In a recent podcast from radio station 89X, the hosts asked students to call in and discuss the weirdest class they had taken at their university. An anonymous caller mentioned Eastern Michigan University offers a course on the Harry Potter books.
Wendy Gouine, a professor at EMU has been known for teaching “Harry Potter: Literary Illusions, Children’s Literature and Popular Culture” for quite some time now. Her passion for the novels flows through the pages she teaches and resonates in her students’ minds so they can see the books in a new light.
Gouine earned her master’s at EMU in British literature and took a hiatus from teaching here for a little while. When she heard EMU offered that class to students, it convinced her to come right back.
The classes she teaches at EMU include Harry Potter (the first and second classes), fantasy and creative writing.
She said her Harry Potter class is commonly mistaken for an easy A.
“It is fairly easy to do well in this class,” she said, “but you have to read. You have to write … that is, you need to communicate ideas clearly. I usually scare three or four people a term. They drop right away, and their spot is promptly filled by students who want to think.”
She doesn’t just teach about the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling; she loves to read them, too. Her favorite of the seven-installment series is the sixth novel, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
“I want them to savor a good story and share it,” she said. “I want them to read to their kids.”
The class itself is actually divided into two semesters, the first discussing the first three novels and “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” and the second discussing the four final novels.
If a student selects this class with Gouine as the teacher, he or she should definitely not expect to discuss any of the Harry Potter films.
When asked what she thought of them, she said, “I hate them. New topic.”
Gouine also heads the Flying Squirrels Quidditch team and the Harry Potter Book Club and encourages people join in whether they’ve read the books or not.
Those interesting in joining her classes or want more information are encouraged to contact Gouine at wgouine1@me.com.
