Intertextual Parallels in Harry Potter and Arthurian Legends

Focus on Language Aspect!

2500 words
Theory
Myth
Harry Potter and closer look
What functions
How does it help

175-200 words intro

800 theory
1200 main body
175 sum up

Severus Snape.

According to Fernandes, we can divide the meaning conveyed by names

into three types:

1. semantic meaning, which describes a certain quality of a given

person, place, or object; this type of meaning is often found in
allegorical literature, where a character's name sums up his or her
personality, gives clues about his or her destiny or indicates the
way the storyline may develop (Artemis Fowl from Eoin Colfer's
series, whose name is pronounced in the same way as the word
"foul," is indeed an anti-hero and a master-mind of crime).
Moreover, semantic meaning may create comic effect, usually
through pun and double entenders (for instance, the name of
Hagrid's hippogriff, Buckbeak, is analogous to the word
"bucktoothed," thus exemplifying one of the animal's most
prominent physical attributes).
2. Semiotic meaning—names may generate ancient or more recent
historical associations (Hedwig, Ptolemy), indicate gender (Ginny is
female, Harry is male), social class (Sir Nicolas De Mimsy-
Porpington in opposition to Harry Potter), nationality (Padma and
Parvati Patil are Indian, Viktor Krum is Bulgarian), religious identity
(Gabriel and Michael are biblical names), intertextuality (Merlin),
mythology (Minerva, Dedalus), etc.
3. Sound symbolic meaning, which is further divided into two types:

a. imitative, which makes use of onomatopoeia and stands for a

sound that can actually be heard (Breehy-hinny-brinny-
hoohy-hah is the name of a horse in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles
 of Narnia, Mrs Norris is the caretaker's cat in the Harry
Potter series and her name imitates the sounds she emits
when she is angry or irritated, which happens quite often)
b. phonesthetic, which is based on the use of phonesthemes—
sounds, sound clusters, or sound types directly associated
with a meaning, e.g. the cluster /gl/ occurring in words such
as: glisten, glow, glimmer, glitter, etc., i.e. words that are
commonly associated with light (Fernandes 2006: 46-48).

Apart from names that thus lend themselves to translation (so-called

"loaded names"), there exist conventional names, i.e. those which are not
semantically loaded. But whether they are "loaded" or "conventional,"
names appearing in translation must be "readable" and easy to
remember. In other words, they should not pose too many problems with
pronunciation and/or spelling (like the name Nguyen Xuan would do to an
average Polish child). This is very important in children's literature,
because too many linguistic obstacles may put children off reading even a
most interesting book (Fernandes 2006: 48-49).

Fernandes also describes a set of ten procedures that are most often used
by translators while dealing with the problem of proper names. These are:

1. copy—reproduction of names in the target text in the same form in

which they appear in the source text, without any orthographic
changes (e.g. Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley)
2. rendition—"direct translation" used in dealing with transparent or
semantically motivated names in standardised language (enmeshed
in the lexicon of the source language), e.g. the Leaky Cauldron
appearing in Harry Potter i kamień filozoficzny as "Dziurawy Kocioł"
3. transcription of a name in the closest corresponding letters of the
target language or alphabet, i.e. transliteration or adaptation at the
level of morphology, phonology, grammar, etc., so that the name
could conform to the norms of the target language (e.g. the name
"Muggle" is transcribed by Polkowski as "mugol")
4. conventionality—takes place when a target language name is
conventionally accepted as the translation of a given source
language name, e.g. "Minerwa" for "Minerva"
5. recreation of an invented name from the source text into the target
text with the aim of reproducing similar effects in a different cultural
setting (Scabbers, who in the Polish translation becomes
"Parszywek")
6. deletion—a complete or partial removal of a name; it is most often
used when the character (or place) in question is of little
importance for the narrative of the story (in Harry Potter i kamień
filozoficzny this happens to an inn called the Hog's Head)
7. addition of extra information to the name, which makes it either
more comprehensible or more appealing to the reader or solves any
 ambiguities that may stem from its translation (in the Brazilian
translation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe the Robin
becomes "Sr. Pintarroxo," which indicates his sex)
8. transposition—replacing one word class with another without any
semantic changes ("philosopher's stone"—a noun in the genitive
case accompanied by another noun—becomes "kamień
filozoficzny "—a noun in the nominative case accompanied by an
1

adjective)
9. substitution of a formally and/or semantically unrelated name in the
target text for a name existing in the source text (in the Brazilian
translation of the Artemis Fowl series the pharaoh Aquenaton is
substituted for Richard of York)
10. phonological replacement—replacing a source text name with
a name that is phonemically/graphologically analogous to it, for
instance replacing "Moaning Myrtle" with "Jęcząca Marta " 2

(Fernandes 2006: 50-55).

I've taken horrible liberties with folklore and mythology, but I'm quite unashamed about that,
because British folklore and British mythology is a totally bastard mythology. You know,
we've been invaded by people, we've appropriated their gods, we've taken their mythical
creatures, and we've soldered them all together to make, what I would say, is one of the
richest folklores in the world, because it's so varied. So I feel no compunction about
borrowing from that freely, but adding a few things of my own. (“Living with Harry”)

Throughout the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling takes advantage of readers‟ familiarity with
fairy tales as a method for engaging readers of all ages with the text and offering them a
foundation on which to base their responses to the novels.

Theory:
“witt the most basic level, creators of popular culture use folklore inter- textually.
Intertextuality depends on the “relational orientation of a text to other texts,” especially “the
ways in which each act of textual production presupposes antecedent texts and anticipates
prospective ones” (Bauman 2004, 4). In popular culture, intertextual uses of folklore typically
consist of the inclusion of “real-world” folkloric images and motifs in new cultural forms and
media. grobman calls this the “redacted, reworked, reconstruc- tion” of folklore, which he
says involves the conscious reworking of folk- loric phenomena “usually in order to establish
a point or make the traditions
more universally and popularly understood” (1979, 29). This use naturally assumes the
audiences’ familiarity with the material to which authors allude” (Carlea Holl-Jensen and
Jeffrey A. Tolbert 166)
“One prevalent genre in the series is fairy tale, often used in children‟s literature as a means of
engaging readers with familiar themes and structures. For many people, fairy tales are one of

the first introductions to narrative, causing readers to develop expectations of reading based on
their experiences with the tales. As a reader advances in his or her reading abilities, these
expectations are then applied to other forms of narrative” (Harry Potter and the reimagined fairy
tale: J.K. Rowling's use and manipulation of fairy tale narrative in the Harry Potter series
Glinsmann, Melanie)

Bauman, Richard. 2004. A World of Others’ Words: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on

Intertextuality. Hoboken, NJ: Blackwell. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470773895.

This strategic reliance on the rhetorical power of folklore is what Priscilla Denby describes as
the use of “folklore as foundation” (Denby 1971, 115–16). Denby likewise argues that
“anything founded in folk tradi- tion is by nature not esoteric and is likely to be understood
by most of the masses” (Carlea Holl-Jensen and Jeffrey A. Tolbert 116).

“For instance, for a reader familiar with Western mythology, Rowling’s references to
Arthurian legend not only enrich her ictional uni- verse but also reinforce the currency of
Arthurian tradition itself. These facts are all taken into consideration by creators of popular
culture, who also recognize that the success of these creative strategies depends on the
audience’s familiarity with the material being referenced: if a reader fails to recognize the
intertextual cues, then their evocative power is lost. Authors and other creators of popular
culture must choose the folkloric elements that are best suited to their audiences and their
ends” (Carlea Holl-Jensen and Jeffrey A. Tolbert 167).

The conscious construction of new material based on folkloric forms

is signiicant because it reveals assumptions about the nature of speciic

folkloric material: its functions, origins, and relevance to contemporary life. Implicated here
are both the author’s own assumptions and those of his or her audience, anticipated by the
author as he or she undertakes the process of world-building. When an author offers overt
commentary on this material, the strategies that guide its inclusion become all the more
apparent. In The Postmodern Fairytale, Kevin Paul Smith labels the process by which an
author constructs a new tale using recognizable generic mark- ers as “fabulation” (Smith
2007, 42); commentary on the genre within a ictional work, he suggests, constitutes a
“metaictional” use of folklore (45). The Tales of Beedle the Bard exempliies both the
fabulation of new tales and metaictional commentary on them. Like Rowling’s intertextual
references to folklore, this relects a highly self-conscious use of folkloric narrative. However,
her use of fairy tales in Beedle goes beyond intertextual uses by offering a direct explanation
of the attitudes that have informed a

168 Carlea Holl-Jensen and Jeffrey A. Tolbert

particular work. Beedle, with its “scholarly” commentary, is particularly use- ful to a
discussion of metafolklore.

Books:

Exploring Children's Literature: Teaching the Language and Reading of Fiction

25-26
https://books.google.de/books?
id=96t8LdsoVX4C&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=The+image+of+Harry+Potter+in+myths+int
ertextuality&source=bl&ots=h6L6zUiS5u&sig=ACfU3U18vMzg7dScpnhIMpPiHXAPR8Y9
CQ&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiV-P3HlbT2AhX-
SPEDHV3FBHoQ6AF6BAhHEAM#v=onepage&q=The%20image%20of%20Harry
%20Potter%20in%20myths%20intertextuality&f=false

“The young king Arthur was raised away from his royal court by his guardian sir Bors under
the protectorship of Merlin, and in the Harry Potter books young orphaned Harry is brought
up by his cruel guardians, protected by Merlin figure, Dumbledore” (Nikki Gamble, Sally
Yates 25)

l to the Harry–Dumbledore relationship in that between Wart and Merlyn. 3 Wendy Doniger
also relates the King Arthur of The Sword in the Stone to Harry Potter, pointing out their
common abilities to handle a magically heavy sword and to speak with ani- mals. 4

As suggested by Sara Ann Beach and Elizabeth Harden Willner in their essay “The Power of
Harry,” the series outlines “a seemingly simple story of a boy‟s entry into an unknown world
of magic,” and the novels move readers through “a search for identity, a battle between good
and evil, a maze of moral decision-making, and a quest for the meaning of human
relationships. While it may be predictable that Harry will always triumph in the end, it is not
predictable how he will do so or how very close he may come to failing” (103-4). The mix of
traditional fairy tale conventions

Glinsmann 10

and Rowling‟s own narrative style makes the stories and characters enticing for modern
audiences.
As the saga unfolds, Rowling incorporates themes and motifs of fairy tales, including Harry
being an orphan, the use of magic, enchanted objects, and non-human characters. By
integrating well-known elements of the tales, the distance between the fictional world and the
reader‟s world narrows, allowing readers to see themselves in the stories. Although the books
are incredibly long by children‟s literature standards, due to their knowledge of fairy tales,
young readers absorb the stories because they can predict what might happen to Harry and his
allies.

She uses simple story plot to make people believe in it and then fills with her own ideas and
extra meanings.

The use of traditional fairy-tale conventions in the Harry Potter series establishes a contact
point for readers to engage in the narrative. The novels are more than just a retelling of the
tales. By altering the known fairy-tale structure, themes, and characters, Rowling offers
readers new means of responding to the text for both entertainment and scholarship purposes.

Glinsmann 17

List of Works cites:

Holl-Jensen, Carlea, and Jeffrey A. Tolbert. "New-Minted from the Brothers Grimm." The
Folkloresque: Reframing Folklore in a Popular Culture World (2016): 163.