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Benvenuti in queste pagine dedicate a scienza, storia ed arte. Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, Torino

Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts

Thursday, October 24, 2013

A literary experiment on Harry Potter and his social network

Literary works can be analyzed in the framework of the network theories, as proposed for instance by the Stanford Literary Laboratory, in some of their experiments. The plot of a play or a novel, can be displayed as a network of interacting characters, where the timeline of the plot is projected on a planar graph. We can discuss this approach and apply it to the first novel of the Harry Potter series written by J.K. Rowling, entitled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Besides being an entertaining application for teaching networks, this approach can help in highlighting some features of the plot structure.

More details at:A.C. Sparavigna, On Social Networks in Plays and Novels, The International Journal of Sciences, Volume 3, Issue 10, 2013, Pages: 20-25
 DOI: 10.18483/ijSci.312
http://www.ijsciences.com/pub/article/312

Friday, January 7, 2011

The Doors of Gringotts

"Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there."

—Inscription on the doors of Gringotts

"Gringotts Wizarding Bank is the only known bank of the wizarding world, and is owned and operated by goblins. It was created by the goblin Gringott. Its main offices are located in Diagon Alley in London, England. In addition to storing money and valuables for wizards and witches, one can go there to exchange Muggle money for wizarding money. According to Rubeus Hagrid, other than Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Gringotts is the safest place in the wizarding world."


See also, Dante, The Gate of Hell and The Doors to Aslan

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The cloak of Harry Potter

This left only one parcel. Harry picked it up and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it. Something fluid  and silvery grey went slithering to the floor, where it lay in gleaming folds...
"What is it?"
Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.
"It's an Invisibility Cloak"

http://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.com/2011/01/invisibility-cloak.html

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Dumbledore, not Silente

A dumbledore is a bee (bombo). The Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, has a name showing one of the features of his character: as a bee in summer, he is always moving and his humming is pervading all the school. On the contary, the italian translation of the name in Albus Silente changes the character in authority and austerity.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The owls of Harry Potter

Hedwig is the snowy Harry Potter's owl. At the following link, a precious discussion on the owls playing in the books and movies, by Laura L. Erickson, The Owls Of Harry Potter:
http://www.lauraerickson.com/bird/Species/Owls/HarryPotter/HarryPotter.html


Hedwig