The Harry Potter Generation

The cultural impact of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series transformed a generation of young people into readers and fans, who were able to interact with one another in unprecedented ways as digital natives. And now the Harry Potter generation has come of age, poised to become parents, teachers, writers, and critics. As the essays in this collection observe, this generation uses the knowledge absorbed from Rowling’s narrative to negotiate their life experiences as they take their places as society’s adults.

Throughout this volume, scholars analyze how the Harry Potter series has shaped this generation’s views on everything from celebrity to political resistance; from reading to memory to identity; from amusement parks to fan and pedagogical spaces online; from how they understand the past to how they will shape their future. Many of the essays are penned by members of the Harry Potter generation itself, detailing the myriad ways this fantasy series has pervaded their lives. Expansive and well-researched, this collection offers insight — not only into the Harry Potter novels—but also and perhaps more importantly, into the way these novels have affected this generation’s understanding of their place in the world and their capacity to create it anew.