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| IN THE YEAR 2053, WILL MAGIC AND MUGGLES LIVE ON, OR WILL THE POTTER PHENOMENON DIE A QUICK DEATH? |
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| For immediate release: |
Contact: |
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June 11, 2003 |
Lana Whited, (540) 365-4334, lwhited@ferrum.edu |
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It’s 2053, 50 years after the fifth Harry Potter installment. Do you know where J.K. Rowling’s fans are? As Harry Potter-mania sweeps the world, few have questioned what the long-term effects of the series will be on fans and on children’s literature. Will a Harry Potter legacy thrive or will the series fade away like R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series? Dr. Lana A. Whited, editor of The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon (University of Missouri Press), says the Potter phenomenon and its future are not a mystery. Whited conjectures the answers to these questions: |
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• Will fans of the series become the Trekkies of the next generation? • Will there be Harry Potter conventions to keep the magic alive? • Will Harry Potter be viewed as a classic, sitting on the same fence as Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer? • Who will the next literary hero be? • Will authors be able to imitate J.K. Rowling’s style and success? Will they try? • Will the film actors be able to find work outside the fantasy realm or will typecasting inhibit their careers? |
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Whited has been a Potter resource for media ranging from Agence France Presse to The Australian to broadcast network affiliates. She is also a popular Potter resource at academic conferences. She will be participating in a Harry Potter panel at “Nimbus 2003: A Harry Potter Symposium,” the first all Harry Potter conference, which will be held July 17-20 in Orlando, Fla. Whited is currently organizing a Harry Potter conference for high school students and scholars in November 2003. Ferrum College is a four-year, private, co-educational, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Ferrum offers a choice of nationally recognized bachelor’s degree programs at a cost well below the national average for private colleges. For more information on Ferrum, visit www.ferrum.edu. # # # Additional Links: |
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