Session Information
HPEF - Azkatraz 2009
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Death and the Hero: Love and Death in the Novels of JK Rowling and the Epic of Gilgamesh
Track : Sunday, July 19, 2009
Program Code: 430
Date: Sunday, July 19, 2009
Time: 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM  EST
Location: Mission I (60)
SPEAKER :
Ajuan Maria Mance
Description
The distinction between the association of the fear of death with evil and villainy in the Harry Potter series and the association of fear of death with heroism in the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh has much do with the degree to which each body of work serves as a reflection of the cultural and historical context in which it was written. This lecture will examine what the Epic of Gilgamesh, whose engagement with the question of the fear of death seems both to foreshadow and to oppose J.K. Rowling’s treatment of this issue, can help us understand about the novels of the Harry Potter series as literary reflection of the values, beliefs, and conditions of the cultural moment in which they were produced.