Harry Potter

von Daniel Adelsberger

Until today J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter heptalogy has been the best selling book series in history. After the completion of the series in 2007 the buzz around the Harry Potter novels has gradually ceased and people have started viewing the Harry Potter phenomenon in a more critical fashion. One problem that many literary critics address is that the Harry Potter series encompasses a wide variety of genres. The concern of this book is closely linked to the issue of genre, as it examines the characteristics of Harry Potter as the hero figure of the series. While some literary hero figures are readily combinable, others seem incompatible at first sight. Is Harry Potter an epic knight on a quest or a Bildungsroman hero in a story of initiation? This book analyses the combination of six different types of heroes in the figure of Harry Potter and provides an explanation of how this combination is made possible without rendering Harry Potter overtly constructed and implausible as a hero figure.