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Program Code:
470
Date:
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Time:
11:00 AM to 11:50 AM
EST
SPEAKER
:
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Vincent Geldenhuys was born and raised in South Africa, where he is currently completing a postgraduate dissertation on the Harry Potter films in the field of Visual Studies. He has a B.Sc degree in Human Genetics, a B.A degree in Information Design and is a practicing freelance graphic designer. He has a strong interest in mythology and symbolism.
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Description
Ahead of The Deathly Hallows interests or fears in the possible death of Harry Potter have highlighted an accumulating corpus of opinions about what should happen at the end of the series. Fundamental issues over ownership, authorship and interpretation are raised. Because Rowling's text is richly suggestive and widely read it is a perfect vehicle for tackling authorship and its reception in contemporary society. With a text as diverse as Harry Potter, which opinions are valid or invalid? How does authorship address the schism between various ideo-religious readings of the text and can we speak of a single Harry Potter or a single interpretation in a text that has borrowed symbolism from such a vast array of sources? There are parallels between the worship of text and author, between the mythic hero and the creator, between Harry Potter and Joanne Rowling. This presentation will highlight these fundamental ideologies within the ritual symbolism of alchemy, an underlying metaphor of the Harry Potter series.