The Order of Harry Potter: Literary Skill in the Hogwarts Epic (review)

With the release of the last film in the Harry Potter series, a familiar debate found its way back into popular and academic circles: Is Harry Potter high-quality literature and worthy of a place within the literary canon of children’s literature? In The Order of Harry Potter, Colin Manlove seeks to answer this question. “The Harry Potter stories work as the best kinds of literature work,” he argues, “as an ordered vision with the style both mirroring and commenting on the content. For these books not only mean, they are, and what they are is a construct of style and imagery and brilliant invention” (8; original emphasis).

Manlove goes on to argue that while such literary critiques and examinations of the series are “fine as far as [they] go,” they fall short of a fuller and deeper appreciation of the works as capital-“L” literature. Instead, he seeks to focus the spotlight of discussion “back to where [he believes] it should start, from a discussion of how well [the Harry Potter books] work and are ordered” (9). Manlove contends that “given the millions of their readers who cannot put them down, [this] must be the first consideration” (9). He believes that scholars should examine the Harry Potter series closely in order to better understand why these works seem to cast a spell on their readers. Potter fans are fascinated by the world J. K. Rowling has created within them, often consuming each novel in one marathon reading session or rereading the series many, many times.

This stated goal, which comes at the end of the book’s introduction, is a worthy one and much needed in the field of children’s literature as it relates to this particular series. Unfortunately, Manlove does not adequately address issues of how the books work, how they are ordered, or what makes the series so fascinating and readable. Instead, he engages in what he both criticizes and puts forward as his thesis, writing that “almost without exception literary criticism of the Harry Potter books [is] concerned about what they signify: what are their moral, religious or philosophical meanings” (9).

The Order of Harry Potter is divided into seven chapters, with each offering a different argument or critique. Chapter two seeks to examine the “linkage between the Harry Potter books and” Christianity that many have suggested. Manlove makes a number of connections to various classic works, such as the Lord of the Rings, Many Dimensions, and The Chronicles of Narnia, that have strong religious themes at their core.

Chapter three, “Page Turners—Harry Potter and Enid Blyton,” offers a careful examination of the works of Blyton, who is often given credit for being a major influence on Rowling. In this chapter, Manlove seeks to identify Blyton’s influence on the series, while arguing that Rowling’s skill far exceeds Blyton’s, as is demonstrated by the complexity found in her series. If one puts aside his stated thesis, this chapter has much to offer the reader. Not only does Manlove carefully examine how Blyton’s work speaks to and informs Rowling’s, he also offers a careful examination of the skill of both authors. In particular, he notes that Rowling has “gone further than most fantasy writers in joining the real world with the fantastic one” of the Harry Potter series (71). This choice by Rowling, Manlove argues, joins the magical world within her series with the real world of its readers in a way that allows for the possibility that both exist. On the other hand, he asserts that Blyton’s sole objective is to direct and “carry the reader along in a single all-embracing plot leading to a goal” (82). According to Manlove, Rowling takes pleasure in creating “multiple stories and characters until eventually one plot becomes dominant,” and instead of directing her readers, immerses them into the depths of her narrative (82).

Chapter four, “Did Harry Dream It All?,” offers...