Is this an April Fool's article?

This philosopher has no stones

Sounds like it doesn't it? Then again, it's not much different to a media studies course: just state the bleedin' obvious and there's your 2:2...

Are spectacles and a willingness to go on stage with no clothes on mandatory??

Another "Mickey Mouse" degree? Imagine putting that on your CV? What kind of career is this supposed to train you for, except as a P*** Artist.

What most readers and the mass media have failed to recognise is that underneath all the excitement, mystery and suspense, there is radiant spiritual symbolism telling a timeless and universal story that resonates in the collective unconscious of humanity. This story and this symbolism can be summed up in the term: Alchemy.

Let me cite part of an interview with JK Rowling in 1998, just before Book 3 was published:
"I've never wanted to be a witch, but an alchemist, now that's a different matter. To invent this wizard world, I've learned a ridiculous amount about alchemy. Perhaps much of it I'll never use in the books, but I have to know in detail what magic can and cannot do in order to set the parameters and establish the stories' internal logic."

I would very much like to invite your readers to visit a website specifically designed to explain the alchemical symbolism in Harry Potter: harrypotterforseekers.com.

I hope the people doing the University course will visit my site to help them understand the powerful spiritual symbolism.

Hans Andréa

------------------
"Rowling said she couldn't answer the questions about the book's religious content until the conclusion of book seven." CST
"If I talk too freely about whether I believe in God I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books." JKR

Well 1-6 have missed the point..
6 can't even read - a 10 week evening course with no formal component is not a degree course Mickey Mouse or otherwise - cheer up grumps the sun has come out at last!
7 is both interesting and relevant.

I'm sure many people in the centre of the city have an idea for a spell for the University's pupils .... Studentium Disappearium!!!

Guys, read the article - it isn't a degree, it is an evening course. Why have you got a problem with some folks using their evenings creatively going to evening classes and discussing something?

#11 famous 15: What you write needs to be a story in The Scotman. Can you arrange it?

11/12 I think we can bank on seeing it in the next week......

Harry Potter is just a story. Like Lord of the Rings or Eragon, an imaginative creation with basis in the heritage, culture and history of many peoples, especially European myths, traditions and stories, primarily those of the British Isles, Germanic and Norse lands. If anything, it has gotten many children the world over to read. Read the written word in a 3-D form they can see, touch, smell and hear. Instead of endless hours playing computer and video games, writing schoolwork in "cyberspeak", and getting their imagination fix from the boob-tube, movie theater or cyberworld, children were introduced to this lost art of reading the written word. Along with this, they learn new words and have an interest in other countries and cultures. Adults were reintroduced to the slower paced world of spending time with their children reading. Lifelong learning is what we all do, if not then one stagnates without evolving.

Why in the world would Gaelic be deemed lesser, than other European languages? Oh, that's right, not enough people in the world speak nor wish to learn it. We had to fight for Hawaiian to be resurrected from its' dying language status, and have significance along side all the European and Asian languages, which were accorded more relevant and important status, here in the Hawaiian Islands. Aren't there immersion programs in Scotland, like Welsh in Wales and Irish Gaelic in Ireland?

I expect to see similar courses launched elsewhere and a Department of Potter Studies - and Ph.D. level degree in Potterology - at some institute of higher learning or other in the very near future.

Demand begets supply, after all, and universities, shockingly, like to make money.

For the record, I'm a fan of the books and fantasy and science fiction in general. Just don't expect me to apparate into Trevarthen's class with a Gringott's traveler's cheque in hand. ;-)

#11, 15: Yes, there are Gaelic immersion programs in Scotland - some modeled on Total Immersion Plus methods developed in Hawai'i. But this thread isn't about Aberdeen Unversity's policies or the debate over Gaelic -- and it's a real stretch to try and connect them.

And for the record, tha Gàidhlig agam.

I've been told that I should stop working so hard, as it makes me grouchy. And I can't count.

#10 - You are absolutely right. If people want to spend their hard-earned money on an evening course discussing the magic of Harry Potter, they are free to do so. Of course, we do this in The Leaky Cauldron every night for free, but not everyone can get here ...

And for those who think this is a waste of valuable university resources, may I suggest that universities could use the funds raised by courses such as this to fund other, less popular, academically important programs. Or sports teams.

#14 - You are absolutely right. It is just a story. A good story, too. One that has sustained the interest of its audience over 10 years. And J.K. Rowling's primary intent is to tell a story (and make a living, a very good living).

Alright, then - here's my ten knuts on the Moral Universe of Harry Potter FREE OF CHARGE.

It's not about magic, religion or alchemy. It's about tolerance, fairness and compassion against bigotry, cruelty, and ruthless ambition.

Not a bad theme - please send me 20 pages of parchment on the subject.

#8 and 10: alas, most of the story wasn't presented when the comments were made, else I'd have said "what a waste of public money in funding utterly spurious adult education classes" instead. The same would be true of the now defunct Da Vinci Code module.

17 - so what is it that you _are_ interested in that would not be a waste of money? And why should I be interested in what you are interested in anyway?

15/16 - where is this Leaky Cauldron of which you speak? And if an interest in exploring the depth and width of the material J K Rowling makes reference to is such a suspect activity - why do you 'do it every night for free'? (Do we even know how much this course costs?)
As for universities funding academically important minority interest courses - agreed, but sports teams??? How exactly are they useful or interesting? - they certainly aren't academic and there does not seem to be a shortage of them (or ridiculous sums of money to throw at them) in the culture in general.

HP is a great tale, but some people can take it too far...Does it not take the fun out of reading the books if structured classes analyse, and discect each irreverent story line for hidden meaning, and symbolic content?

I think all those Trekky, LOTR and Star Wars geeks are missing the point..just because you love a piece of film or a book doesn't mean you have to kick the arse the right out it!

I don't know. You figure Star Wars led to the creation of the Jedi religion. Of course that is not that serious but other fiction based religions are more serious. Matrixism a religion based on the movie The Matrix seems a bit more serious than Jediism.

The religion The Chruch of All Worlds has been around since the sixties and is based on the science fiction novel "Stranger in a Strange Land" and the Star Trek television series. Apparently they are into Satanism. And of course Scientology a religion that boast some 5 million members is also based on a science fiction novel.

With all the jinxing, cursing, potions and elf-slavery I can easily see a Harry Potter based religion spinning out of control the way Islam has with it inculcation of any and all means.