The aim of this Master’s Thesis is to study readers and authors of Harry Potter fan fiction, in order to answer the question of why they read and write fan fiction about Harry Potter, and which factors determine what kind of fan fiction stories they read. The empirical material consists of three qualitative interviews with fan fiction readers and authors, and a textual analysis of four internet forums for discussions about Harry Potter and fan fiction. The theoretical background is based on reception theory and reader-response criticism. The results show, that commitment to, and interest in, the source material is an important reason as to why the participants of the study read and write Harry Potter fan fiction. At the same time, most participants also feel frustration and dissatisfaction with the source material. Also, the results show that fan fiction can be a way of practising writing skills. Reading and writing fan fiction also attracts because it is fun, and because it gives an opportunity to explore how other Harry Potter fans have interpreted the source material. There are many factors that determine which stories the participants choose to read. Characters, and how they are paired with each other, play a vital role, as well as genre, rating, plot and the author’s language and writing style. Many participants read popular stories, and have favourite authors. Personal interpretation of the source material is a very important factor, since it will determine what a participant likes and is willing to accept in fan fiction. / Uppsatsnivå: D

Föreliggande studie är en genusanalys av karaktärerna Harry Potter och Hermione Granger i Harry Potter och de vises sten. Harry Potter-serien har haft ett stort genomslag på bokmarknaden och är en av de tre största fantasyserierna i modern tid (Alkestrand, 2016:28). Detta gör det relevant att kritiskt granska boken för att sedan använda den i klassrummet, både på högstadie- och gymnasienivå. Syftet med studien är således att granska boken utifrån ett genusperspektiv och problematisera eventuella stereotyper. Centralt i studien är en jämförelse mellan hur Harry och Hermione skildras och hur skildringarna reproducerar eller ifrågasätter normer kring genus. Studien utgår från ett didaktiskt perspektiv och en av frågeställningarna utgår därför ifrån vad litteratur kan ha för påverkan på våra förutfattade meningar och hur detta kan uppmärksammas i en klassrumssituation. Studien visar således att karaktärerna i Harry Potter och de vises sten uppfyller många stereotyper om vad som anses vara manligt och kvinnligt. Harry tillskrivs rollen som den modiga, aktiva pojken och Hermione som den passiva, duktiga flickan som utsätts för negativa konsekvenser när hon bryter mot normerna.

The aim of this esseay is to analyse the configuration of the literary child in Henning Mankells Comedia Infantil and Harry Martinssons Flowering Nettle. The teoretical outset is interdisciplinary, informed by both literarystudies and childstudies adopting a psycho-social perspective which allows a reading of the childprotagonists inside as well as outside preconditions and how these are constructed in the texts. The narratological concepts of focalization is used to investigate in detail how the narrator and narrative constructs a childperspectiveand conception of childhood. A point of interest is also to examine how the novels relate to the idea of the innocent or/and the competent child.

Ng, Hon Yip. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-83). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Basic Concepts in Portfolio Theory --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Statistical Model --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- Mean-Variance Optimization --- p.9 / Chapter 2.3 --- The Efficient Frontier --- p.11 / Chapter 2.4 --- The Tangency Portfolio and The Capital Market Line --- p.13 / Chapter 2.5 --- Mathematical Formulation of Portfolio Optimization --- p.17 / Chapter 3 --- Derivation of The Improved Estimator --- p.29 / Chapter 4 --- Simulation Study --- p.40 / Chapter 4.1 --- Procedure of Simulation --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2 --- Simulation Results --- p.46 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Zero Correlation --- p.47 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Positive Correlations --- p.50 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Negative Correlations --- p.52 / Chapter 5 --- Conclusion and Future Direction --- p.56 / Chapter A --- Simulation results for p = 200 --- p.58 / Chapter B --- Simulation results for p = 400 --- p.61 / Chapter C --- Simulation results for p = 500 --- p.64 / Chapter D --- Simulation results for p = 200 with negative correlations --- p.67 / Chapter E --- Simulation results for p = 400 with negative correlations --- p.71 / Chapter F --- Simulation results for p = 500 with negative correlations --- p.75 / Bibliography --- p.79

The popular Harry Potter series serves as the basis for my study of the oracles that appear throughout the series. By focusing specifically on Professor Sybill Trelawney, Ron Weasley, and the Sorting Hat, I show the relationships between Harry Potter and the Oracles. I also focus on a few of Trelawney's various methods of Divination and her prophecies.

This thesis proposes that the current popularity of heroic fantasy arises from the genre's capacity to reveal "meaning" to the alienated subject within late modernity. While consumerism potentially undermines the subject's sense of stability both as an individual and as a member of a coherent and unified social group, the hero's journey conveys a compelling model for attaining a purposive subjectivity by acting on behalf of the broader community. However, this "healing" message is in turn appropriated by multinational corporations and nation states for financial advantage. Heroic fantasy can thus be read at various points of its production and consumption as both legitimating and contesting dominant institutions and ideologies.With particular reference to the books and films of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, ontological security is discussed at both individual and collective levels across three horizons: commodification, gender, and nationalism. A combination of close textual analysis and the application of core concepts from cultural studies - particularly ethnographic study, hegemonic power relations and political economy - provides the methodological flexibility necessary to trace consumers' contradictory and ambivalent responses to the three themes: the anti-materialist message incorporated in the genre's moral economy is jeopardised by the rampant commodification of the texts; the normative masculinity and emphasised femininity common to the genre is contested by female readers; and the utopic visions of a secure and homogeneous community are exploited by the New Zealand government rebranding the country as Middle-earth. These arguments are oriented toward a New Zealand perspective; interviews with readers of Harry Potter and a discussion of the World Premiere of Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Return of the King in "Wellywood" contribute to this specific context.This thesis therefore asserts that once heroic fantasy is placed in the contexts of production and reception conflicting trends are revealed, suggesting that the social impacts of heroic fantasy are complex and equivocal. Although the genre is readily commodified by the very system that it retaliates against, analysis suggests that heroic fantasy resists reification into a single dominant discourse as appropriation is never absolute.

<p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p>The concept of outsiders has been argued to be one of the main themes in childhood fairy tales in general and in J.K. Rowling's <em>Harry Potter</em> novels in particular. Severus Snape is one of the most evident outsider characters in the novels, described as an unpleasant, ugly man presented as a double agent with uncertain allegiances. When the truth is revealed, in the very last pages of the series, he is discovered to have been an undercover spy for the good side all along. This essay examines Snape as an outsider, and analyzes his effect on the novel, especially his relation to the three characters with whom he interacts most: Dumbledore, Voldemort and Harry. All three of these characters are main characters and are also outsiders themselves in different ways. Examining the relations between good and evil and showing that these concepts are closely tied to choices and reactions towards being an outsider, the essay argues that the analysis of Snape as an outsider helps distinguish between aspects of good and evil in the novel. By focusing on Snape and the concept of the outsider, different dimensions of the novels become visible. Snape is here an instrumental character on his own, and may well be seen as the main character. Although the series in some aspects has been described as a fairy tale, the complex character of Severus Snape gives the novels a further depth appealing not only to children, but to adults as well.</p>

This paper considers the influences of fate and free will in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Current scholarship on the topic generally agrees that Rowling champions free will by allowing her characters learning opportunities through their choices. By using Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy on fate and free will and by more closely examining the Harry Potter texts, this paper demonstrates fate’s stronger presence in Rowling’s fictional world. Certain strong-willed characters rise above their peers’ fated states by embracing their personal fates and exercising their wills to create themselves within fated destinies. The paper also explores the possibility of an authority directing fate.

Detta arbete består av en tvådelad studie. Vi har dels tagit reda på huruvida lärare använder sig av Harry Potter-böckerna i engelskundervisningen på gymnasiet, dels gestaltat lärarinformanternas uppfattningar angående användandet av Harry Potter-böckerna i undervisningen. Vi har också undersökt om det är möjligt att använda sig av Harry Potter-böcker i engelskundervisningen och om det är möjligt att koppla dem till Lpf 94 (2008) och kursplaner för Engelska A, B och C (2000) på gymnasiet.      Undersökningens intervjuer genomfördes på två gymnasieskolor i mellersta Sverige och inkluderade tio informanter. I syfte att svara på undersökningens forskningsfrågor genomfördes dessutom en didaktisk läsning av tre Harry Potter-böcker. Den didaktiska läsningen visade att de tre Harry Potter-böckerna kan kopplas till både Lpf 94 (2008:59–76) och kursplanerna för kurserna Engelska A, B och C på gymnasiet. Det visade sig dessutom att det är möjligt att konstruera konkreta undervisningsmoment/uppgifter med utgångspunkt i Harry Potter-böckerna och styrdokumenten. Undersökningens intervjuer visade dock att åtta av tio informanter inte använder sig av Harry Potter-böcker i sin engelskundervisning på gymnasiet av olika anledningar men sex av tio informanter nämnde att de kan tänkas använda sig av Harry Potter-böcker i sin framtida engelskundervisning. Undersökningens intervjuer visade dessutom att informanterna hade olika förutsättningar för att använda sig av Harry Potter-böckerna och nämnde i detta sammanhang bland annat skolans budget för inköp av böcker. Dock kan slutsatsen dras att det är möjligt att konstruera undervisningsmoment som inte kräver klassuppsättningar av Harry Potter-böckerna

Syftet med denna studie är att med fokus på miljöbeskrivningar undersöka den fantastiska berättelsens samspel med verkligheten utanför romanen. Den fantastiska berättelse som står i centrum för texttolkning och närläsning är Harry Potter och De vises sten skriven av J. K. Rowling (2001). Studien visar att Rowling bland annat använder sig av den realistiska verkligheten som inspiration där en realistisk verklighet ofta förändras genom fantastiska inslag. Vid ett flertal tillfällen i romanen är samspelet så intimt att många ting och detaljer i miljöskildringar likväl skulle kunna ha skildrats i en realistisk verklighet utanför romanen.