Chapter One  Introduction

At the end of the 20th century, the first vision of Harry Potter published, and then set off a reading boom around the world. With fantasy and reality, tradition and modern, Harry Potter attracts worldwide readers, stimulating the growth of film and television and the surrounding cultural industries at the same time. It is called the “Harry Potter phenomenon”.

However, Harry Potter as a literary work, interpretations of “Harry Potter phenomenon” should not be confined to a narrow scope of economy and consumption. American literary critic R. Chase thinks Archetypal Criticism has a special cultural value when analyzing archetypes in literature works. He underlined in his book that myths are art and there are two central themes in myths: depravation and quest, therefore, the first objective of this dissertation is to explore its causes from the deep cultural source because it is significant that most unspontaneous phenomena in literature and art have their cultural roots, which serves as one idea of Carl Gustav Jung’s view of Archetypal Criticism. His thought explained, that a story can be expressed in many different views. In light of Harry Potter, this kind of fictions needs to find roots in two ancient cultures, namely Hebrew Culture and Hellenism. 

In the long history of the evolution of ancient Greek-Rome and Hebrew culture, the two cultures sprouted distinctively while experienced similarities. They had own characteristics, but still shared the common. In brief, three levels of significance in culture aspects contribute to the study of “Harry Potter phenomenon”. First, two kinds of culture, the ancient Greek- Rome and Hebrew culture, are not only the cultural roots of Harry Potter, but the cradle of European civilization. However, due to the long history, history and culture itself may not be attractive enough for learners. Combined them with popular works can deepen the learners’ understanding about the two cultures. Secondly, to explore the factors that two cultures reflected in contemporary literature, can give new vitality to traditional culture in the new era. Thirdly, China, also with a long history, traditional culture, and remarkable civilization, did not see one popular novel in the same period rivals Harry Potter. Based on this phenomenon, integrating Chinese traditional culture deeply into modern works, offers them opportunities for the vitality and long-term development. Since China has rich ancient cultures, these conclusions can be used as inspirations in literature creation in China. In the final part, this paper tries to give a brief hint by comparing it with Chinese contemporary literature, especially those fast-food novels and to discuss what should our young generations do to inherit the cultural tradition and lead the literature to the future.

Of the three meanings, the first one is a cultural inheritation and the last two are new forms for ancient cultures living in contemporary society.

In order to clarify the forms and meanings of such reenchantment in detail, this thesis consists of five chapters, and from the second to the fourth chapter, each chapter has several sub-chapters.

This introduction chapter includes two parts. The first part is about “Harry Potter phenomenon”, its concept, interpretations and developmental tendency. The second part talks about this thesis in light of its structure and contents briefly.

The second chapter will talk about literature review. This chapter constitutes itself three sub-chapters, basic writing theory of Archetypal Criticism and studies results on the studies of “Harry Potter phenomenon” abroad and domestically. In the first part, Archetypal Criticism will be explained in detail. Talking about the development of this theory and its application to literature will assist us understand the author’s intention on a theoretical level, such as whether Severus Snape is a good or bad guy. One who is set on the opposite position against the just main character, in our fiction Harry Potter, can often be taken for granted as a member of negative gang. However, sometimes a single character is complicated, especially when it comes to the Professor Severus Snape in these books. With hint of Archetypal Criticism, we know what kind of person Severus Snape is and understand why he protects Harry Potter however he hates Harry and stands on Dumbledore’s side to fight against Voldemort. In literature review section, I will give a brief review about previous academic information. All the studies in this thesis develop on a sound foundation. Based on the acquired information and theories, in the ending part, I will give the creative points of views and drawbacks due to limitations.