Reading “magically,” by contrast, requires opening one’s imagination in order to recognize that magic is used figuratively in the novels as a metaphoric device for another kind of power altogether.Ī few Christian critics who view the series positively, such as John Granger, argue that magic in the novels should indeed be read figuratively, but with overtones of spiritual symbolism nonetheless.
Borrowing Rowling’s terms from Harry’s world, I argue that reading magic literally in the series is a rather “Muggle” way of reading Harry Potter. Despites Rowling’s assertions that she does not believe in that kind of magic, much that has been written about the novels so far addresses magic in the series literally, attempting to put it in a historical and cultural context that then must explain its relation to all the accompanying problems and baggage that the history of magic, the occult, and witchcraft brings with it. Rowling employs a highly cultivated imagination to astound and delight millions of readers. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, a 1997 British novel which has indeed “encircle(d) the world” making its hero likened to a fifth Beatle in popularity (Kirk “Harry”), J. Though perhaps the poster may be found more often on the office walls of faculty in arts and English departments than in the sciences, certainly fellow physicists appreciate the quotation’s logic–knowledge cannot expand without the imagination required to develop and try out new ideas for acquiring it.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Underneath the well-known black and white image of the wild and white-haired physicist are printed the words, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” The full quotation from Einstein actually reads: “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. There is a popular poster of Albert Einstein that appears on many faculty office walls on college campuses around the country.