The Harry Potteer And His Western Tradition

This thesis aims to understand the widespread success of Harry Potter in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series by analyzing the portrayal of Harry Potter and its western literary heritages. It points out that the portrayal of Harry Potter can trace back at least to the"good boy"stereotypical character as well as the"magic-chivalric"narrative mode of western literary tradition. The thesis concludes by suggesting that the successful portrayal of Harry Potter has set a good example for our Chinese writers in terms of how to infuse our literary traditions into our literary re-creation.