Remember how Hermione constantly nags Harry and Ron to brush up on Hogwarts: A History? “Bathilda’s Notebook” is the place to find out more about the real history behind Hogwarts’ creation. Writing with cutting-edge literary analysis of the series, Bathilda explores the literature and ideas that have most inspired Rowling, from Shakespeare to Sherlock Holmes.
Dr. Beatrice Groves teaches Shakespeare at Oxford University and is the author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, which is available now.
- Solve et Coagula: Part 3 – Literary Alchemy (May 25, 2020) - In Part 3 of her "solve et coagula" analysis, Dr. Beatrice Groves explains how literary alchemy influences J.K. Rowling's writing process.
- Solve et Coagula: Part 2 – The Ripley Scrolls, Nicolas Flamel, and Ben Jonson’s Alchemist (May 24, 2020) - Dr. Beatrice Groves looks further into the origins of the phrase "solve et coagula" and the way in which it encapsulates Rowling’s own metaphors for her "process."
- Solve et Coagula: Part 1 – Rowling’s Alchemical Tattoo (May 23, 2020) - Last year, J.K. Rowling got a tattoo of the alchemical Latin phrase "solve et coagula." Read about how the phrase has an intimate connection with everything she writes.
- “The Faerie Queene” and the Fifth “Strike” Novel: “Troubled Blood” (March 22, 2020) - On March 20, 2020, J.K. Rowling changed her Twitter header to an image taken from "The Faerie Queene", an epic poem containing the phrase "troubled blood," the title of the forthcoming "Comoran Strike" novel. What relevance, beyond inspiring its title, will "The Faerie Queene" have on "Troubled Blood"?
- “Potter” and “Python” – Part 2: “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (October 5, 2019) - To mark the 50th anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus", Dr. Beatrice Groves is exploring links between "Potter" and "Python". In this second article in a two-part series, she writes about how "Potter" echoes "Holy Grail".
- “Potter” and “Python” – Part 1: “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” (October 4, 2019) - To mark the 50th anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus", Dr. Beatrice Groves is exploring links between "Potter" and "Python". In this first article in a two-part series, she writes about how "Potter" echoes "Life of Brian".
- The Sword Until Recently Known as Gryffindor’s (March 20, 2019) - Dr. Beatrice Groves dissects the moral challenge of the goblin perspective on the ownership of Gryffindor's sword, which is strongly linked to our popular understanding of Marxism.
- Rowling’s Goblin Problem? (March 19, 2019) - With the opening of an exhibition, "Jews, Money, Myth", at the Jewish Museum London, Dr. Beatrice Groves ponders whether the depiction of goblins in "Harry Potter" is anti-Semitic.
- The Alchemical Symbolism of the Deathly Hallows in “Crimes of Grindelwald” (November 14, 2018) - How do alchemical and Masonic symbolism overlap? Dr. Beatrice Groves explores this connection, links it to the quest for the Hallows, and finds an astonishingly vivid parallel between "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" and "The Man Who Would Be King."
- “The Crimes of Grindelwald”, Kipling, and the Origins of the Deathly Hallows Symbol (November 13, 2018) - The Deathly Hallows symbol has been at the center of most of the promotional content for "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald". Dr. Beatrice Groves looks at how the Deathly Hallows was influenced by Masonic symbolism.
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