Having just seen the latest Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which I liked very much, and being on page 217 (at 3 PM, Friday, July 27, 2007!) of the seventh and last book of the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," I want to tell you about what Ellen Reiss, the Class Chairman of Aesthetic Realism, wrote about J. K. Rowling's first book.
She asked, "What does its enormous popularity say about people and what they are looking for?" And then she explained:
" First of all, the importance of this novel, its goodness, and the enthusiasm about it are explained by the following principle, the basis of Aesthetic Realism: "All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves." And the chief opposites that Ms. Rowling has made inseparable are the opposites that are central to romanticism, that new way of feeling and showing the world which began in Europe at the end of the 18th century: the opposites of the strange and the ordinary."
Later she writes,
"Harry Potter is about as unmysterious, non-tingling, ordinary a name as one could think of. Sorcerer's Stone is something else. And this boy with the dull name, who is hardly striking, and wears eyeglasses held together with Scotch tape, is a wizard; in fact, a very special wizard."
Her thrilling commentary continues as she speaks about the Dursleys, Harry's herbology class, Hagrid, and Harry's beloved snowy owl, Hedwig.
To read more, go to Nature, Romanticism, & Harry Potter, an issue of the periodical, The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known.
As to the general subject of this blog: I have learned that any time a person likes the world more honestly, the contempt which is at the root of racism is that much opposed. This happens whenever you see opposites such as the strange and the ordinary making sense in a fine work of art.
More links to the writing of Ellen Reiss:
Ellen Reiss, Class Chairman of Aesthetic Realism
The Aesthetic Realism Explanation of Poetry
Jobs, Discontent, and Beauty -- on the poetry of Robert Burns and the ethical meaning of work
Some biographical and literary information
How Should a Child Be Seen? -- report by teachers and parents Barbara McClung and Lauren Phillips of an Aesthetic Realism class taught by Ellen Reiss, in which she discusses "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder" and shows it's related to the question of giving attention that everyone, young, old, and in-between, has.
Excerts from and links to many critics and other authorities speaking about Eli Siegel, Aesthetic Realism, poetry, ethics, aesthetics at the website Countering the Lies
Leila Rosen, Aesthetic Realism associate and teacher of English: "Aesthetic Realism taught me to ask this great question: How is aesthetics present in the ordinary moments of our lives--not only when we're at a museum or gallery, but also when we're on the subway, cooking a meal, choosing what to wear, thinking about God or love? This is what the present blog is about."
More on Aesthetic Realism and Robert Burns
