Over 60 Scholars to study 'Harry Potter' novels at University of St. Andrews in Scotland

The Harry Potter novels will be thoroughly examined from all aspects of its literary merits as more than sixty scholars attend a conference at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland this week including MuggleNet Academia's own John Granger, the Hogwarts Professor.

John, the keynote speaker for the event, will conduct a lecture entitled A Brand of Fictional Magic: Reading Harry Potter as Literature. Mr. Granger said, "I take exception to the unexamined and misinformed assumption that the books are 'light on literary merit'. Ms Rowling's works are comic, certainly, but it's a great mistake to think they're simple or haphazard story-telling."

He added, "Hogwarts, we're told, is hidden somewhere in Scotland, the author lives here, too, and Ms Rowling's mother was half Scot. It's somehow appropriate and fitting that the first academic conference of any size be held at Scotland's oldest university, St Andrews."

The scholars attending the event will discuss J.K. Rowling's books with over 50 lectures including topics such as paganism, British national identity and death.

An anthology of the conference will be published in 2013.

Want to learn more about the literary aspects found in the series, then check out our MuggleNet Academia section and its associated podcast. Co-host John Granger and I will certainly be bringing to light some of the topics discussed from this conference in the upcoming episodes.