Assignment On

Magic of Literature
Submitted To
Golam Sarwar
Department of DEH
Subject Name-American Modern Drama
Submitted By
Hiba Shehrin Binte Mahmud
Id- 151013054
Submission Date
14-08-2016

University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh

Magic and Popular Culture

I attended a seminar on MAGIC OF LITERATURE at University of Liberal Arts on

27th june 2016 at 11:45-12:45, room no 401. I heard some lecture about the
problems with magic. In a world of magic, it is easy to see it as a resource to be
manipulated and used as one pleases. In Terry Pratchetts Discworld series,
magic is treated a bit differently. The wizards and witches who populate the
Discworld are different in that they actively avoid using magic. The witvhes, in
particular, go in the opposite direction and rely on their wits and headology.
This mind-set that these characters have towards magic is all a part of
Pratchetts stealth philosophy. By looking carefully at how and when the
witches resort to using magic, this paper intends to demonstrate that Pratchett
was trying to explain that magic, ever in a magical universe is not the best
answer, or even the easy solution for any problem.
Abstract
This article discusses the reasons for the religious reactions to the Harry Potter
novels, arguing that the books contribute to, and reflect, the reconfiguration of
religion in contemporary society. The article analyses the media qualities of
fantasy literature and the specific representation of magic in the novels and
argues that these aspects form an important part of the reasons for the religious
reactions. Fantasy literature and other popular culture that represents and
mediates religious expressions and phenomena actively contribute to the
reconfiguration of, and communication about, religion in contemporary society
and are thus of consequence for what we understand religion to be in the study
of religions.
Introduction
Harry Porter In Media: A NEW ENTERTAINMENT FOR YOUNG ADULTS.
The Harry Potter novels continue to find great interest worldwide as an epitome
of the fantasy popularity surge. This article suggests that the Harry Potter series
is a relevant object of analysis in religious studies, as it is among the most
influential representations of the use of magic in Western societies.1 The article
points to the media qualities of fantasy novels and analyses the representation
of magic in the novels, arguing that the novels contribute to, and reflect, the
reconfiguration of religion in contemporary society. This has implications for the
discussion of disenchantment and for what we understand religion to be in the
context of the academic study of religions.
Background
Recently, we have seen a series of religious phenomena, controversies, and new
religious forms related to fantasy fiction (e.g. Davidsen, Spiritual,
Fiktionsbaseret; Cusack, Science, Church; Feldt, Fantasizing). The Harry
Potter novels have also met strong religious reactions, including extreme acts of
rejection by church leaders and parents in conservative Christian communities in
the USA (but see Kruk; Gemmil and Nexon 79)book burnings, library bans, and
public denouncement of the series as evil and promoting witchcraft (Sky;
Cockrell). However, interestingly, while some conservative Christian communities

evidently perceive Harry Potter as religious competition, the novels have also
been subject to religious appropriation by other Christian authors and groups,
who see the series as communicating a Christian story or Christian values, in a
form suitable for the contemporary age (e.g. Killinger; Neal). These Christian
interpreters tend to explain the magic away as insignificant and ornamental. The
present article focuses on contexts, media, and representations of terms (Jensen
108112, 1304), which enables a non-essentialist discussion.7 While social
factors, religious use, and communities of interpretation are ultimately what
finally determines a text as religious (Feldt, Signs), the above approaches do
not fully address the question why fantasy literature in particular is so often
interpreted religiously and why the religious response to Harry Potter is so
abundant and multifarious, nor do they discuss the representation of magic in
the novels in sufficient detail. Here, to address these questions, I analyse the
media qualities of the fantasy genre and the representation of magic in Harry
Potter.
Bringing in Literature: Fantasy Novels as Media
Although many factors influence the reception process of cultural products, it is
pertinent to take up the media qualities of literature in the study of religions. The
importance of literature and the act of reading as media of religious formation
remain undiminished, albeit they are altered by the concurrent interaction with
new digital and social media (Hjarvard and Lvheim; Deacy and Arweck;
Mackey), as studies such as those by Lisbeth Mikaelsson, Graham Harvey
(Discworld), Christopher Partridge (Re-enchantment 1), Neumann (Pop,
Naturalizing), Amy Frykholm, and Amy Hungerford suggest. Literary fiction
does indeed seem to play a significant role for religion today and to participate
in the re-negotiation of religions place in contemporary society (Clark; Sky; Feldt,
Fantasizing). Among the variety of literary genres, fantasy literature has
particular media qualities which, I argue, make this genre particularly prone to
religious use and reactions. In terms of content and motifssuch as transempirical or superhuman events, actors, actions, and spacesthe modern
fantasy genre greatly resembles narrative religious genres such as myths, stories
of marvels, and epic literature.8 Anders K. Petersen has suggested that religious
textsas opposed to other text typesposit a world divided into two domains,
where the supernatural actors inhabit a sphere which differs from everyday
reality (Petersen), but we may also point to many fantasy texts which posit a
separate otherworld, inhabited by supernatural actors who influence the human
or everyday world. As contemporary studies (e.g. McGuire; Partridge, Reenchantment 1, Re-enchantment 2; Sutcliffe and Gilhus) point out, religion is not
confined to major deities and organised, institutional religionsancestor worship,
ghosts, magic, cults or spirituality qualify as much as religion proper as the
better known types of institutionalised religion. Fantasy literature features many
such religious elements and thus shows significant overlaps with religious
genres.
These media aspects of fantasy fiction do not, of course, make all fantasy
religious literature. Religious narratives differ from fantasy because they are
ascribed a special authority in and through their usage. Their special power lies

in the status that they are accorded within specific communities of interpretation
and use (Paden 7883).15 The existence of new religious movements which in
their formation were dependent on specific works of fantasy fiction (Cusack,
Science; Davidsen, Spiritual, Fiktionsbaseret) shows how the status and
authority of texts vary at different times and in different contexts and how
literature can be a resource for the formation and development of religious
identities (Partridge, Re-enchantment 1 13641). The formation processes of the
early Jewish and Christian canon are also fine examples of the floating and
mobile boundaries of religious authority with regard to texts (Popovic). However,
although social context, ritual use, and institutional sanction may make anything
religious (Fields xxxviiiii, xlvi), it does seem that the concrete similarities in
media qualities and literary form make it highly likely that fantasy literature
attracts religious attention and use to a greater degree than other types of
literature.
Religion and Magic all Mixed up
In Harry Potter, the use of representations and phenomenadrawn from the
broad field of religion, such as magic, divination, and spellsthe literary
similarities to religious narrative, the underlying purposeful and teleological story
world, the blurring of boundaries between the fantastic and the everyday realm,
the complexity of the representation of magic, the resemblance with
contemporary occultist ideas of magic, and the various references to known
mythologies together leave ample room for the reader to play with and reflect on
religion and magic. These aspects offer a clear indication that the magic of the
Harry Potter books cannot be relegated to the domain of insignificant ornament.
As for the status of the Harry Potter magic for the readers of the novels, the
response of any reader is, of course, influenced by social context, prior
commitments, networks, and contexts of use (Sky; Partridge, Re-enchantment 1
125). While it would be surprising to see the Harry Potter books used as
authoritative texts in a traditional religious community which has institutions,
hierarchies, and rituals, a powerful and widely disseminated representation of
magic such as Harry Potter is nevertheless socially formative. Indeed, the multimedia dissemination and use of the Harry Potter phenomenon suits the
contemporary mediatised religious landscape well (cf. Hjarvard and Lvheim).
New conditions of mediatisation and marketization apply so that we find many
variations on ideology in narrative form (Lincoln 149) in the field of popular
literature. Stories that are circulated in such volumes are of social consequence
in and for the religious field, independent of whether classically religious
practitioners can be located in relation to the Harry Potter world.18 Popular
culture like the fantasy genre, including the Harry Potter series, both reflects and
informs religious interests and religious fascination in contemporary society and
provides a site for explorations of ideas, values, and meanings in the religious
field.19 The novels special set-up with constant cross-references between
magical and everyday world makes them eminently usable for being grafted on
to the old struggle between popular religion and organised religion, because the
magic is so strongly tied to everyday life and to practical concerns. The religious
reactions to Harry Potterand the religious controversies, forms of appropriation,

and debates mentioned abovehave already moved these novels into the
religious field. In popular culture, free-floating elements and expressions from the
religious field may, without any anchorage in rituals, institutions or organised
religious usage, indeed be of social consequence.
Conclusion
This article has suggested that the media qualities of fantasy literature and the
complexity of the representation of magic in the Harry Potter novels offer parts of
the explanation for the religious reactions to the series and that these traits are
indications that the representation of magic in the novels should not be regarded
as disenchanted. The complexity of the representation of magic in Harry Potter is
amenable to many types of individualised usage, suiting contemporary
subjectivities well. The use of religious content and expressions taps into ways of
exploring religion which have traditionally been considered popular, which
resembles what McGuire calls lived religion: it is practice oriented and mixes
heterogeneous religious elements and belief is not really a relevant term
(McGuire 1521). Religious participation in related milieus may be both
temporary and partial and compatible with other religious resources,
attachments, and networks (Partridge, Re-enchantment 1 4650; Hammer 2736)
as well as with, as Eleta notes (55, 59), scientific forms of explanation. Today,
many competing narratives offer resources for religiosity and many free-floating
religious expressions and mediated ritual scripts guide individuals on how to
relate their lives to the religious field. Some of these are connected to religious
institutions and others are presented in popular culture (Hjarvard and Lvheim;
Ammerman; Partridge). Although the final volume of Harry Potter contains more
Christian references than the previous volumes, the series still does not proclaim
an explicit religious stance,22 but retains a basic equivocality in terms of religion
and magic. The same traitthe heterogeneity and equivocality of the
representation of religion and magicmay also offer some explanation of its
appeal to contemporary readers who may enjoy the fascination of religious
representations freed of any dogmatic or institutional binds. Harry Potter has
powerfully re-introduced magic and prevalent ideas from contemporary magical
milieus, along with other religious fragments and a teleological, purposeful world,
into the mainstream of the Western collective imaginary. Harry Potters magic is
aestheticized, playful, fictional, and literary. Nevertheless, it is part of the field of
religion and it shows how pertinent deeper considerations of various types of
literature as media are in the general study of religions today.