A Wizard of Their Age

by Cecilia Konchar Farr (Editor)

A collection of student essays that captures the passionate engagement their generation brings to the Harry Potter phenomenon.

A Wizard of Their Age began when the students in Cecilia Konchar Farr’s “Six Degrees of Harry Potter” course at St. Catherine University kept finding errors in the available scholarship. These students had been reading Harry Potter for their entire literate lives, and they demanded more attention to the details they found significant. “We can do better than this,” they said.

Konchar Farr, two undergraduate teaching assistants, and five student editors decided to test that hypothesis. After issuing a call for contributions, they selected fifteen thoughtful academic essays by students from across the country. These essays examine the Harry Potter books from a variety of perspectives, including literary, historical, cultural, gender, mythological, psychological, theological, and genetic—there is even a nursing care plan for Tom Riddle. Interspersed among the essays are brief vignettes entitled “My Harry Potter Story,” where students write about their personal encounters with the novels.

Although a quick Internet search yields a dazzling number of books about Harry Potter, few are as deeply invested or insightful as A Wizard of Their Age. Written and edited by—and for—members of the Harry Potter generation, these essays demonstrate this generation’s passionate engagement with the Harry Potter phenomenon and provide numerous critical insights into the individual novels and the series as a whole.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Essays, Harry Potter

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Cecilia Konchar Farr is Dean of the College of Liberal and Creative Arts at West Liberty University where, in addition to leading as dean, she teaches, researches, and writes about popular literature and the history of the novel. She is author of The Ulysses Delusion: Rethinking Standards of Literary Merit and Reading Oprah and editor of several essay collections, including A Wizard of Their Age and the newly published Open at the Close: Literary Essays on Harry Potter.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was weird and wonderful to read, because I was one of the contributors and I know many of the others. We worked so hard to bring this book to you, and I hope you liked it.

(I wrote Chapter 2, if you're curious.)

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of essays by students who took a class on the Harry Potter novels at St. Catherine University. The class was taught by Cecilia Konchar Farr who edited this book. I took a class with Cecilia Konchar Farr while I was attending St. Kate's and majoring in English. I enjoyed reading all of the essays. I especially liked the essay on comparing the events in the Harry Potter novels to the rise of the Nazis in Germany. The essays made me look at Harry Potter differently. I am going to read all of the novels again with these essays in mind. Reading this book was a different experience for me than it will be for most readers since I graduated from St. Kate's with a BA in English. I understand what the English classes are like there and I could imagine the discussions that occurred in the class based on some of the essays I read. I felt nostalgia for my English classes while reading these essays. I only wish the Harry Potter class had existed while I was still pursuing my degree.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever wanted proof that Harry Potter deserves to be capital-L Literature, read this book! Applying literary, cultural, psychological, and yes, even genetic analysis to the beloved books gave me a renewed appreciation for the series that grew up with me.

[margothere]

Well, now I'll be reading the series again.