you digitally note take in a video game, with two hands on a controller? It’s definitely different but games like Concrete Genie take creative approaches to creating notebooks.

Screen cap from Concrete Genie with paint brush pattern panel showing on the left.

I have been enamored with Concrete Genie for the last year; it might just be my current favorite game. Concrete Genie is an all-ages game with a creative premise: playing as drawing enthusiast Ash, players must rescue a rundown town, Denska, by painting colorful murals to drive evil out; with a magic paint brush, of course. That’s right, the point of the game is to create art to save the world! Like all games, players begin with a few basic painting skills and build up the colors and patterns they can paint as they advance in the game. How the skills are stored for players is what is unique and reminiscent of those old timey commonplace books and Hamlet’s tables. Painting patterns are organized in a chart by categories like Landscape (see image above). Painting and drawing techniques are practiced in a digital books, which is also where new characters, or genies, are stored for reference. The pattern chart appears for reference and to toggle through whenever a player is painting on a surface and the sketchbook/notebook is accessible for reference and recording with the touch of a button. While many games will log items procured, few make the player active in recording their new skills. Using the sketchbook requires specific motions with the game controller which are then mimic when painting a wall to rescue it from evil. That repetition and reinforcement of memory mentioned above is translated digitally in Concrete Genie.

Screen cap of a genie being colored in in Concrete Genie.

Some people love digital reading (Technophiles), some hate it (Book-Lovers), and other are indifferent (Pragmatists) (Revelle, Messner, Shrimplin, and Hurst, 2011). I really think that anything that encourages engagement with text, stories, and absorbing new information is a positive thing. Every humans learns, reads, and experiences the world differently and having a variety of ways to engage with information is important; there’s space for everyone. Books are rectangular objects with pages of paper printed with text, and they have been for centuries. But remember, books used to be {and still are} people who are good at engaging a crowd, cave walls, and pieces of rock. As technology advances why can’t they also be accessed through a computer screen, gaming device, or smart device?

Citations

Revelle, A., Messner, K., Shrimplin, A., and Hurst, S. (2011). Book lovers, technophiles, pragmatists, and printers: The social and demographic structure of user attitudes toward e-books. Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL).

Stallybrass, P., Charter, R., Mowery, J.F., and Wolfe, H. (2004). Hamlet’s tables and the technologies of writing in Renaissance England. Shakespeare Quarterly, (4)55, pp,379-419.

Yeo, R.R. (2007). Lost encyclopedias: Before and after the Enlightenment. Book History #10, pp. 47-68.

The Electronic Reader Experience via Video Games III

It’s time to explore the how video games can expand and enhance the reader experience by building upon what an author created in book form {parts I & II of this miniseries explore other aspects of the reader experience via video games}.

When I’m teaching bookbinding I tell students that the history of books is tied to the history of storytelling and the history of storytelling {by humans} begins whenever you decide to start counting. First, stories were told orally, two great examples that made it to print form are Beowulf and the stories collected by the Brothers Grimm (Headley, 2020). Oral storytelling continues today, imagine it running alongside other forms of information sharing. There were also cave paintings and drawings, the downside being that if you wanted to learn about your dad’s childhood you had to go all the way to the cave where he painted the tale to learn more. Stories became portable with stone, clay, and wax tablets and also scrolls. Sometime in the 4th century CE in Egyptian Coptic Christians created the earliest known codex- a book with the pages held together all on one side; opening not the otherside. This is the book format we are most familiar with today (Houston, 2016). Sixteen centuries later some dudes on the West Coast of the United States brought computing down to a personal scale and information and stories could be shared digitally; which brings us to the present day.

Some digital formats and stories simply recreate the print versions and that’s just fine. Others, like video games, allow for an expansion of the world and story in ways the authors might never have dreamed of. While the games we’ll look at below take textual enhancements to an extreme, books with added elements to engage the reader/user are not at all new. In 2005 the University of Chicago hosted an exhibition titled Book Use, Book Theory: 1500-1700 which looked at elements contained in books that created a reader experience that went beyond reading. While I didn’t see the exhibition in person, the catalog is available online and my favorite part was Part IV: Dimensional Thinking. The books in this section contain pop-ups and volvelles which ask the viewer to engage with the physical space inside a book. The curators of the exhibit ask viewers to think about engagement beyond the act of reading (University of Chicago Library). They suggest that “thinking through books means thinking in and around them” (Cormack and Mazzio, 2005, p. 6). Taking a broad view of “thinking in and around” books we come to the book-based worlds created in video games.

Image of layered volvelles in a book from the University of Chicago exhibit Book Use, Book Theory (Cormack and Mazzio, 2005, p. 100).

There are many games that are set in book-based worlds, I’m going to briefly look at three to whet your appetite.

There are a lot of Middle-Earth based games with no end to the relationships you can build with the humans, wizards, orcs, hobbits, elves, and dwarves from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Because Tolkien created not just captivating stories but also lineages for his characters, languages, extensive maps, and folklore, he left the doors wide open for others to build within and around Middle-Earth. Beloved and hated characters, creatures, and story lines are reintroduced in Middle-Earth: Shadow of War where players must both fight and befriend orcs using a newly forged ring of power as they try to get to Mordor amidst Sauron’s growing power. Players can even befriend Shelob! The game stays firmly rooted in Tolkien’s world while adding more nuance, the enemies of the Fellowship are not necessarily without their uses here (Kelly, 2017). The game connects to the story enough to entice those that enjoyed reading the original stories to explore new corners of Middle-Earth and encourages newcomers to look into the source material.

Image of three The Witcher book covers

Thanks to the Netflix series of the same name, The Witcher saga is well known in 2021. The tales began as a series of short stories that grew to include five novels, originally published in Polish then translated into English and released in the US beginning in 2007 (Hatchett Book Group, n.d.; Wikipedia). The trilogy of games takes their connection to the books seriously (note the covers in the image above have characters from the game). CD Projekt Red, the games’ creator, states that “being based on a novel series…gives the game’s universe and characters credibility” (thewitcher.com). Both the novels and the games follow the story of the Witcher Geralt; in the games players move through the world as Geralt and instead of following the pre-determined path set by the books, the player must make their own decisions and wait to see what the consequences are. Non-playable characters (NPCs) can also be influenced by Geralt’s actions, creating a world where side characters are important to the story, not unlike a book. The Witcher games extend the world created by author Adrzej Sapkowski while staying true to characters and creatures, once again opening reader engagement opportunities not possible in the print versions of the tales.

Ok, I can’t talk too much about this game and book relationship yet because the game, Hogwarts Legacy, isn’t released but I think it’s important to mention because the Wizard World has done a lot to expand the world J.K. Rowling created in the seven book series. Readers like myself, who are still waiting for their Hogwarts letters to arrive, will get their chance to be a Hogwarts student in this game. Set in the 1800s, readers and players will put special magical abilities to use as they make friends and battle dark wizards (hogwartslegacy.com). The tagline for the game is “live the unwritten” (hogwartslegacy.com) drawing a direct connection between the games and books and encouraging those who haven’t read the series to check them out.

Volvelles, pop-ups, maps, and charts have expanded the reader experience on the page for centuries, the invention of digital technology and the creation of video games based on books allow readers to take their reading experience off the page into an immersive experience.

Citations

CD Projekt Red. (n.d.). The Witcher: Enhanced Edition. The Witcher.Com. https://thewitcher.com/en/witcher1

Cormack, B. and Mazzio, C. (2205). Book use, book theory: 1500-1700. University of Chicago Library

Hatchett Book Group. (2021, June 24). Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher Books in Order. Hachette Book Group. https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/series-list/andrzej-sapkowski-witcher-books-in-order/

Headley, M. D. (2020). Beowulf: A new translation. MCD x FSG Originals.

Houston, K. (2016). The book: A cover-to-cover exploration of the most powerful object of our time. W. W. Norton & Company.

Kelly, A. (2017, October 5). Middle-earth: Shadow of War review. Pcgamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/middle-earth-shadow-of-war-review/

Portkey Games. (n.d.). Portkey Games: Hogwarts legacy. Portkey Games: Hogwarts Legacy. https://www.hogwartslegacy.com/en-us

The University of Chicago Library. (n.d.). Book Use Book Theory - Book Use, Book Theory. https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/book-use-book-theory-1500-1700/

The Electronic Reader Experience via Video Games II

In the first The Electronic Reader Experience via Video Games post I explained how videos games are a new, electronic reader experience. In it I explored two games embedded into digital text: Encarta ‘95 and Story of the Lost Dot. In this post I’ll look at video games that are somewhat faithful adaptations of the books they are based upon. There are quite a few out there and I cannot cover them all so I’m going to select a few that appeared on multiple ‘best book to video game’ lists.

Adaptations in the book world are nothing new. You might be thinking of books turned into movies or plays but books themselves can also be remade, they’re called editions. There are hardcover and paperback editions of books, and comic books can be individual issues or gathered together as anthologies. These editions keep the contents the same and adjust the binding holding everything together. Lewis Carroll went a step or two further issuing four editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland between 1865 and 1890. Two had the same contents but different bindings {covers} so they could be sold at different price points, one version included the sequel Through the Looking Glass, and Nursery Alice adapted the stories altogether to make them more palatable to a younger audience (Lastoria, 2019). Walt Whitman famously edited and adjusted the contents of Leaves of Grass issuing new editions up until he died; there were six American editions alone (O’Driscoll, 1999; The Walt Whitman Archive, n.d.). Also consider how science and history books and textbooks have the edition listed right in the title. This is because, while the book may cover the same topic, the content has been adjusted and updated with the times. This is not unlike how books are adjusted for the digital environment. In the case of video game editions, they are adjusted to become interactive.

*Cyberpunk 2077 image is used for effect only; the game is based on a role playing book game Cyberpunk 2020 but the new video game was preceded by comics of the same name.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream was originally a short story by Harlan Ellison published in 1967 first in Worlds of Science Fiction magazine and later in a short story collection by the same name {that’s two versions already, if you’re counting} (encyclopedia.com, n.d). The short story takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where human-made computers join into one master computer that kills all but five humans who must “play out its sadistic and revenge-filled games” (encyclopedia.com, n.d., third paragraph). The premise of this story was just begging to be a video game.

Gamers got their wish with a computer game of the same name which Harlan Ellison is credited on, originally released on 1996; it’s still available on STEAM. From all accounts, the game seems just as darks and twisted as the story but instead of reading about the five characters, players become one of the characters and attempt to save themselves and the others from the master computer. Neither the book nor the game sound like they have good endings (Corbett, 2021; encyclopedia.com, n.d.). With the author working on the adaptation, this one is true to the original version with necessary modifications to translate it to a more interactive digital format.

Cover image of Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy

Rainbow Six is a novel by Tom Clancy published in 1998. Over the course of 912 pages readers follow a former Navy SEAL, John Clark- from earlier novels by Clancy, as Clark joins an international task force to combat terrorism (tomclancy.com).

The Rainbow Six Siege game, not only bearing Clancy’s name but also based on the book, was released to gaming devices in 2016. Five players join up to fight another five player team; one team attacks an objective while the other defends it with the underlying premise of combatting terrorism, just like in the novel. This isn’t a ‘may the best shooter win’ scenario, taking a page from the international teams Clark worked on the story, players must create a plan of defense or attack before the action begins. Scattered throughout the game are images and stories of terrorism. The action of the game brings Clancy’s fictional stories to life as readers and players work to execute and survive missions (Davenport, 2015).

Other book to game adaptations include Metro 2033 which is based on the book of the same name with the author credited as a writer on the game; and The Binding of Isaac based on the story from the Old Testament.

Storytelling and sharing information seems inherent to humans and it is and underlying purpose of books. It only makes sense that when a new storytelling format is created, like video games, that books will find their way in.

Citations

Cengage. (n.d.). I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream | Encyclopedia.com. Encyclopedia.Com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream

Cobbett, R. (2021, July 4). Crapshoot: I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, a game censorship made unfinishable. Pcgamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/saturday-crapshoot-i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream/

Davenport, J. (2015, December 4). Rainbow Six Siege review. Pcgamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/rainbow-six-siege-review/

Lastoria, A. (2019). Lewis Carroll, art director: Recovering the design and production rationales for Victorian editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Book History #22, pp. 196-225.

O’Driscoll, M. J. (1999). Whitman in the archive: Leaves of Grass and the culture of the book. ESC: English Studies in Canada, 3-4(25). https://doi.org/10.1353/esc.1999.0022

Rainbow Six - Tom Clancy. (n.d.). Tom Clancy.Com. https://tomclancy.com/product/rainbow-six

The Walt Whitman Archive. (n.d.). U. S. editions of Leaves of Grass - The Walt Whitman Archive. https://whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/index.html

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

The Electronic Reader Experience via Video Games I

In an earlier post I speculated that Star Wars and the multiverse might be the future of books. This miniseries I’m creating will examine the ways in which video games offer new ways to engage with books. In this post we’ll look at two direct connections of games offering new ways to engage with a text; in future posts we’ll consider book to game adaptations, games as extensions of books and the worlds created therein, and how games offer reader interactions similar to commonplace books and marginalia.

I know everyone thinks of tablets and Kindles when they think about electronic reading, but video games have been innovating book interaction for even longer. According to Gizmodo, the first Kindle was launched by Amazon in 2007 and Apple Insider dates the iPad back to 2010. My own experience with electronic book engagement {via a video game} was in the mid-nineties and the earliest example I could find was Spectrum Computing’s 1985 arcade game based on Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. For an extra £1.45, you could even get the paperback along with the game, a demonstration of just how connected the game was to the literature (Home Computing Weekly, 1985). So, move over tablets, it’s time we take a look at how video games have adapted the reader experience.

I haven’t mentioned him yet but Robert Darnton is a renowned book historian. He created something called the “book communications circuit” that places readers, the users of books, as a key part of the lifecycle of a book. To put this in perspective, other key players in the circuit include the author, bookbinder, publisher, printer, and booksellers (Darnton, 1982). The reader is integral and it’s safe to argue that a video game is nothing without it’s player, drawing a direct connection between games and books as far as their lifecycle is concerned. The reader experience is difficult to define because it’s unique to each individual. The experience can be a lot of things from where a book is read and whether it is read aloud or silently, to the book plate claiming ownership, to the marginalia or writing in the margins of books (Lamb, 2021). Really it comes down to how an individual interacts with a text. Do you read quitely to yourself then return the book to the library or do you take notes for future reference? Both action are engagement and part of the reader experience. If you are playing a video game, there is no way to avoid interacting with the story.

Cover of the Encarta ‘95 CD ROM

As a child I was obsessed with my father’s World Book Encyclopedia collection. Encyclopedias as we know them date back to the Enlightenment which is the first time they were in book form containing as much knowledge as possible from a variety of authorities. Prior to this, an encyclopedia could be just a very smart person walking the streets and talking about what they knew (Yeo, 2007). Key to encyclopedias is the organization of knowledge and H. G. Wells went as far as to claim that “effective storage and communication of knowledge was a precondition of international peace and scientific progress” (Yeo, 2007, p. 59). Eventually there would be the alphabetical ordering of information that we are familiar with today, but maps and charts of information organization were played around with as well to tell the reader how to proceed. Diderot had strong feelings about the organization of encyclopedias and thought that “adventurous browsing could be an analogue of creative thinking that found unexpected things” (Yeo, 2007, p. 56). Hold onto this thought because it brings us to video games.

My dad would became a computer scientist and after building a computer for me, he gave me the most amazing gift a nerdy 90s kid could hope for: Encarta ‘95. This was no paper encyclopedia to read cover-to-cover, this CD ROM was meant to be explored as you clicked from topic of interest to subtopic to related topic. Best of all was the Mind Maze game included on the disk, the game was built in encouragement to explore the contents of the volume. Without the game I would have spent some time doing targeted research for school projects but with the game I spent hours testing my knowledge and learning what I did not know; reading passages and listening to sound bites. I would go through every answer even if they were wrong to learn what the wrong answers meant as well. I can imagine Diderot cheering from his grave as I absorbed information just the way I wanted.

Drawing of a very tall Alice alongside the text in Lewis Carroll’s manuscript of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (British Library, Digitised Manuscripts).

Image of a John Tenniel illustration and the creative typesetting of the mouse’s tale, reprinted in a 2000 edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll, [1865] 2000).

Whether via the original story book(s), the Disney animated film, or one of the multiple live-action adaptations, everyone knows Alice in Wonderland/Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass; or at least they’ve used a phrase like “down the rabbit hole” before. I became enamored in high school when I attempted to thwart an assignment about researching the life of an author. Instead of choosing someone who wrote serious grown-up literature like Homer or Shakespeare, I chose children’s author and mathematician Lewis Carroll/Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.

The story of this book’s creation is one of creative engagement and interaction from the get-go: it began as an oral story told to a child who begged that it be written down (Lastoria, 2019). The marginalia included on Carrolls manuscript draft is reminiscent of what would become John Tenniel’s illustrations for the print runs (see image from the British Library above). Carroll’s involvement in the creation of the final books would go far beyond imagining the content and writing it down: he would supervise the interior layout of the printed book and illustrations as well as oversee the binding design, and would aid in the design of multiple versions of the story for various income levels. He would even contribute to creative typesetting techniques with the famous mouse’s tale that is both a tale and a tail visually on the page (Lastoria, 2019; Carroll, [1865] 2000, p.37). This type of engagement in a book’s creation, in addition to the nonsensical adventures of a female protagonist who rescues herself with creativity and wit was just begging for electronic adaptation.

There are a lot of Alice games out there {many with questiontionable reviews in app stores}, but I think Lewis Carroll would be delighted by Johani Paaso’s Story of the Lost Dot, a game for mobile devices, like iPads and iPhones, created in 2019 (Apple App Store). Rather than take you down the rabbit hole and into Wonderland, Paaso’s game takes readers into the text in a way that would not be possible with a physical book. Players become the period, or dot, at the end of The End in the story. Beginning back at the beginning they must roll around the rational serifs, straight legs, and counters that comprise the words of the story (Coles, 2012). Players work their way through the text by touching as many letters as possible to score points; falling off the page is a game over.

For lovers of Alice’s adventures, this game provides a new way to use the text, a level of engagement unimaginable before electronic devices. For those new to the story, the engagement is enticing and could spark the desire to learn more. For those who struggle with reading, this fun adaptation allows them to still engage and turns the text into an obstacle course that is possible to overcome.

While the debate on ereaders and electronic text is still very active, games like Encarta’s Mind Maze and Story of the Lost Dot offer levels of reader engagement that just are not possible with printed pages. With reading for pleasure an acceptable hobby today {it didn’t used to be, seriously}, it might be time to expand our understanding of the reading experience to a full leisure activity.

Citations*

British Library. (n.d.). ALICE’’S ADVENTURES UNDER GROUND: “‘A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer Day’”. The autograph manuscript, written and illustrated by “‘Lewis Carroll’” ( the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson; b. 1832, d. 1898 ) of the story afterwards rewritten and published in 1865 as “ ‘Alice’’s Adventures in Wonderland”’. https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_46700

Carroll, L. (2000). Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass. Signet Classic.

C.J. (1985). Reviews: Charlie and the chocolate factory. Home Computing Weekly #114, Special Week #4.

Coles. S. (2012). The anatomy of type: A graphic guide to 100 typefaces. Harper Design.

Darnton, R. (1982). What is the history of books? Daedalus. (3)111, pp. 65-83.

Lamb, A. (2021). The book as reader experience. Course reader for S681: The Book - 1450+ at IUPUI.

Lastoria, A. (2019). Lewis Carroll, art director: Recovering the design and production rationales for Victorian editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Book History #22, pp. 196-225.

Yeo, R. (2007). Lost encyclopedias: Before and after the Enlightenment. Book History #10, pp. 47-68.

*Some citations for web resources are linked directly in the post (in blue).

Beowulf: A short history in two translations

I was never forced to read Beowulf in high school, I knew of the story and learned the basics from an episode of Star Trek: Voyager my little brother insisted I watch. I became somewhat obsessed after learning that first published translation for adult by a woman came out in 2020 on the Nerdette podcast. Wait, what?!

That’s right, an ancient tale was not translated by a woman until 2020. Let’s review how Beowulf is (ish) to put things in perspective.

Apparently there are so many translations of Beowulf that it could be ready every day for months with each version being different. The tale likely began as oral entertainment in dining halls and was put to paper, er, parchment sometime in the tenth century CE. It was written by two different scribes in Old English (Headley, 2020). Right from the start, the manuscript used for each modern English translation was a translation itself. The manuscript hasn’t had the easiest life either. There was a library fire and bookworms and rebindings; some of the words were literally lost (Headley, 2020). And so, history provided the perfect scenario for translation after translation as researchers filled in the gaps; not to mention the ever-evolving nature of language which means the tale is re-translated at least once a generation.

A quick comparison of covers immediately tells us that Tolkien’s and Headley’s versions are from different eras. Tolkien’s contains a detailed dragon illustration reminiscent of a medieval manuscript and is embellished with gold, embossed titling. Headley’s version gives us a headless dragon but it’s minimal and more abstract. Still the letter b with a crown, wrapped up in the dragon tell us more about the contents than the Tolkien translation.

Although it wasn’t published until 2014, Tolkien translated the tale around 1924 for a class he taught at Oxford (Tolkien, 2014). It’s laid out on the page more like prose than poetry and with lines like “Ever may God perform marvel upon marvel…” (Tolkien, 2014/1926) is honestly a bit of a slog. It seems like Tolkien was aiming for a more word-for-word translation and this edition is definitely more scholarly and includes translation notes, lecture notes, and the full poem in Old English for any scholar casually wishing to translate for themselves. This translation and its notes does provide fans of the Lord of the Rings series insight into Tolkien’s inspiration for that world and words like “orc” and “ent” just might have some really close connections to Old English (Tolkien, 2014/1926).

I didn’t read Headley’s translation until after Tolkien’s but let me just say hers is a page turner even if you already know the tale! She grabs our attention at the start by shouting “Bro!” (Headley, 2020, p. 3) and holds with description that of Grendel: “Unlucky, fucked by Fate” (p7). Headley’s pages are visually less dense and the translation has rhythm and meter, mimicking how it might have been told in a dining hall back in the old school days before electricity. This version is exciting and dares to interpret language in a way that pokes fun at toxic masculinity in a tale that features women as servants, currency, and evil monsters only worthy of death. The shift in perspective is welcome, Headley talks to us in our language, not that of our forefathers, and makes an agéd tale relatable and relevant. It makes me excited for the next translation to come (c’mon Gen Z…).

Citations (not linked above)

Headley, M. D. (2020). Beowulf: A new translation. MCD x FSG Originals: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Tolkien, J.R.R. and Tolkien, C. (2014). Beowulf: A translation and commentary. Mariner Books.

A Study of Editions with Harry Potter

The seven Harry Potter books in paperback (with a French edition) on a bookshelf

There’s a lot to be said about the Harry Potter series, this is my connection to them and a look at a few of the differences between editions.

The first Harry Potter book was released in the US shortly before I entered high school (yup, I’m a “geriatric millennial”) and by that time it was already retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (it’s common knowledge that it was first titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone). It was popular bookish fiction and I was an angsty bookish pre-teen and did not read what everyone else read. But no one would stop talking about it. And then the movies started coming out; I didn’t watch them either. The summer before college a friend finally managed to convince me by saying something like “look, it’s a short book, try the first one and if you hate it, you never have to pick up another one again.” Challenge accepted. I devoured the first book in a day, the second one the next day, the third one the day after that. By the end of the week I was done with the fourth and anxiously awaiting both moving away to college and the fifth release. I bought my paperback copy of Order of the Phoenix in London while studying Shakespearan literature and art history over winter break. I was at the midnight release of the sixth book and devoted for a week about its ending. I was at the midnight release for the seventh book and took forever to read it because I didn’t want the series to end. The movies or the movie soundtracks are almost always on repeat in my home, it drives my partner, a hardcore horror movie and death metal fan, nuts. Needless to say, I smitten with the series and have been sorted into Gryffindor via the Wizarding World even though my Hogwarts letter never arrived. The series has been as widely criticized as it has been celebrated but as a queer teen who never fit in, it was a welcome escape.

The front covers of the hardcover and paperback editions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Comparing editions

For a book that remains on bookstore shelves nearly 25 years later, it’s safe to assume there have been multiple printings. Things are likely to change during this time so let’s take a peek at some differences.

It’s not uncommon for any book, especially a popular one, to undergo changes throughout the course of its publishing. Heck, Lewis Carroll designed and published four different editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland within five years of its first publication date (Lastoria, 2019). The differences in Harry Potter are a bit more gradual. The first hardcover edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released in 1997 and the paperback followed in 1998. A quick glance at the covers shows little difference. The paperback doesn’t have a dust jacket but instead its cover has the identical illustration from the dust jacket of the hardcover version. While the hardcover only has the published displayed on the spine, the paperback prominently features a red Scholastic logo. While the descriptions are identical (inside front dust jacket leaf- hardcover; back cover- paperback), the paperback also lists various awards the story received in the year following its release. Scholastic is a bit more proud of it now, eh?

Both editions use the exact same typefaces, illustrations, and ornaments and both books clock in at 309 pages. Post story, the paperback features an advertisement for the next chapter in the saga: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. But wait, there’s more!

I bought the paperback editions of this collection because I wanted to be able to re-read the books again and again and again. And again. I commute by BART and public transit and hardcovers are just cumbersome and more expensive to replace. Plus, I’m a bookbinder and I could always repair or rebind the paperback. What makes this paperback cheaper? It’s smaller; yeah, that’s part of it. It uses less material (smaller and no boards needed for a cover); yup that too. Hint: look inside! Paperbacks, especially those printed by Scholastic, are printed and cheaper [and therefore poorer quality] paper stock (Ellis, 2021). You don’t need to read an article about the problems with Scholastic to realize the paperback isn’t the same quality, you can see it with your own eyes. Despite being only a year apart in age, my paperback pages are brownish and turning an unpleasant brownish-orange from the edges inward. Meanwhile, the hardcover pages are still pristine white. Both books have traveled together from Connecticut to Savannah, GA to San Francisco and inhabited the same shelves, clearly the paper stock is to blame. Cheaper papers tend to be more acidic and are basically degraded from the time they are made. Should we stop producing paperbacks? Hell no! That would only limit access to books given the higher price of hardcover versions. We should just be wary of the means of production and how they’ll alter a book over time.

Other editions of The Sorcerer’s Stone have come out, of course. There’s one that creates Hogwarts across the spine of all seven books, an edition I recently rebound for a friend had a map of Hogwarts I had never seen before, and of course there are design bindings. As the franchise carries on and expands into the digital world, it’ll be very interesting indeed for this book historian to follow its evolution.

Citations (not linked above)

Lastoria, A. (2019). Lewis Carroll, art director: Recovering the design and production rationales for Victorian editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Book History, 22. pages 196-222.

Is Star Wars the Future Books?

It seems cliché to speculate about a sci-fi series showing us the future but, consider it with me.

The way we share stories has changed a lot over the course of human history. There were, and still are, oral stories; there are cave paintings; there were clay and wax tablets; scrolls; and eventually the codex which is the book most commonly seen in the west today. Let’s also not forget broadsides for poetry and declarations, pamphlets and leaflets for quickly sharing small amounts of information, and chapbooks all before we get to the common hardcovers and paperbacks in bookstores and libraries now (Lamb, 2021). Writers challenge and change formats and so we also have graphic novels and books like House of Leaves. All these types of books are relatively self-contained and offer the reader a chance to escape into another world for a while. There are duologues, trilogies, and sometimes longer series like Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. Occasionally a book, or series, breaks free and becomes a movie or TV series. The Star Wars saga, on the other hand, is doing something entirely different (thanks Disney!) and new and more series just might follow suite. Star Wars created a universe…

George Lucas and other Star Wars creators are hardly the first to create imagined worlds. J.R.R Tolkien arguably set the stage for world building in modern times. A philologist, professor, and author, with the Lord of the Rings series (and The Hobbit & Silmarillion) Tolkien created not only great stories but an entire world complete with maps, a history, deities, and several new languages. Eventually there were six movies as well.

But in between the Lord of the Rings books and movies, George Lucas came along and turned a crazy idea into a wildly popular film trilogy. Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope was released in theaters in 1977 (imdb). The movie release was preceded in 1976 by a paperback novel originally titled Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker by someone with the name of Alan Dean Foster. The author’s identity would later be revealed as none other than George Lucas and the title would be updated to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope to match the movie (Wookiepedia). From the start the franchise was co-existing in a variety of media. Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi would have movie releases and book releases that relatively matched each other (Wookiepedia). In between the original trilogy movie and book releases and the prequel films, fans and sci-fi writers would created an entire canon with adventures for the characters the world fell in love with in the late 70s. Things began to shift with the release of the prequel film trilogy: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. The books accompanying these films were commissioned from known sci-fi authors and while they follow the main plot of the movies, there’s deviation. Characters are more nuanced and the transformation of Anakin Skywalker is less sudden (you all know he’s Luke’s dad and Darth Vader right? It’s been like 41 years…). The saga then branches out into animation in 2008 with Clone Wars and everything changes when Disney purchases Lucasfilm in 2012 (IMDB and Dork Side of the Force). Disney had plans for Star Wars. It was going from a world to an omniverse. Films jump from the end of Return of the Jedi to the children of Han Solo & Leia Organa and Emperor Palpatine in The Force Awakens. How do fans find out what happened in the meantime? With books like the Aftermath trilogy by Chuck Wendig. The Rebels animated series bridges the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope but how do we know what happened to Anakin’s Palawan Ahsoka before Rebels? There’s a book for that. What happened to Han Solo before Solo? How does Leia mentally deal with founding a new republic and being Darth Vader’s daughter and Luke Skywalker’s twin? Yup, book, book, and book. There are also graphic novels, young adult books, and video games that have pieces of the story to bring every type of media together. Star Wars can be more than escapism if a fan so chooses.

Other book series are working on getting in on the action. Besides the books, a play, and two movie series (Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts) the Harry Potter series has the Wizarding World where fans can be sorted into houses and 2022 will be the release of an RPG for video gamers. Leigh Bardugo has two trilogies and a duopoly in her Grishaverse and just added a popular Netflix series. Star Wars blew apart the concept of world building in fiction and has embraced every type of media there is. The books remain a backbone but have raised the bar as to where books can take you. As digital technology advances and the definition of a book and storytelling evolve, what comes next? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Citations (not linked above)

Lamb, A. (2021). The book: Part 1. Course reader from S681: The Book - 1450+ at IUPUI.

Exploring the Legacy of Nature Writing

Who do you think of when you think about nature writing?

No, not Charles Darwin, he was more of a science writer. What about Thoreau, Muir? Maybe Rachel Carson and Silent Spring? Yes, yes, that’s more like it. Nature writing distinguishes itself from science writing by being more lyrical or poetic, musings about spending time in nature and how they make the author feel versus being a collection of facts written by a scientist. Nature writing wasn’t always a genre but from its advent, when Houghton, Mifflin, and Company gathered together books the called “Out-Door Books,” these emotive qualities have been what sets nature writing apart from science books (Lapfer, 2001). Houghton, Mifflin and Company editors set the standard for nature writing back in 1900 hundred when they said an outdoor author is a “good observer and a sympathetic student of nature” (Lupfer, 2001, p. 187). Let’s look at some authors who continue in this style today to maybe one day join the ranks of John Muir and Henry David Thoreau…

Books and authors continuing the “Out-Door Book” legacy

An image of the front cover of Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything on a wooden desktop with a Mac keyboard in the background.

Bill Bryson and A Short History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson is a very likely contender for this legacy. I was introduced to this book when a photo professor made us close our eyes as she read what she called “the most beautiful story ever”; it was about mold.

A Short History of Nearly Everything is a tome with 544 pages and 30 chapters Bryson really does explore just about everything. Each chapter acts as an essay exploring a specific topic, much like author Burroughs at the advent of the nature writing genre (Lapfer, 2001). Bryson does expand the nature writing definition, exploring more than just forests, mountains, and deserts. He stretches to the cosmos and works in some physics as well. This goes to show how advances in science move into popular culture and expand our understanding of just what nature is. Bryson also demonstrates how nature writing authors, readers, and publishers now accept facts along with their literature. Bryson remains the amateur defined in Lupfer’s article (2001) but also consults with scientists and translates their knowledge down to us common readers. If you want to feel insignificant in the context of the universe and time, this is the book for you.

An image of the front cover of The Cabaret of Plants by Richard Mabey on a wooden desktop with a silver pencil on the left side and a Mac keyboard in the background.

Richard Mabey and The Cabaret of Plants: Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination

Ok, I obsessed over this book for years. Mostly because I saw it on a bookstore shelf shortly after it was first published in 2016 but I was on a date, distracted and really trying to impress a girl so I didn’t buy the book. Then it was gone from the shelves and I couldn’t remember the name or author correctly. Fast-forward to two years later in rural Connecticut taking my nieces and nephews book shopping: THERE IT WAS! I snatched it up and yes, it was totally worth the wait (it didn’t work out with the girl).

In this volume, Mabey, like Bryson, uses his chapters like essays, focusing each one on a different plant and its relationship with humans. Mabey tells the readers stories that deviate from his own personal experiences and expand into those of friends, artists, explorers, and scientists. He also expands the nature writing definition beyond being present in a single moment to include much of human history and a bit of evolutionary history. To continue the literary-esque tradition of the genre, Mabey explains everything in common English turning science and historical facts into natural wonder. Maybe forget the girl for a minute and grab a copy of this book.

A photo of the cover of The Earth Moved by Amy Stewart on a wooden desktop with a Mac keyboard in the background.

Amy Stewart and The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms

Partially because I’m a fan of Charles Darwin (also obsessed with earthworms) and partially because I loved Amy Stewart’s Wicked Plants, I picked up this book.

Stewart expands the genre of nature writing by narrowing her focus. Here we have an entire book about the same thing: the underrated earthworm. Similar to Mabey and Bryson, Stewart works in history and scientific fact but from the perspective of a gardener who wants better soil. And what gardener doesn’t want better soil for their plants? Stewart explores not only what earthworms do for the soil but also some of their crazy features like how they can connect with other earthworms! She imparts gardening advice and shares her efforts to increase the earthworm population in her own soil. If you’re curious to know what birds get when they’re early, Amy Stewart has you covered.

A photo of the front cover of Underland by Robert Macfarlane

Robert Macfarlane and Underland: A Deep Time Journey

Wayback when Houghton, Mifflin and Company was setting the nature writing genre apart from other literary works, travel writing was considered separate from “Out-Door Books.” Travel writing was more adventurous and maybe dealt with people in a particular place while outdoor books were quieter and focused more on the environment (Lupfer, 2001). I would argue that Robert Macfarlane blends the genres and creates something that can honestly be considered nature writing with this creation.

Broken into three parts and 13 chapters, we once again have a collection essays, all related but also all different. Macfarlane manages to explore the history of humans and our interactions in nature in a personal and poetic way. His descriptions allow the reader to visualize places they have never been. He expertly juggles information about how humans have shaped nature with nature’s own unstoppable forces. Rather than situating the reader in a specific place or element of nature, Underland is an escapist read where you can consider and explore.

An image of Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

Merlin Sheldrake and Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

The “wood-wide web” has been a thing for minute; I mean, everyone loves a good pun, right? Sheldrake attempts to tackle just what the wood-wide web is and how important all types of fungi are in this 352 page book. I learned about Sheldrake in Underland and my love of mushrooms drew me to this book. Likely unknowingly, Sheldrake challenges the separation of science books and nature writings with this work. There are musings and pondering and Sheldrake often waxes lyrical about how fungi can adapt and learn (yes, learn) but he’s also a biologist with a Ph.D from Cambridge. It’s 2020 Houghton, Mifflin and Company and scientists can be literary authors too, gosh dang it! Because there is more science wrapped up in here, I found it could be a bit more difficult to understand than some of the other books listed in this post, but it’s still wonderful with great visuals and this book can also be supplemented with podcasts like Ologies and Completely Arbortrary that mix in the importance of fungal associates with a lot fun and endless dashes of humor.

Citations (not linked above)

Lupfer, E. (2001). Before nature writing: Houghton, Mifflin and Company and the invention of the outdoor book, 1800-1900. Book History, 4, pp. 177-204.

The Business of Books: Exploring a publishing house via Light from Uncommon Stars

On Monday I finished Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki. I spent about a week reading it but, if I had my way (and no deadlines for grad school) I would have finished it in a day, maybe two. It was just delightful.

The book has been called “genre bending,” “fantasy/sci-fi,” “sci-fi,” “space opera,” “hope punk,” and probably other’s I’ve missed (the Nerdette podcast book club chats about this on their October 26 episode). The book itself mainly follows three queer women of color: Shizuka Satomi, a violin teacher who made a deal with the devil to deliver seven souls in exchange for her music; Katrina Nguyen, a trans runaway and violin protégée; and Lan Tran, an interstellar refugee and starship captain. The story is realistic, the readers learn about the abuses both physical and mental that are often hurled at members of the LGBTQIA+ community but the story doesn’t dwell on them and shows that queer individuals are so much more than they’re trauma and queer identity. As a non-binary and queer human who can sometimes pass for either gender, I didn’t think being represented in fiction would be all that crucial because I often find myself relating to a variety of characters. However, the range of experiences and characters Aoki writes about made me and my experiences feel validated and it was absolutely wonderful! Also, SPOILER ALERT, the books ends on a hopeful note, something that was wonderful but also incredibly uncommon for a cast of queer characters. This books was a page turner and a wonder for the senses, I was seeing the colors and smelling the food described and I just want to give this book a hug. I should note: the storytelling frequently changes perspective, not just between the main characters but also with some side characters as well. [Via Good Reads] I have heard some readers found this challenging to follow but I felt that it kept the pace moving along. The Nerdette podcast reviewers also discussed how this might relate to the LGBTQIA experience where you have to navigate multiple worlds simultaneously and I personally agree. However, this is just two opinions and should not be used to turn anyone away from reading the book.

Light from Uncommon Stars read-alikes:

• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (also recommended by Nerdette podcast)

• For dark yet similar hopeful vibes: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

• For out there space adventures and leading queer characters: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir

A photo of three books (with their spines facing the camera): Gideon the Ninth, A Darker Shade of Magic, Light from Uncommon Stars; on a sunlight bookshelf with the fore edges of other books showing in the background.

Some history about publishing and TOR…

On October 19 I joined an author talk with Ryka Aoki and Charlie Jane Anders hosted by the Booksmith. During the talk Aoki commented on how wonderful her publisher Tor was in supporting her and her story that challenged not only genres but also the stereotypical protagonist. That got me to thinking…some of the best books I’ve read in the last year were also published by Tor: Gideon the Ninth (of the Locked Tomb series), The Shades of Magic trilogy, and Light from Uncommon Stars. Let’s look into what got TOR to where they are today.

Way back in the day, before the printing press revolutionized Europe and books were all written by hand (manuscripts), there weren’t really publishers. A lot of scribes worked in monasteries and sometimes convents, or they posted ads consisting of their calligraphic talents in windows or the books themselves and were thus hired by a nobleman rich enough to afford paying someone to copy a book (Kwakkel, 2014). Things ran similarly outside Europe in the Ottoman Empire all the way until the 20th century (Erünsal, 2015). But then, around 1450, Gutenberg made some changes to an Asian invention and the printing press as we know it today took the Western world by storm. WHAM! BANG! Suddenly there were a lot more books being produced but who was in charge of all this production? Publishers? Nope, not yet. First, it was the printer themselves (Lamb, 2021) then, in the 17th century, booksellers began coordinating with authors and printers to stock their own shelves (Shaylor, 1912). In the 18th century steam presses (think: faster printing) came along and booksellers and publishers became separate jobs/roles (Feather, 2002) and finally, in the 19th century, publishers become more like what we know them to be today: places that source talent (authors and book designers), edit creations (books), arrange for printing, promote books, and get them onto bookshelves in stories, libraries, and homes (Lamb, 2021).

As I mentioned, Tor is a known publisher of science fiction and fantasy but were they always so willing to break the mould? There’s a crazy tale on their website stating that the company celebrated its 110th birthday this past April and was founded by two Swiss immigrant brothers who were selling cider in New York City until H.G. Wells told one of them they should also publish books. It continues with the invention of the paperback stemming from cocaine laced cider and switching to fantasy fiction during the Cold War (Henninger, 2011). It’s an enjoyable alternate reality. Clearly the publishing company has a love of fantastical and unusual tales.

Wikipedia provides some more accurate details: the company was started by Tom Doherty and eventually became a part of MacMillan. The publishing house within a publishing house has its own imprints such as Forge, Starscape, Tor Teens, and tor.com (an online magazine). In the author chat testimony from Aoki, Tor is willing to go that extra unusual mile with their creators. More details about Tor’s authors and genres can be found at Tom Doherty Associates.

Citations not linked above:

Erünsal, I. E. (2015). A brief survey of the book trade in the Ottoman Empire. Libri, 65(3), 217-235. 

Feather, J. (2002). A history of British publishing (2nd edition). Routledge.

Kwakkel, E. (2014, December 6). Medieval spam: The oldest advertisements for books. Medievalbooks. https://medievalbooks.nl/2014/12/05/medieval-spam-the-oldest-advertisements-for-books/

Lamb, A. (2021). The book as commodity. Course reader for S681: The Book - 1450+ at IUPUI.

Shaylor, J. (1912). The fascination of books. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent.