In 1990, J.K. Rowling was on a crowded train from Manchester to London when the idea for Harry simply “fell” into her head. She gives an account of the experience on her website:[2]
"I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. To my immense frustration, I didn't have a functioning pen with me, and I was too shy to ask anybody if I could borrow one. I think, now, that this was probably a good thing, because I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard became more and more real to me. I think that perhaps if I had had to slow down the ideas so that I could capture them on paper I might have stifled some of them (although sometimes I do wonder, idly, how much of what I imagined on that journey I had forgotten by the time I actually got my hands on a pen)."
That evening, the author began the pre-writing for her first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, a semi-detailed plan that would include the plots of each of her seven envisioned books, in addition to an enormous amount of historical and biographical information on her characters and universe. [3] Eventually Rowling relocated to Portugal, where in 1992 she married her first husband, and in 1993 had her first child, Jessica, all the while continuing her writing of Stone. When the marriage dissolved, Rowling returned to Britain with her daughter and settled in Edinburgh to be near her sister, famously continuing her writing of Philosopher's Stone in local coffee shops. Bringing in only £90 a week (of which £70 was from income support) and unable to secure a place for her daughter in a nursery, the sleeping infant Jessica would be a constant companion to her mother as Rowling laboured to finish the book that she had at this point begun to fear would never be completed.
In 1996, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was completed and the manuscript was sent off to an agent.
"The agent sent the manuscript back to my despair without the folder, which had cost me £4.00 [$7.00], saying writing 80,000 words made it much too long for a children's book."
The second agent she tried, Christopher Little, wrote back immediately to say he liked it and wanted to take her on. He sent the manuscript to Bloomsbury.[4]
At Bloomsbury, at the time a fairly small independent publisher, Philosopher's Stone landed in front of the uninterested eye of Nigel Newton, the chairman of the company. The unenthused Mr Newton took the manuscript home but did not read it, giving it instead to his eight-year-old daughter, Alice.[5] Showing great excitement over what she had read, Ms. Newton would go on to 'nag' her father for months until Bloomsbury, after eight other publishers had rejected Philosopher's Stone, offered Rowling a £2,500 advance.
Despite Rowling's statement that she did not have any particular age group in mind when she began to write the Harry Potter books, the publishers initially targeted them at children aged around 9 to 11. On the eve of publishing, like Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird) and S. E. Hinton (The Outsiders) before her, Joanne Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more gender-neutral pen name, in order to appeal to the males of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J.K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling), omitting her first name and using her grandmother's as her second.
The first Potter book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury in July 1997 and in the United States by Scholastic in September of 1998, but not before Rowling had received a six-figure sum for the American rights — an unprecedented amount for a children's book. Fearing that some of its intended readers would either not understand the word "philosopher" or not associate it with a magical theme, Scholastic insisted that the book be renamed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the U.S. market.
The series has been the recipient of many publishing accolades. Among them, the first three books, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, were awarded the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for the 9 to 11 age group in 1997, 1998, and 1999 respectively.[6]
By 2000, the series had become very high-profile due in part to marketing strategy by Rowling's publishers, but also due to word-of-mouth buzz among readers, especially young males. The latter is notable because for years, interest in literature among this demographic had lagged behind other pursuits like video games and the Internet. Rowling's publishers were able to capitalise on this fervour by the rapid, successive releases of the first three books that allowed neither Rowling's audience's excitement nor interest to wane, along with quickly solidifying a loyal readership.[7] The culmination of this initial Potter excitement was the huge media coverage surrounding the 2000 release of the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
In 2001, two slim spin-off volumes called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander and Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp were published. All proceeds went to the British charity Comic Relief (not to be confused with the American organisation of the same name). The hype escalated with the publication of the next two books, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, with midnight launch parties at hundreds of bookshops in the UK, simultaneous launch events around the English-speaking world, and intense media interest, leading to unprecedented first-day sales in the UK, US, and elsewhere. People would become so eager to get their Harry Potter books, some tried to steal them before the release date, which received extreme media attention.
Over nearly a decade the books have garnered fans of all ages, leading to two editions of each Harry Potter book being released, identical in text but with one edition's cover artwork aimed at children and the other aimed at adults. The series is also immensely popular around the world in its many translations. Such was the global clamour to read the book that the English-language edition of Order of the Phoenix became the first English-language book ever to top the bookseller list in France.[8] With the 2005 release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince selling nearly nine million copies in the first 24 hours of its release, the series' popularity shows no signs of fading. [9]
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Overview
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The novels are very much in the fantasy genre; however, in many respects they are also a bildungsroman, a novel of education, set in Hogwarts School, a British boarding school for wizards, where the curriculum includes the use of magic. The main character, a boy named Harry Potter, is an orphan who lives with his cruel relatives, the Dursleys. He is initially kept in ignorance of his magical heritage — the Dursleys despise his "unnaturalness." However, as his eleventh birthday approaches, Harry begins to be aware of his differences, and on his eleventh birthday, has his first contact with the magical world when he is notified by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that he is in fact a wizard and has been chosen to attend.
The wizarding world in which Harry finds himself is both utterly separate from and yet innately connected to our own world. Unlike the fantasy worlds of Narnia and Middle-Earth, the world of Harry Potter exists alongside ours, and many of its institutions and locations are in towns, such as London, that are recognisable to anyone. It is a fragmented collection of hidden streets, overlooked and ancient pubs, lonely country manors and secluded castles that remains utterly invisible to the non-magical population (known as "Muggles"). Wizard ability is inborn, rather than learned, although one must attend schools such as Hogwarts in order to master and control it. Since one is either born a wizard or not, most wizards are unfamiliar with the Muggle world, which appears odder to them than their world would to us. Despite this, the magical world is depicted very matter-of-factly. One of the principal themes in the novels is this juxtaposition of the magical and the mundane; the characters in the stories live utterly normal lives with utterly normal problems, despite their magical surroundings.
The first novel opens on the morning of November 1, 1981, a day filled with both the peculiar and the incomprehensible: shooting stars, an inordinate number of owls, and oddly dressed strangers joyously accosting bewildered muggles on the street. The source of these strange events is the unrestrained celebration of a normally-secretive Wizarding World which had for years been terrorised by Lord Voldemort in his decades-long bid for power. The previous night, Lord Voldemort, who had for months sought the hidden Potter family, discovered their refuge and killed Lily and James Potter. However, when he turned his wand against their infant son, Harry, his curse rebounded upon him. He was ripped from his body and forced into hiding, leaving Harry with a distinctive lightning bolt scar on his forehead, the only physical sign of Voldemort's attack. Harry's mysterious defeat of Voldemort that Halloween night was met with a mix of awe and joy by the magical community, resulting in Harry being dubbed "The Boy Who Lived". The second chapter begins ten years later, in 1991, when Harry learns of his magical heritage and the story proper begins.
The subsequent stories follow a very strict formula: set one year apart, they begin near the end of summer, as Harry, interred with the Dursleys in the Muggle world, awaits September and his return to Hogwarts. He then spends some time in a particular magical location (Diagon Alley, The Burrow, Grimmauld Place) before boarding the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station, which takes him to Hogwarts. After he arrives at school, the bulk of each novel deals with him overcoming everyday school issues, such as essays, awkward crushes, and unsympathetic teachers. Also during this period, Harry wrestles with a mystery which climaxes in the days near the end of the school year, which often involves an attempt by Lord Voldemort to regain power.
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Characters in Harry Potter
Harry Potter: The only child of James and Lily Potter, with whom he shares many distinct characteristics, most notably James' unruly black hair and Lily's green eyes. He was born on July 31 1980. He achieved fame at the age of one when Lord Voldemort, the most feared wizard of the age, attacked his home, murdering his parents but failing to kill him, though leaving him with his instantly recognisable scar. In the attempt, Voldemort was hit and ripped from his body by his own backfiring Killing Curse. At Hogwarts, Harry has shown himself to be a gifted wizard, excelling both at Defence Against the Dark Arts and Quidditch, along with being recognised as a capable leader within his house, Gryffindor, and the school in general. Despite his best attempts, he has been unable to downplay his fame and his inability to do so has at times been a source of great frustration to him, making him the target of unwanted media attention, rumours, gawking (chiefly at his scar), and the ire of professors and classmates alike. However, despite all external pressures, he remains overall courageous, noble, and high minded, though at times these qualities have been shown to negatively manifest themselves in what Hermione Granger termed his "saving-people thing". He is best friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and his enemies are the scary sallow-faced potions teacher, Severus Snape, and Draco Malfoy.
Ron Weasley: Harry Potter's best friend and sixth of the seven children of the widely respected (though somewhat poor) Weasley family.[10] He befriended Harry almost immediately upon meeting him during their first journey on the Hogwarts Express. However, a serious rift did once develop between them, due in part to his frustration at being forced to live in Harry's shadow — no doubt magnified by his position as youngest brother in his large family. Despite this, he and Harry have remained close through the years, with him being a constant companion through Harry's trials and adventures. Ron is a foil character to Harry, showing the advantages of having a close family there for support.
Hermione Granger: The other best friend of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley who is generally held to be the best student of Harry's year. Her high intelligence and reason-based way of tackling challenges have often been a great asset to Harry and Ron throughout their Hogwarts careers, though her sometimes bossy and interfering manner has at times been a source of contention between them. Her status as a Muggle-born, along with her intelligence and assertive manner, have on occasion made her a prime target for disapproving prejudiced classmates, e.g. Draco Malfoy.
Lord Voldemort: The chief antagonist of the series, and an evil wizard bent on securing unmatched power and achieving immortality through the practice of Dark Magic. After years of slaughter in pursuit of his goals he was stopped when he attempted to kill Harry Potter when the boy was just an infant and failed, being ripped from his body and forced to flee into hiding. So feared was he at the height of his prodigious powers that even following his downfall most wizards feared to speak his name, referring to him instead as "You-Know-Who", "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named", or "The Dark Lord," the last of which is uttered primarily by his followers, the Death Eaters. His actual name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, and he was also once a student at Hogwarts. "I am Lord Voldemort" is an anagram of Tom Marvolo Riddle. The Latin etymology of Voldemort is to "escape/thief/steal death."
Professor Albus Dumbledore: Harry's most trusted advisor and headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is perhaps one of the most respected men in the Wizarding world, holding high ranking positions in both national and international magical government, along with being an accomplished alchemist and master of an assortment of magical disciplines. He is also said to be the only known sorcerer whom Lord Voldemort ever feared, and notorius as one of the few who does not fear Voldemort, showing slight disdain if a person is afraid to utter his name. Dumbledore always sees and trusts the best of people. He is killed by Severus Snape near the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by means of the Killing Curse, although there is some debate within the fan community as to whether or not Dumbledore really died, or whether he ordered Severus Snape to kill him (See similarity). There is another debate concerning whether Snape really used the Killing Curse, or simply acted like doing that while using a non-verbal spell to blast Dumbledore off (as the Killing Curse does not normally blast its victim off) [2].
Professor Severus Snape: A gifted wizard, Hogwarts staff member, and since his youth, a bitter enemy of James Potter and Sirius Black. As Hogwarts Potions master he sought to exact his revenge on the deceased James Potter by verbally abusing his son Harry. A former Death Eater later taken on as a professor by Dumbledore, Snape's loyalty is constantly under question though Dumbledore maintains that he unequivocally trusts him for reasons that he has declined to reveal. The loyalty of Snape remains unknown and a hot debate for fans as of 2006, though in the Half-Blood Prince, the last book to be released, it seems that Snape's loyalty lies in Voldemort as he apparently killed Dumbledore (See above).
Rubeus Hagrid: Son of a wizard and a giantess, he is both surprisingly gentle and nurturing. One of Harry Potter's biggest supporters and most steadfast friends, he is also the Hogwarts groundskeeper and teacher of Care of Magical Creatures and it was he who reintroduced Harry to the magical world. Hagrid also went to school at Hogwarts, but was expelled in his third year for a crime he did not commit and is thus unable to legally perform magic. Hagrid's lessons have involved formidable magical creatures which some officials of the Ministry of Magic (notably Dolores Umbridge) consider inappropriate for the instruction of young students.
Sirius Black: Best friend to James Potter and former rebellious youth who fled his pure-blood supremacist parents' home in his youth. Framed- (perhaps inadvertly)- for assissting Voldemort in the murder of James and Lily Potter and subsequently sent to the dreaded wizard prison Azkaban, though he later escaped. He is also Harry Potter's Godfather. In The Order of the Phoenix, he is hit by a curse cast by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange, causing him to fall behind the veil in the Department of Mysteries to an apparent death. His death is very traumatizing to Harry.
Ginny Weasley: is the only daughter of the Weasley family. She is a very talented witch, especially noted for her skill with the Bat-Bogey Hex. Ginny is the first female born into the Weasley line in 'several generationss, and that as a seventh child 'she is a gifted witch.' She is widely considered very attractive and the Potions professor Horace Slughorn respects her magical abilities enough . She had a long standing crush on Harry. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince the relationship between her and Harry started. In the seventh book, some "pretty impressive stuff" is expected from Ginny, and at some point, whether Harry likes it or not, she will become involved in the fight against Voldemort.
Draco Malfoy: A pure-blood supremacist and member of Slytherin house known for his white-blonde hair and grey eyes, in addition to his sharp tongue that often targets Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. As Harry and Ron became fast friends, Harry and Draco quickly became enemies, with the two facing off in various confrontations, including Quidditch, on numerous occasions throughout the series. He and his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, serve as the antithesis to the main trio.
Further information: List of characters in the Harry Potter books
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Themes & motifs
One of the most enduring themes throughout the series is that of love, portrayed as a powerful form of magic in and of itself. It is Dumbledore's belief that it was this power that allowed Harry to resist Voldemort's temptations of power during their second encounter, prevented Voldemort from being able to possess him during their fifth encounter, and will eventually lead to Voldemort's downfall.[11] [12]
In contrast, a major theme of the series is that of death. "My books are largely about death. They open with the death of Harry's parents. There is Voldemort's obsession with conquering death and his quest for immortality at any price, the goal of anyone with magic. I so understand why Voldemort wants to conquer death. We're all frightened of it," said Rowling. [13] In fact, Voldemort's name means "flight of death" in Latin and French, and "steal death" in French and Catalan. The series pits good against evil, and love against death. Voldemort's pursuit to avoid death, seen by his drinking unicorn blood for a half-life and splitting his soul through the use of horcruxes, contrasts with Lily's sacrificial love for Harry and the extraordinary magic her act leaves to him through his scar that Voldemort can never understand or appreciate, as well as Dumbledore's constant love of Harry.
Prejudice and discrimination also feature prominently throughout the series. As Harry's education in the magical world continues he learns that there are wizards and witches who hate Muggles and view them as inferior because of their lack of magical ability. Furthermore, the magical world utilises a system of designations, Muggle-born, half-blood, and pure-blood, to indicate a wizard's heritage. The more prejudiced within the magical community take these designations a step further, viewing them as a system of ranking to illustrate a wizard's worth, pure-bloods being the preferred sorcerers, and Muggle-borns (alternatively known by the slur "Mudblood") as the most despised. In addition to prejudices held for fellow humans, there is also a common shunning of non-humans and even part-humans (commonly known by the offensive epithet, "half-breeds").
Another significant recurring themes is that of choice. In Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore makes perhaps his most famous statement on this issue: "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."[14] He confronts the issue again in Goblet of Fire, when he tells Cornelius Fudge that what one grows up to be is far more important than what one is born. [15]
As it has been for many characters throughout the series, what Dumbledore termed the "choice between what is right and what is easy" has been a staple of Harry Potter's career at Hogwarts and his choices are among his character's most distinguishing traits from Voldemort's. Both he and Voldemort were orphans raised in difficult environments, in addition to sharing characteristics including, as Dumbledore points out, Voldemort's "own very rare gift, Parseltongue — resourcefulness, determination" and "a certain disregard for rules".[14] However, Harry, unlike Voldemort, has consciously elected to embrace friendship, kindness, and love, where Voldemort knowingly chose to reject them.
While ideas such as love, prejudice, and choice are, as J.K. Rowling states, "deeply entrenched in the whole plot", the writer prefers to let themes "grow organically", rather than sitting down and consciously attempting to impart such ideas to her readers.[16] Friendship and loyalty are perhaps the most "organic" of these, with their main conduit being the relationship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione, which allows these motifs to naturally develop as the three age, their relationship matures, and their accumulated experiences at Hogwarts test their trueness to each other. These ordeals become progressively difficult, keeping in line with the series' increasingly darker tone, and the general nature of adolescence. Along the same lines is the ever-present theme of adolesence, in whose depiction the author has been purposeful in her refusal to ignore her characters' sexualities and leave Harry, as she put it, "stuck in a state of permanent pre-pubescence".[17]
Also recurring throughout Harry Potter are literary motifs, namely Rowling's frequent use of irony, satire, wordplay, and folklore.
Further information: Themes and motifs in Harry Potter
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Influences
Series' mythological influences as seen on the cover of Harry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixRowling has stated that while there are a number of writers she "admires", it is more accurate to say that they represent an "untouchable ideal" to her, rather than an influence, as she doesn't "analyse" her "own writing in that way". [18] Despite this, Rowling's Potter books draw upon a long tradition of boarding school-set children's literature in English, a school story genre originating in the Victorian era with Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes. Further seemingly influential works of the Victorian era include those of E. Nesbit, of whom Rowling has frequently characterised herself as being a fan of, praising Nesbit for her innovative "very real" child characters. [19]
Use of classical myth and legend can be seen in Rowling's selection and creation of the creatures that inhabit her universe, e.g., dragons, the phoenix, and Hippogriffs. In addition to this is the influence of astronomy, history, geography, and language (especially Latin), often seen in Rowling's careful naming of characters, places, and magic in the wizarding world.
For a debate on other possible influences on the Harry Potter series, see Works analogous to Harry Potter
[edit]
Criticism and praise
While it is arguable that the archetypical familiarity of the stories contributed to their rapid elevation to classic status, critics of the Harry Potter stories are quick to argue that they lack originality, frequently pointing to its shared content with many other works of fantasy. Critic A.S. Byatt went even further in attacking the perceived lack of originality of the series following the release of the fifth book in 2003, when she called Rowling's world a "secondary secondary world, made up of intelligently patchworked derivative motifs from all sorts of children's literature [...] written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip". Byatt went on to say that readers' deference to this "derivative manipulation of past motifs" is for adult readers driven by a desire to regress to their "own childish desires and hopes" and for younger readers, "the powerful working of the fantasy of escape and empowerment, combined with the fact that the stories are comfortable, funny, just frightening enough". The end result being the levelling "of cultural studies, which are as interested in hype and popularity as they are in literary merit".[20]
Some critics were in agreement with Byatt. Fay Weldon said, "She is absolutely right that it is not what the poets hoped for, but this is not poetry, it is readable, saleable, everyday, useful prose." [21]
Others, like Charles Taylor of Salon.com, responded to Byatt by conceding that she may have "a valid cultural point — a teeny one — about the impulses that drive us to reassuring pop trash and away from the troubling complexities of art", but rejecting her claim that the series is lacking in serious literary merit, owing its success merely to the childhood reassurances it offers, stressing the progressively darker tone of the books filled with the discomfort of scenes including the murder of a classmate and close friend and the resulting psychological wounds and social isolation each causes. Taylor also points out that discomforting scenes disruptive to the childhood reassurances Byatt claims spurs the series' success are present in Philosopher's Stone (said to be the lightest of the six published books, reflecting the youth of the characters at the time), citing "the devastating scene where Harry encounters a mirror that reveals the heart's truest desire and, looking into it, sees himself happy and smiling with the parents he never knew, a vision that lasts only as long as he looks into the glass, and a metaphor for how fleeting our moments of real happiness are", then asking rhetorically if "this is Byatt's idea of reassurance?" Taylor concludes that Rowling's success among children and adults is "because J.K. Rowling is a master of narrative". [22]
Stephen King disagreed with Taylor calling the series "a feat of which only a superior imagination is capable", along with declaring "Rowling's punning, one-eyebrow-****** sense of humour" to be "remarkable". However, he does write that despite the story being "a good one", he is "a little tired of discovering Harry at home with his horrible aunt and uncle", the formulaic beginning of each of the six books published to date. In his Entertainment Weekly writings, King has often joked "[Rowling]'s never met an adverb she didn't like!" King also rejects the view of the series often held by members of the fandom as being highly textured and thought-provoking, characterising the plot as "simple, uncomplicated fun". [1]
King also predicts that Harry Potter "will indeed stand time's test and wind up on a shelf where only the best are kept; I think Harry will take his place with Alice, Huck, Frodo, and Dorothy and this is one series not just for the decade, but for the ages. "[23]
Yet another vein of criticism comes from some feminist circles, Christine Schoefer prominent among them, who contend that the novels are patriarchal and chauvinistic, and according to Schoefer present a world filled with stereotypes and adherence to "the conventional assumption that men do and should run the world." Schoefer cites Harry's courage in dangerous situations in contrast to Hermione's apparent emotional frailty when confronting the same, along with her need for Harry and Ron's approval. Similarly, she contrasts the female Professor McGonagall and her similar frailty under stress compared to the composed and farsighted Dumbledore. In addition to this is the attachment of fraud to females (Professor Trelawney, Professor Umbridge), immaturity (constantly giggling, naïve and catty school girls), and a general lack of daring, bold heroines.[24]
Spoilers end here.
[edit]
Controversy
[edit]
Allegations of copyright and trademark infringement
In 1999 Nancy Kathleen Stouffer, who is sometimes known by her penname of N.K. Stouffer, quietly began to allege copyright and trademark infringement by J.K. Rowling of her 1984 works The Legend of Rah and the Muggles and Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly.[25]
The primary basis for Stouffer's claims lie in her own invention of Muggles, non-magical elongated humanoids of sorts and the title character of the second work, Larry Potter, a bespectacled boy with dark, albeit wavy hair (Rowling's Potter is characterised as having all of those, though with unruly instead of wavy hair.) Stouffer contended (and still does to this day) that it is not just these examples and similar names but that it is "the cumulative effect of all of it combined" with the other comparisons she lists on her real muggles website.[26]
Rowling, along with Scholastic Press (her American publisher) and Warner Brothers (holders of the series' film rights), pre-empted Stouffer with a suit of their own seeking a declaratory judgment that they had not infringed on any of Stouffer's works. Rowling, through the use of expert witnesses who brought into question the authenticity of Stouffer's evidence, won the case with Stouffer's claims being dismissed with prejudice and Stouffer herself being fined $50,000 for her "pattern of intentional bad faith conduct" in relation to her employment of fraudulent evidentiary submissions, along with being ordered to pay a portion of the plaintiffs' legal fees.[27]
[edit]
Fundamentalist Christian groups
Chick Publications went so far as to produce a comic book tract called "The Nervous Witch" about two teenage girls who get seriously involved in occult witchcraft and become demonically possessed as a direct result of reading Harry Potter books.Added controversy stems from some Fundamentalist Christian groups in the United States who have denounced the series for promoting witchcraft and Satanism. "It contains some powerful and valuable lessons about love and courage and the ultimate victory of good over evil," said Paul Hetrick, spokesman for Focus on the Family, a national Christian group based in Colorado Springs. "However, the positive messages are packaged in a medium — witchcraft — that is directly denounced in Scripture." [28] Accordingly, Harry Potter has been the subject of various book burnings.[29] Continuing with the same line of reasoning, in 2002, Chick Publications went so far as to produce a comic book tract called "The Nervous Witch" that said "the Potter books open a doorway that will put untold millions of kids into hell" (emphasis in original).[30]
It has also been argued that when Pope Benedict XVI was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he also condemned the books in a letter expressing gratitude for the receipt of a book on the subject, stating they are "a subtle seduction, which has deeply unnoticed and direct effects in undermining the soul of Christianity before it can really grow properly". [31] Monsignor Peter Fleetwood, a Vatican priest, wrote that these remarks were misinterpreted, and that the letter was likely to have been written by an assistant of the then-cardinal.[32]
[edit]
Book banning
The series has been a frequent target of banning and censorship, and in the US the series is currently in high on the list of books which American libraries have been asked to ban[33]. However it's not clear how often libraries actually do ban or restrict the book, and there have been several high-profile failures to do so[3].
[edit]
Law: The Harry Potter Injunction
The series garnered more controversy with its most recent release, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, when a grocery store in Canada accidentally sold several copies of the sixth Harry Potter book before the authorised release date. The Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books, obtained an injunction from the Supreme Court of British Columbia prohibiting the purchasers from reading the books in their possession. This sparked a number of news articles questioning the injunction's restriction on fundamental rights. Canadian law professor Michael Geist has posted commentary on his weblog. [34] Richard Stallman has posted commentary on his weblog calling for a boycott until the publisher issues an apology.[35] Some versions of this creed have been circulated by email including a spoiler for one of the major plot points in the novel. Whether this was actually the original posted version and was modified by Stallman is as yet unclear, though the tone of the sentence is substantially the same as that of the rest of the message.
[edit]
Films
In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights to the first four Harry Potter books to Warner Bros. for a reported £1 million. [36] Her major demand was that the principal cast be kept strictly British. [37] Although Steven Spielberg was initially in negotiations to direct the first film, he would later decline. He wanted the movie to be an animated film, with Haley Joel Osment to do the voice of Harry Potter. For a while, it was speculated that this was due to Rowling's heavy involvement and Spielberg's dislike of an all-British cast. However, Spielberg contended that, in his opinion, it would be like "shooting ducks in a barrel... It's just like withdrawing a billion dollars and putting it into your personal bank accounts. There's no challenge." [38]
It appears that Spielberg was correct, as the Harry Potter movies have since gone on to even eclipse such giants as the Star Wars franchise in worldwide box office gross receipts, finishing second all-time to only The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. [4]
In the Rubbish Bin section of her website, Rowling maintains that she personally had no role in Spielberg's choice saying, "Anyone who thinks I could (or would) have 'veto-ed' him needs their Quick-Quotes Quill serviced." [39]
In the end, Chris Columbus directed the first two films, Alfonso Cuarón, the third, and Mike Newell, the fourth. The fifth, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is slated to be directed by David Yates.[40] Columbus also worked as producer on the first three films.
Rowling's first choice director was originally Terry Gilliam, but Columbus' involvement as screenwriter on the 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes encouraged Warner Bros. to select him in preference. Reminiscent of the Harry Potter series, Young Sherlock Holmes includes three leads who bear a strong resemblance to the Harry, Ron and Hermione of Rowling's description (as does a character named Dudley to Draco Malfoy). They investigate a supernatural mystery in a Gothic boarding school, where staff include the Professor Flitwick-like Waxflatter, and sinister Rathe. Scenes from the film were used to cast the first Harry Potter film.[41]
In 2000, the virtually unknown British actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint were selected from thousands of auditioning children to play the roles of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley, respectively. [42] They are scheduled to return in the fifth film. [43] Other notable Potter character portrayals include Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid, Alan Rickman's Severus Snape, Tom Felton's Draco Malfoy, and Richard Harris and Michael Gambon's Albus Dumbledore (Gambon took over for the third film following Harris's death in 2002). Each will reprise their characters for Order of the Phoenix. along with Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy, Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, and Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort. [44]
The first four films were scripted by Steve Kloves with the direct assistance of Rowling, though she allowed Kloves what he described as "tremendous elbow room". Thus the plot and tone of each film and its corresponding book are virtually the same except with minor changes (Hermione's dress robe colour in Goblet of Fire) and omissions of a non-critical nature (the absence of the Marauders in Prisoner of Azkaban) for purposes of cinematic style and time constraints. Despite these changes, Rowling has characterised Kloves and his adaptations as being "faithful to the books".[16]
Further information: Differences between book and film versions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Differences between book and film versions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Differences between book and film versions of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Differences between book and film versions of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
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Releases
Crowds wait outside a Borders store in Delaware for the midnight release of the book[edit]
Events
Following the Harry Potter media blitz or "Pottermania" of 1999–2000, the Harry Potter series developed a massive following of fans, so eager for the latest series release that book stores around the world began holding events to coincide with the midnight release of the books, beginning with the 2000 publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The events, commonly featuring mock sorting, games, face painting, and other live entertainment have achieved popularity with Potter fans and have been incredibly successful at attracting fans and selling books with nearly nine million of the 10.8 million initial print copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sold in the first 24 hours. [45] [9]
Copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince awaiting the stroke of midnight[edit]
Security
As publication nears, the popularity of the series as seen in the 670 Barnes & Noble release parties and 1,800 others registered with PotterParties.com, along with the nearly 2 million pre-orders for the sixth book between Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, necessitates a level of security unprecedented in the publishing world including in some cases, armed police guards for truck delivery of the heavily sealed packages.[46] [47]
A shipment of Potter books to dealers also comes with strict instructions for distribution with the possibility of legal action and revocation of future books if proper procedure isn't followed.[48]
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Awards & honours
J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series have been the recipients of a host of awards since the initial publication of Philosopher's Stone including four Whitaker Platinum Book Awards (all of which were awarded in 2001), three Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes (1997-1999), two Scottish Arts Council Book Awards (1999 and 2001), and the WHSmith book of the year (2006), among others. Honours include a commendation for the Carnegie Medal (1997), a shortlisting for the Guardian Children's Award (1998), and numerous listings on the notable books, editors' Choices, and best books lists of the American Library Association, New York Times, Chicago Public Library, and Publishers Weekly.[49]
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Commercial success
Harry Potter costumes promoting the film in Hong Kong.The tremendous popularity of the Harry Potter series has translated into substantial financial success for Rowling, her publishers, and other Harry Potter related license holders. The books have sold over 300 million copies worldwide and have also given rise to popular film adaptations produced by Warner Bros., all of which have been successful in their own right with the first, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, ranking number three on the list of all time highest-grossing films and the other three each ranking in the top 25. [50] The films have in turn spawned five video games and have in conjunction with them led to the licensing of over 400 additional Harry Potter products (including an iPod) that have, as of July 2005, made the Harry Potter brand worth an estimated 4 billion dollars and J.K. Rowling a U.S. dollar billionaire, making her, by some reports, richer than Queen Elizabeth II.[51] [52]
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Cultural impact
Since the publishing of Philosopher's Stone a number of societal trends have been attributed to the series. In 2005, doctors at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford reported that their research of the weekends of Saturday, 21 June, 2003 and Saturday, 16 July, 2005 (the dates of the two most recent book releases of the series) found that only 36 children needed emergency medical assistance for injuries sustained in accidents, as opposed to other weekends' average of 67.[53] While anecdotal evidence such as this suggests an increase in literacy among children, whether or not such growth is varied across genres and works or is even sustained has yet to be definitively proven.
Harry Potter has also wrought changes in the publishing world, one of the most noted being the reformation of the New York Times Best Seller list. The change came immediately preceding the release of Goblet of Fire in 2000 when publishers complained of the number of slots on the list being held by Harry Potter and other children's books, leading the Times to create a separate children's list for Harry Potter and other children's literature in order to free up more of the coveted 15 slots on the list. [54]
The Harry Potter books and movies also have a kind of cult following of "super-fans" (or fangirls and fanboys), much like the obsessive masses of trekkies in the Star Trek fandom. Besides meeting online through blogs and fansites, Harry Potter super-fans can also meet at Harry Potter symposiums. Many symposiums have taken place so far; see the Events section of the Harry Potter Fandom Wikipedia entry for a full listing. Lumos 2006 is the next symposium coming, scheduled for this July, 2006, in Las Vegas, Nevada. These events draw people from around the world to attend lectures and discussions about the books and movies, to converse over meals and in "house rooms" after hours, as well as afford an opportunity to fans to share fanfiction and fanart in person, dress up as the characters (frequently referred to as cosplay), and to speculate about the coming book(s) and movie(s).
Another and more pervasive impact on society is its introduction of the word "Muggle" into the English language. The word has expanded its meaning out of its original context, and as such has been accepted into the Oxford English Dictionary as "a person who lacks a particular skill or skills, or who is regarded as inferior in some way." [55]
Harry Potter's popularity has also made it the subject of frequent reference and parody throughout the world. These include the Barry Trotter series, the Russian Tanya Grotter series, features in Mad magazine, and a number of sketches on the comedy show Saturday Night Live, among a multitude of others. In the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada, Andrea Sachs must find a copy of the unpublished manuscript for the next Harry Potter book for her boss, Miranda Priestly.
Further information: Harry Potter parodies
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Future
There are currently three more Harry Potter films yet to be released. On 5 April 2006 Warner Brothers announced that the fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, will be released in cinemas on 13 July 2007."[56]
In December of 2005, Rowling declared on her website that "2006 will be the year when I write the final book in the Harry Potter series." Updates have since followed in her online diary chronicling the progress of this the seventh Harry Potter book, though a title and proclamation of completion have not accompanied them. However, in a 2006 interview, publishing director Bloomsbury confirmed that the seventh book is most likely to be released 7 July 2007 (7/7/2007), which is clever not only because it is the seventh book but also because according to Rowling seven is the most magical number. To accompany the confirmation of release Liz Calder said that "the next Harry Potter book is likely to come out in 2007."[57]
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Rowling herself has stated that the last chapter of the seventh book was completed some time ago, before writing the third book. According to her, the last word in the book is "scar". [58] In June 2006, Rowling, on an appearance on the British talk show Richard & Judy, announced that the chapter had been modified as one character "got a reprieve" and two others who previously survived the story had in fact been killed. [59]
Spoilers end here.
Regarding the existence of Harry Potter novels beyond the seventh, Rowling has said that she might write an eighth book some day. If she does, she intends it to be a sort of encyclopædia of the wizarding world, containing concepts and snippets of information that were not relevant enough to the novels' plots to be included in them. [60] She has also said that she will not write any sort of prequel to the novels, since by the time the series ends all the necessary back story will have been revealed. [19]