Raised on Harry Potter

One of the calls for papers from the Northeast Modern Language Association reads:

Into The Pensieve: The Harry Potter Generation in Retrospect

As professors, we now teach the first generation of students to grow up reading Rowling’s books and watching the movies based on them. How have a generation of children, now adults, been shaped by this phenomenon? What future is there for Harry Potter studies? Are we still in the Harry Potter Age, or have we entered a Post-Potter age? This panel seeks papers that address the idea of a Harry Potter Generation broadly, with perspectives including fan studies, pedagogy, and traditional theoretical lenses. Abstracts to lauere@sunysuffolk.edu.

Back in 2007 I noted how kids all over the English-speaking world were sharing the same experience. Some of the links are broken now, but the generational milestone—perhaps one of the last of its sort?—remains.

(H/t to Comic Book Masculinity.)