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Harry Potter as Classic Myth
Few novels in recent years have had such a profound effect on such a wide and varied readership as the Harry Potter series. Since the first installment’s publication in 1997, J.K Rowling’s readers have waited with bated breath for each new release of her eponymous hero’s magical adventures. Joseph Campbell, a professor of comparative mythology, suggests that the stories that consistently enchant the human imagination possess an identical structure he calls “the monomyth”. Can Harry Potter draw his magic from ancient sources?
