Discussing one of the most beautiful and pivotal moments in The Running Grave, Beatrice Groves, Research Fellow and tutor at Trinity College, Oxford, and author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, has written a Hogwarts Professor Guest Post: Strike's Church Going.
Beatrice, I keep coming back to this idea of the numinous making an appearance in both of the 7th books of the HP and Strike series. In both series the hero is drawn back to a place where trauma had shaped them into the heroes they'd become, a place that also became a crucible, where so much loss from the past collided with more loss in the present. The numinous is not manipulative nor formulaic but is notably "odd" and "curious," mystical yet real.
I love the link you draw between the false beliefs not just of cults, but of anyone who thinks themselves immune to a cult. Even someone like Robin alerted to cultish tactics can fall into its grip. Or someone like Strike driven to investigate the irrational can also be ensnared by it. Cults are like boggarts, taking different forms, like Matthew's and Charlotte's mind games with Robin and and Strike, or Charlotte's cult of unhappiness.
I got another frisson with your comparison of the "sheeplike rector" to the good shepherd of Ps 23 and Jn 10. I've been rereading K J Ramsey's book The Lord is My Courage in which both passages are featured as she delves into the somatic science of PTSD and the need for safety and honesty in recovering from church trauma.
Thank you for explaining the bicycle clips! Such an odd detail reminded me of Luna's odd choice of accessories, but far better is your allusion to Larkin's "Church Going." (Larkin removes his bicycle clips because he's not wearing a hat that he can reverently remove! So comical) One of my favorite phrases is "a tense, musty, unignorable silence,/Brewed God knows how long" I feel a humorous ambiguity as to what's brewed-- the silence (probably) or God (maybe?) I wandered into so many "accoutred frowsty barns" on my trip to England and Scotland and also felt a hunger that surprised me every time. I think there was a part of me (I'm ashamed to admit) that expected to be annoyed by the expense and skeptical of their worth, but I was overcome, so moved that I needed to sit down with my moist eyes as open as I could manage. I didn't want to leave.
The numinous can be odd or beautiful but there's therapy in it for sure. Thank you for this!
Beatrice, this is absolutely fantastic! I got my own frisson with this line,"When Strike finally decided to find out what that Lovegood’s-house-like-rook might be – the round tower which we knew would belong to Aylmerton church of header-fame – I felt a frisson at the prospect that this ‘genuine spiritual pull’ was about to come true." (Love the Lovegood likeness!) Iknew then the rest of the article would be pure gold, and when I'm not up to my neck with having my two granddaughters over and getting ready for our Thanksgiving feast, I'll say more. I'm so thankful for you and all the profs here at HogPro!
Beatrice, I keep coming back to this idea of the numinous making an appearance in both of the 7th books of the HP and Strike series. In both series the hero is drawn back to a place where trauma had shaped them into the heroes they'd become, a place that also became a crucible, where so much loss from the past collided with more loss in the present. The numinous is not manipulative nor formulaic but is notably "odd" and "curious," mystical yet real.
I love the link you draw between the false beliefs not just of cults, but of anyone who thinks themselves immune to a cult. Even someone like Robin alerted to cultish tactics can fall into its grip. Or someone like Strike driven to investigate the irrational can also be ensnared by it. Cults are like boggarts, taking different forms, like Matthew's and Charlotte's mind games with Robin and and Strike, or Charlotte's cult of unhappiness.
I got another frisson with your comparison of the "sheeplike rector" to the good shepherd of Ps 23 and Jn 10. I've been rereading K J Ramsey's book The Lord is My Courage in which both passages are featured as she delves into the somatic science of PTSD and the need for safety and honesty in recovering from church trauma.
Thank you for explaining the bicycle clips! Such an odd detail reminded me of Luna's odd choice of accessories, but far better is your allusion to Larkin's "Church Going." (Larkin removes his bicycle clips because he's not wearing a hat that he can reverently remove! So comical) One of my favorite phrases is "a tense, musty, unignorable silence,/Brewed God knows how long" I feel a humorous ambiguity as to what's brewed-- the silence (probably) or God (maybe?) I wandered into so many "accoutred frowsty barns" on my trip to England and Scotland and also felt a hunger that surprised me every time. I think there was a part of me (I'm ashamed to admit) that expected to be annoyed by the expense and skeptical of their worth, but I was overcome, so moved that I needed to sit down with my moist eyes as open as I could manage. I didn't want to leave.
The numinous can be odd or beautiful but there's therapy in it for sure. Thank you for this!
Beatrice, this is absolutely fantastic! I got my own frisson with this line,"When Strike finally decided to find out what that Lovegood’s-house-like-rook might be – the round tower which we knew would belong to Aylmerton church of header-fame – I felt a frisson at the prospect that this ‘genuine spiritual pull’ was about to come true." (Love the Lovegood likeness!) Iknew then the rest of the article would be pure gold, and when I'm not up to my neck with having my two granddaughters over and getting ready for our Thanksgiving feast, I'll say more. I'm so thankful for you and all the profs here at HogPro!