Imagination, Harry Potter and Abject Subjects

Recent Brontë scholar published papers:

Imagining Imagination in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Shirley and Villette
Elena Violaris
Durham English Review. An Undergraduate Journal, Vol. 5, No.1, Winter 2018

‘Imagining imagination’ suggests two lines of thought: imagining the mental images of somebody else, and mentally picturing the imaginative process. The vividness of Charlotte Brontë’s imagination,from childhood fantasies of Angria to her mature novels, prompted a self-reflexivity – she was interested not just in what she could imagine, but in the act of imagining. (...)

A Comparison of Jane Eyre and the Harry Potter Books as Novels of Development
Amanda Sellers
ENGK01
Degree project in English Literature
Autumn Term 2017
Centre for Languages and Literature
Lund University
Supervisor: Cecilia Wadsö-Lecaros

Although written during different centuries, both Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter books follow the protagonist’s journeys from childhood to adulthood, which is why they are both often described as novels of development. This essay therefore aims to compare the protagonists’ development, looking at the differences and similarities which can be found when analysing them according to the pattern of the Bildungsroman. While analysing this in relation to their relationships and to their own identities it can be seen how these protagonists show similarities since they search for similar concepts: self-discovery and the establishing of a family. However, there are also differences in how they develop since they have different needs due to how society shapes them, Jane has a need to find independence, whereas a major part of Harry’s identity is to defeat evil in the form of Voldemort. 

“Mimic (Wo)man” or “Abject Subject”? Crisscrossing Glances of Postcolonial and Psychoanalytic Theories in Rhys's Wide Sargasso SeaShima Peimanfard, Fazel Asadi Amjad
Advances in Language and Literary Studies, Vol 9, No 1 (2018)

This study intends to examine the intersections of Postcolonialism and Psychoanalysis in Rhys’ literary oeuvre, Wide Sargasso Sea. In the light of Kristeva’s Abjection theory, the paper challenges Bhabha’s notions of hybridity, mimicry and ambivalence as he accentuates them as a form of resistance against White hegemony. Notwithstanding Bhabha’s arguments, the novel also indicates that the hybrid woman’s mimicry of whiteness subjects her to an ambivalent space, which not only make her incapable of distorting the master’s hegemony, it dooms her to get lost in a constant psychotic delirium and abjection.