Harry Potter's Bookshelf: The Great Books behind the Hogwarts Adventures

by John Granger

Harry Potter . The name conjures up J.K. Rowling's wondrous world of magic that has captured the imaginations of millions on both the printed page and the silver screen with bestselling novels and blockbuster films. The true magic found in this children's fantasy series lies not only in its appeal to people of all ages but in its connection to the greater world of classic literature.

Harry Potter's The Great Books Behind the Hogwarts Adventures explores the literary landscape of themes and genres J.K. Rowling artfully wove throughout her novels-and the influential authors and stories that inspired her. From Jane Austen's Emma and Charles Dickens's class struggles, through the gothic romances of Dracula and Frankenstein and the detective mysteries of Dorothy L. Sayers, to the dramatic alchemy of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and William Shakespeare, Rowling cast a powerful spell with the great books of English literature that transformed the story of a young wizard into a worldwide pop culture phenomenon.

Genres: Harry Potter, Nonfiction, Books About Books, Literature, Literary Criticism, Magic, Reference

337 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 2009

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I admit it - I love Harry Potter. I have the books in both the American and British editions (yes, there are differences). Though I had never heard of this book, when I received it for Christmas I was excited because it looked right up my alley. Written by a professor, this book takes a look at the literary influences on the beloved series, both those that J.K. Rowling acknowledges and those she has not. Granger takes a systematic approach, tackling surface meaning, moral meaning, allegorical meaning, and mythic meaning, drawing out correlations to Dickens, Sayers, Austen, Tolkien, and Nesbit to name a few. The academic in me tore through every chapter and turned over each argument.

Reading this book felt like I was back in college sitting in a lecture (in a good way) and had me thinking about Harry Potter in completely new ways. A scholarly text like this runs the risk of pretention, but the tone throughout is conversational and does not require previous knowledge of every text mentioned in its chapters. One of my favorite connections was the one drawn between perspective in Rowling's novels and that of Jane Austen's novels, perhaps most effectively in Emma. On the other hand, there are a few instances where it felt like Granger was stretching, especially when trying to identify patterns in every single book and some of the Christian imagery.

However, despite some of those moments when I just didn't buy it, overall I really enjoyed digging into this book. If anything, I wish I could have reined myself in and read it a little slower because it definitely warrants some time to digest each layer of argument. Part of what is so wonderful about the Harry Potter series, and so many great works of literature, is that each reading provides something new; I never get bored with the story. Without a doubt, I will pick up this book again to challenge and expand my own understanding of the magical world that has captivated me for years.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"There are at least four principal themes running through these novels: prejudice, choice, change, and love’s victory over death—and prejudice may be the pivotal theme of the four."

Read for the Back to Hogwarts Readathon 2025 challenge. I chose John Granger's Harry Potter's Bookshelf: The Great Books Behind the Hogwarts Adventures for the Divination subject, which was about a book you "predict" will be 5 stars.

For many years now, I have been meaning to read at least one of Granger's books, so I'm glad to have finally done so! It was fascinating, especially the connection between J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and Jane Austen's Emma. I really enjoyed the way Granger presented everything in this book and look forward to reading more by him in the future.

[Kathryn Houghton · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so very interested in reading this book. Harry Potter is by no means perfect, but I've always found them to be solid stories worth reading again and again.

But this book was, in my opinion, quite terrible.

First, the author forces his points in a way reminiscent of bad high school literary analysis. Granger has a point to make and, by golly, he's going to make it. He cherrypicks examples and ignores anything that might contradict his point. He forces things into his way of thinking. I kid you not, at one point he's discussing characters whose names come from or mean "red" and he gives Fred as an example because if you remove the letter F you get "red." I'm sorry, but no. That is stretching.

Beyond that, Granger likes to tell readers what they did, do, or would think about something. I found this patronizing, especially since at times his statements are a bit insulting: you didn't see this, dear reader. Also, he refers to Rowling as Ms. Rowling throughout, but other authors don't receive that same treatment, which, in my analysis, makes it seem as if he doesn't consider her a real author. His words show otherwise, but I found this an inappropriate stylistic decision.

There's more I could say, but I don't want to waste any more time on this book.

[Julie Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting overview of different genres of fiction which Harry Potter roughly fits into as well as an indepth discussion of alchemy - which the author posits is the key to deeply understanding the series. Not really my area of interest as I'm not as passionately attached to Harry Potter as a lot of people are, though I truly value the series and stories. But worth reading and probably will be eye opening for some.

[Carrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I originally picked this up after finishing the series and looking for a little inspiration to build my queue of some classic lit, intending to just flip through and grab a few names that Granger discusses… but then once I started reading I didn’t want to stop! It felt like someone walking me through the “easter eggs” left by Rowling throughout the entire series and it taught me a lot along the way! Not a usual read for me but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and did pick up some new titles to read :)

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never read the Harry Potter novels. However, I've read "dissect famous English literature to see how they work" books before and found them fascinating, so I was interested when I got this unrequested review copy in the mail. The author based his selection of comparison books on books mentioned by J.K. Rowling in interviews or simply by their strong similarities to her novels on certain points. He didn't get his information directly from Rowling and sometimes even argued against her claims that certain books didn't influence her novels.

You don't need to have read Harry Potter or any of the other books mentioned to get a lot out of this book. The author explained enough about each scene or overall story in question that the reader could follow his point. In fact, the focus in the first half was primarily on other books followed by an explanation of how the technique just explored was used in Harry Potter. The last half of the book focused more on the Harry Potter novels, though, and I probably would have more deeply grasped his points if I had read the series.

Harry Potter's Bookshelf had four parts. Part One explored "the surface meaning"--the genre of the Harry Potter series, why that setting, etc. Part Two explored "the moral meaning"--what books were similar in how the moral message was delivered and what that message was. Part Thee explored "the allegorical meaning"--the satire and allegory in the Harry Potter novels. Part Four explored "the mythic or anagogical meaning"--the hero's journey, the alchemical formula to the story structure, etc.

Part Four was, er, weird. I've read a lot about the history of traditional Christianity, and I've never even heard of some of the things he claims are traditional Christian symbols or beliefs. In fact, the author completely misrepresented what the Bible (and C.S. Lewis) says about Logos by quoting only part of the whole (which would have clearly shown his conclusion was wrong). If you decide to read this book, I'd recommend skipping Part Four or at least reading the author's claims with a large dose of skepticism.

The author assumed the reader had read all of the Harry Potter books and so revealed some major spoilers (though little I hadn't already overheard other people say). Overall, Harry Potter's Bookshelf was an easy read and, except for the last section, easy to follow. If you're interested in exploring genre rules, point of view tricks, symbolism, etc. in English literature, you'll probably find this book interesting.

I received this book as an unrequested review copy.

[Chelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The positive first: aside from the attention to Austen and Bronte which I find fascinating, the author discusses more interesting works that Rowling alludes to. There's Tom Brown, the Bible, Dorothy Sayers, Wide Saragasso sea and more. However, there was much summary of the works, a superficial treatment of themes and motifs and little else. Having done in-deptha analyses of her Austenian allusions, as well as the Narnia connections I think much more could have been done. Moreover, he misses out a true discussion of how Rowling works in literary allusion, and his connections between saying Rowling read books about alchemy, and appreciating her understanding of her own literary alchemy are tenuous at best.

My real issue with this book, though, came in the fact that it was horribly edited. In one paragraph King's Cross is used with an apostrophe and without. Han Solo is identified as "Hans" Solo, and the oft repeated line of Harry being "Dumbledore's man through and through" (HBP) is misquoted. Harry is "a Dumbledore man", quite a different thing. Granger often insists upon calling JKR "Ms. Rowling" which in its way belittles her within a scholarly text. He is overly casual and sometimes seems to patronize the books he is clearly passionate about. I don't want everyone to have a Harry-generation child's encyclopaedic knowledge of the book (though, for the record Ginny's diary didn't enter Hogwarts in a textbook, it entered her possession with a textbook), general editing skills would be nice.

[Sara Reis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I ws genuinely enjoying the book with parallels being drawn between HP and other great works of English literature. The story streams, settings and flows of narrative were shrewdly picked up and apart to show how they linked with broader literature genres and I got a few ideas of what to read next. However, in the last two or three chapters the author gets carried away and embarks on Christian symbolism and alchemy galore which quite frankly sounded too much and too far-fetched, most of it. I guess in a rich universe like the one Rowling invented, with its own rules, mythology characters and artifacts, you interpret their metaphysical meanings as freely as you like. Didn't give one star because I learned quite a few things about English literature which were priceless.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took my time reading this book because I kept stopping to read or reread the books it lists as influences on Rowling's work. The authors and works presented here have been specifically mentioned by Rowling in interviews. Granger clearly loves the Potter books and enjoys sharing with his reader some of the many reasons why we love the Potter books so much. The earliest chapters begin with the more obvious comparisons of boarding school adventures and mystery novels, but before long you're studying the narrative voice of Jane Austen's Emma, alchemy, and the New Testament concept of Logos.

[Liam Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is for a very small subset of people, but what a novel it is.

That very small subset of people is a group of uncommonly dedicated Potter fans who wish to delve so deeply and so academically into the innermost truths about and presented in Harry’s story that they will wade through John Granger’s intensively researched, insightful, sometimes funny, not occasionally religious and philosophical essays on the novels. Needless to say, there are enormous spoilers for all the Harry Potter series, as well as for many novels of the romantic European tradition. Why? This is “a book that simultaneously opens up both Harry Potter and English literature, using one as key to the other, to try to provide a model for thinking about great books” (xiv, Bookshelf). In this fashion, Granger uses Rowling’s work “as a key to unlock” Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice by Austen, Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dracula, Gulliver's Travels, The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, The Brothers Karamazov, The Secret Garden, The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, Romeo and Juliet, and A Tale of Two Cities, among others. Perhaps Bookshelf is a good novel with which to cram before an AP British Lit test?

All that aside, however, Granger’s work is fantastic. He uses a technique called iconological criticism, which used to be extremely popular among scholars but has since fallen out of favor, to examine Rowling’s work on four levels: the surface level, the moral level, the allegorical level, and the personal, mythic, or anagogical level. The novel begins, in retrospect, very simply: by detailing J.K. Rowling’s use of classic tropes of detective fiction before moving on to Harry’s status as an orphan and how it plays with our hearts, then the point-of-view Rowling uses, and then the setting. The moral level examines her use of gothic tropes and the way in which she encourages the reader to pursue a life of love. After analyzing her use of satire, we enter the depths of Granger’s discussion. He details the religious allegories at play before looking at the Christian connotations behind the hero’s journey and the implications of Potter’s events for the reader’s soul, just before finishing a grand argument out of which I got, if nothing else, that Harry Potter could be viewed as the crowning achievement of Western literature - in that corpus’ romanticism, anti-empiricism, and virtuousness - as it incorporates practically every literary element of note from the past 500 years.

Bookshelf is as fascinating as it is demanding and as profound as it is analytical. You might never look at Harry Potter the same way again.

[Eleni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reading of the Potter books in relation to a number of genres, including Gothic, mystery, Boarding school story, and satire, and via four layers of meaning: the surface story, the moral meaning, the allegorical meaning, and the mythic or anagogical meaning. He places the text in relation to works by Sayers, Austen, Mary Shelley, Plato, and Dickens, among others.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A handy book for someone looking at the HP series from a Great Books perspective. Granger explains the 10 different genres that he has found within the series, and then discusses each genre and points out where they all fit in. It’s helpful to have at least a general idea of each genre, because Granger doesn’t give more than a cursory explanation for some of them, while others he dives into much more fully - gothic and detective among them.
I may appreciate this book most for a general description of post-modern fiction, which I haven’t come across anywhere else to this point. As this is the fiction I’ve been immersed in all my life, it was immediately recognizable, but I’d never really known what to look for. It provides a good point of comparison for other works of fiction, as well as another means by which to better understand post-modern fiction itself.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read the Harry Potter series numerous times, I thought it would be a good idea to read a book like this one — that dissects the Potter stories and shows their connections to other works of literature from which Rowling drew (in some cases) inspiration. Granger teaches about Harry Potter to college students, so reading this book sort of felt like I was in school again, tackling a reading assignment...except I didn't have to take a test or do any homework afterward.

Jo Rowling has said that Jane Austen is her favorite author (she's a woman with good literary taste, that's for sure!), so it's obvious that Granger would include Austen's novels in his text. The chapter entitled "Pride and Prejudice with Wands" was interesting to me, not just because of the title, but also because it points out the similar narrative choices made by Austen and Rowling. Both authors choose the third-person approach to tell their stories. Granger equates it with the reader sitting on the protagonist's shoulder and seeing events unfold as he/she would. So throughout the Potter novels, we experience the events as Harry does, although he's not the one telling the stories himself.

A chapter I found surprisingly intriguing is the one on alchemy (Chapter Nine, "Harry Potter as Alchemical Reading Magic"). I had no idea Rowling learned so much about alchemy before writing Harry's story, but after reading Granger's book, I can definitely see the way the story of the Boy Who Lived mirrors the alchemical process. The transition from black to white to red I found quite fascinating in terms of how it relates to the characters in the Potter novels, and to the plots themselves.

Granger's book goes in depth to explain the similarities between Potter and gothic novels, detective fiction, allegory, and satire, among other genres. He uses direct quotes from the novels, as well as quotes from some of Rowling's interviews. While some of the connections make total sense and enlightened me, causing me to rethink certain aspects of Rowling's novels, others seem a bit farfetched — like Granger was grasping for any possible way to draw similarities between Potter and a particular literary work.

Overall, it was an interesting read. Perfect for someone like me who loves the Harry Potter books and appreciates literary works of the past, and would like to see how the two are connected.

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was completely fascinating to me, and my first thought upon finishing it was that I needed to read it again. Granger basically uses this book to answer the question: Why are the Harry Potter books so popular? But he does so much more than that. He discusses literary traditions and devices that have been used for a long time, citing examples in a wide array of 'Great Books'. He talks about what the symbolism means, and why it resonates with us as human beings. He talks about the extensive genre-crossing that puts Harry in a genre of his own. Although Granger's explanations were all very good, some of them left me wanting more in-depth information, so I look forward to searching that out.

[Ryan Laferney · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Granger examines the great books and authors that shaped the Harry Potter series in this literary analysis of Potter mania. It is a well researched, and well informed look, particularly at the genres and literary techniques J.K. Rowling has utilized to create the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Granger focuses on four levels of meaning within Rowlings text (the surface meaning, the moral meaning, the allegorical meaning, and the anagogical meaning) while examining how Rowling combines the best of the hero's journey, mystery, schoolboy fiction, Gothic fiction, postmodern morality, and Christian fantasy to cast her spell. This made for a fascinating read and really adds more to rereading the series.

[Adam Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Granger, an English prof, works to unveil some of the allusions and connections to broader literature in the Potter novels. While the English Major in me wanted more close readings of the various texts, the book serves as a solid introduction for the general reader to the incredible literary worth and depth in the Potter saga. Granger paints a picture both fascinating (Snape as Wuthering Heights' Heathcliff and Paradise's Dante) and disturbing (Order of the Phoentix as secret society of Fabian Socialists). But the burden of proof is certainly now resting entirely upon the shoulders of those who wish to argue the Potter novels aren't worth exploring as literature.

[Matt Pitts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently completed my first read through the Harry Potter novels (a little late to the game, I know) and was eager to see what John Granger had to say about the books behind the books. I was not disappointed. He not only drew my attention to things I did not know about Rowling as an author and about the Potter novels themselves but also about the English literary tradition (who knew that literary alchemy was behind Romeo and Juliet and A Tale of Two Cities? or that a Doppelgänger is more than a look alike?). I must say I did not find all of his explanations convincing, but on the whole I thoroughly enjoyed the book and had my eyes opened to much I had not seen before.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind-blowing....The way that Granger is able to establish evidence and elaborate on all the inner-workings of the Harry Potter novels in a scholarly manner is wonderful. I couldn't put the down, and it has now taken me on a journey to read so many books that influenced Rowling.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

8/8/2024 * 4.5 🌟 (rounded up to 5)
Twenty-ish years ago I used to follow several Harry Potter related blogs, with John Granger's Hogwarts Professor being the one I checked most often, and I even read one of his books, but after book 7 came out and life got really busy, I didn't have time to check it and eventually sort of forgot about it. But while listening to the recent Literary Life's podcast episodes about Harry Potter, Angelina mentioned this "new-to-me" book and of course I had to buy the Kindle version right away and check to see if the HogwartsProfessor blog was still around (it is! And there's now a podcast.Yay. 😊) so now I'm on a Harry Potter kick - re-reading the series and books and articles about the books.


A few quotes I liked:
"When I am asked what other books most remind me of Harry Potter, the top three are Emma, A Tale of Two Cities, and Gulliver’s Travels—and, of those three, the satirical journeys of Lemuel Gulliver are probably the closest match to Harry’s."

"Harry as spirit, Ron as body, and brainy Hermione, of course, as mind."

"... to explore what legendary art and literary critic John Ruskin called the jewels available only to those doing the “deep mining” of meditative and close reading, our experience of the Hero’s Journey, literary alchemy, and magical, spiritual core reality beneath the surface of everything existent in Harry’s adventures."

"The model I’ve chosen is what Northrop Frye called the iconological school of literary criticism. In a nutshell, we’ll be looking at Harry Potter as a text like all great art with four layers of meaning: the surface, the moral, the allegorical, and the anagogical or spiritual."

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard about John Granger from various podcasts about Harry Potter. I was delighted to know that there was so much more to the Harry Potter story than I originally thought. I was not a fan of mythology or philosophy so was thrilled Granger introduced me to the deeper meanings of Harry Potter. I figured his books would be good.

However, Harry Potter's bookshelves did not give me the thrill I got from listening to John Granger in podcasts. The bookshelves did introduce me to a world of what British people read in their youth. Obviously, those books were not part of an American youth's bookshelf. Americans did not read fictions about rich kids going to British boarding schools or books by E. Nesbit or delved into alchemy. This made me glad I wasn't British.

Then his books, of course, rambled on to parallels between Harry Potter and the Good Book... with Harry Potter being a Christ-like figure.

Although I wasn't a fan of this book, I may try others or listen to his old podcasts.

[Leila Mota · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a great idea to explore writers and ideas that inspired J.K. Rowling to create a beloved hero and his saga. The author finds that many relevant writers are, in a way, present in Rowling's writing. Jane Austen, Dickens, Tolkien and others are mentioned. It's not only the writers but phylosophy/religion as well. Alchemy and Christian mythology are said to guide the storyline and characters behavior. I was intrigued by the theories and even believe some to be completely logical. At least it made me think in a way that I was used to when I was in college. That's new and stimulating, because it's a way of digging into all possible interpretations of a work of art - or a book. Even when it's far-fetched. So even when I think the author sees too much (or what isn't really there) we can learn something and revisit characters that we are used to love (that's me, Harry Potter fan).

[Cassandra Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful insights into the layered approach that Rowling created in her magical world. I really appreciated the in-depth look and parallels to other authors woven in with Rowling's own words. I also appreciate that he included Rowling's comments that went against a point he was trying to make, although he did spin that.

The primary reasons this book is a 4 and not a 5 are two-fold.

1) Writing: At times he was repetitive. At one point the writing was almost word for word with a section in a prior chapter.

2) Content: In spite of my education and reading experience, I still believe that sometimes an apple is just an apple and authors write with intent that should be respected.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great review of the literature that influenced Harry Potter and how deftly JK Rowling mixed genres and themes to create the master piece of Harry Potter. Any Harry Potter nerd will love. I wish the book was longer and included more about the Christian symbols that were commonly used by others are seen in Harry Potter. The author wrote about those in another book, which isn't available at my library.

[Viewpoints Radio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can you believe it has been 20 years since Harry Potter first came out? On our weekly radio show Viewpoints Radio, we discuss all things Harry Potter and why we still love it after all these years. We spoke with author John Granger about this affection. If you would like to hear about Pottermania, check out this link! https://viewpointsradio.wordpress.com...

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, but I can see that it’s not for everyone. Having a background in English literature, I understood a lot of what the author was discussing as far as genre and form and literary influence, and I loved the connections he made, but I won’t recommend it to people just because they love HP.

[Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not quite as good as I hoped, Granger highlights interesting symbolism and allegory that I enjoyed. I appreciated the background on alchemy and children’s books Rowling has stated as influences on the HP series.

Didn’t love that JK Rowling is “Ms. Rowling” but male authors are just “Lewis” or “Tolkien”

[rinabeana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read about Rowling's influences, acknowledged by her and/or deduced by the author. Parts were more intellectual than interesting, but on the whole it was readable by a non-literary scholar. Made me want to reread the HP series!

[tuckermo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harry Potter’s Bookshelf was really fun to read immediately following the series. John Granger brings a lot of interesting points to the table with regard to deeper meanings and the layers of these books.

[Rebecca Crown · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you think Harry Potter is the best children's series ever written and are curious about what authors, genres, and conventions inspired J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter's Bookshelf by John Granger might be a fun read for you! -Joseph

[Megan Brumley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book last year and finished now. This is a great overview of the multiple levels of allegory in the Harry Potter series. I find this book also shows what literary tradition is. I learned new things and I will get more books from this author.