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| At Bloomsbury, at the time a fairly small independent publisher, Philosopher's stone would land in front of the uninterested eye of ], the ] of ]. The unenthused Mr. Newton would take the manuscript home but he would not read it, instead he would give it to his eight year old daughter Alice. Showing great zeal over what she had read, Ms. Newton would go on to 'nag' her father for months until Bloomsbury, after eight other ] had rejected Philosopher's Stone, offered ] a £2,500 advance. | At Bloomsbury, at the time a fairly small independent publisher, Philosopher's stone would land in front of the uninterested eye of ], the ] of ]. The unenthused Mr. Newton would take the manuscript home but he would not read it, instead he would give it to his eight year old daughter Alice. Showing great zeal over what she had read, Ms. Newton would go on to 'nag' her father for months until Bloomsbury, after eight other ] had rejected Philosopher's Stone, offered ] 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 (]) and ] (]) before her, Joanne Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more gender neutral ], 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 would choose J.K. Rowiling (assuming the "K" from her grandmother Kathleen). | 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 ] (]) and ] (]) before her, Joanne Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more gender neutral ], 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 would choose J.K. Rowiling (assuming the "K" from her grandmother Kathleen). | ||
| The first Potter book was published in the ] by ] in July ] and in the United States, September of 1998, but not before Rowling received a six-figures for the American publishing rights, an unprecedented sum for a children’s book. | The first Potter book was published in the ] by ] in July ] and in the United States, September of 1998, but not before Rowling received a six-figures for the American publishing rights, an unprecedented sum for a children’s book. | ||
Revision as of 18:06, 20 May 2006
- This article is about the Harry Potter series. For information about the character, see Harry Potter (character).
Harry Potter is the name of a popular series of fantasy novels by British writer J. K. Rowling. Six of the seven planned books have been published to date. The books depict a world of witches and wizards, the main character being a young wizard named Harry Potter. The first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States), was released in 1997. The first four books have been made into films, and the fifth movie began filming in February 2006. English language versions of the books are published by Bloomsbury, Scholastic Press, and Raincoast Books.
Please note, most links lead to spoilers. Those that are noted will carry the following tag: Template:Spoiler
Overview
Each book chronicles approximately one year in Harry's life at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he learns to use magic and brew potions. Harry also learns to overcome many magical, social, and emotional obstacles as he struggles through his adolescence.
There are seven books in the series, each a little darker than its predecessor, as Harry ages and his nemesis, Lord Voldemort, gains power. As of 2006, six books have been published. The latest, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was published in its English-language version on 16 July 2005. Since the publication of book five, Rowling has revealed hints about the plot of future books on jkrowling.com, her official website.
Publishing history
In 1990, Rowling was on a crowded train from Manchester to London when the idea for Harry simply “fell” into her head. Rowling gives an account of the experience on her website:
- 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).
J.K. Rowling would that night begin the pre-writing for her first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Sorcerer's Stone in the U.S.).
Eventually she would move to Portugal, where in 1992 she would marry her first husband, and in 1993 have her first child, Jessica, all the while continuing her writing of Stone. When the marriage dissolved Rowling and her daughter moved back to England in Edinburgh to be near her sister, famously continuing her writing of Philosopher's Stone in local coffee shops (a better atmosphere than her unheated apartment), her favorite being Nicholson Street Cafe, nearby Blackwells Nicholson Street. This cafe has since been converted into a Chinese restaurant, although a commemorative plaque remains. Bringing in only £90 a week (£70 of which were 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 labored 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 $7, 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...
At Bloomsbury, at the time a fairly small independent publisher, Philosopher's stone would land in front of the uninterested eye of Nigel Newton, the chairman of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. The unenthused Mr. Newton would take the manuscript home but he would not read it, instead he would give it to his eight year old daughter Alice. Showing great zeal 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 J.K. 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 Mocking Bird) and S.E. Hinton (The Outsiders) before her, Joanne Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more gender neutral penname, 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 would choose J.K. Rowiling (assuming the "K" from her grandmother Kathleen).
The first Potter book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury in July 1997 and in the United States, September of 1998, but not before Rowling received a six-figures for the American publishing rights, an unprecedented sum for a children’s book.
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, all won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for the 9 to 11 age group . By the time the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was published in 2000, the series had become very high-profile, making headlines of newspapers and covers of major magazines. Around the same time, Warner Brothers began work on a series of films based on the books.
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 organization "Comic Relief" (not to be confused with the American organization of the same name).
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 edition's aimed at adults. The world wide success of Harry Potter including sales from the books, as well as royalties from the films and merchandise, has made Rowling a billionaire and by some reports richer than Queen Elizabeth II
As of 4 October 2005, more than 300 million copies of the books have been sold worldwide .
The series
The books
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Story timeline:1926, 1937, 1960, 1970, 1996 to 1997
- Release date: 16 July, 2005 (UK/US)
- US Sales: 20 million. 7 million in 24 hours, initial printing 10.8 million copies.
- Book 7: title unknown
- Further information: List of titles of Harry Potter books in other languages and Harry Potter in translation series
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
-
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
-
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
-
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The films
Further Information: Harry Potter cast
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States)
- Release: 16 November 2001
- Director: Chris Columbus
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Release: 15 November 2002
- Director: Chris Columbus
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Release: UK: 31 May 2004, USA: 4 June
- Director: Alfonso Cuarón
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Release: 2005; Philippines and Indonesia: 16 November; Singapore, Malaysia, Sweden: 17 November; UK, USA, and other countries: 18 November; Australia: 1 December; Hong Kong: 22 December; Russia: 23 December
- Director: Mike Newell
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Release: UK, and USA: July 13 2007 Germany: July 12 2007 Australia: September 6 2007
- Director: David Yates
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Release: 2008
- Director: Unknown
The first movie (The Philosopher's Stone/Sorcerer's Stone) is the highest grossing, at #3 for all-time worldwide box office, then Goblet of Fire at #8 (may change), Chamber of Secrets at #9, and Prisoner of Azkaban at #16.
Controversy
The books have provoked various kinds of controversy.
Accusations of promoting the occult
Some extremist Christian groups in the United States 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." .
Chick Publications produced 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.
It has 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." 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.
Harry Potter was parodied in The Onion, when an article titled "Harry Potter Books Spark Rise in Satanism Among Children" satirically reported the thousands of children attracted to the dark arts and denying religion due to the books. As reported on Urban Legends Reference Pages, some who were unaware that the article was a parody employed it as evidence in the demonisation of the books.
Injunction against purchasers of early copies
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. Richard Stallman has posted commentary on his weblog calling for a boycott until the publisher issues an apology. 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.
Books Banned
Owing to the very nature of the books and the matter-of-fact way in which Rowling addresses the use of magic, the series has been a frequent target of banning and censorship in libraries. The series taken as a whole is in the list of the top 100 most frequently challenged books at libraries (i.e. books that have been requested to be banned), currently listed at number seven on this list.
Other analogous works
Critics of the Harry Potter stories are quick to argue that they lack originality. Certainly the influence of such writers as Roald Dahl, T.H. White, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and others can be detected in J.K. Rowling's work. Conversely, it is arguable that the archetypical familiarity of the stories contributed to their rapid elevation to classic status.
One of the earliest characters remeniscent of Harry Potter is the boy magician Kullervo, from the Finnish epic, the Kalevala. But he is the literary opposite of Harry. Like Harry, Kullervo is profoundly magically gifted from an early age, his family are killed in a raid on his home when he is an infant, and Kullervo is raised as a slave by unloving, spiteful people. Like Harry, after Kullervo grows up, he discovers a remnant of his family (in Harry's case, his godfather), who die a year or two after the reunion. But whereas Harry grows up to be a good-tempered, moral boy, who is rather the "joiner", Kullervo is a "loner" who becomes an ignorant, vengeful young man. Kullervo's spontaneous magical acts cause his tormentors to die horribly, whereas Harry has yet to kill or even seriously injure anyone.
J.K. Rowling's Potter books draw upon a long tradition of boarding school-set children's literature in English. This school story genre originated in the Victorian era with Tom Brown's Schooldays, by Thomas Hughes. Tom Brown's Schooldays laid down a basic structure which has been widely imitated, for example in Anthony Buckeridge's 1950s Jennings books.
Similarities between Tom Brown's Schooldays and Harry Potter are easy to identify. Both stories involve an average eleven-year old, better at sport than academic study, who is sent to boarding school. Upon arrival, the boy gains a best friend (East or Ron Weasley) who helps him adjust to the new environment. They are set upon by an arrogant bully — Flashman or Draco Malfoy.
The impact in English of the Victorian era children's authors has been lasting; J.K. Rowling frequently mentions E. Nesbit in interview. There are further echoes of Rudyard Kipling in Rowling's work. Like the Harry Potter story, Kipling's classic The Jungle Book opens with an attack by the principal villain (Shere Khan) upon a year-old infant (Mowgli) and his parents. Shere Khan is unable to kill Mowgli because Mother Wolf (a figure analogous to Lily Potter) is willing to die to protect him. Mowgli grows up a virtual orphan until he is eleven, when he learns that either he must kill Shere Khan, or Shere Khan will kill him (as with Harry and Voldemort). Other tenuous similarities include Bagheera, a black panther, who, like Sirius Black, is an escaped prisoner, and acts as an uncle figure to Mowgli.
Within the later-arising fantasy genre, schools of magic that may be forerunners to Hogwarts are identifiable. The basic premise of Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea, in which a boy with unusual aptitude for magic is recognised, and sent to a special school for wizards, resembles that of Harry Potter. The hero encounters a typically unpleasant Draco-like rival, in the Flashman tradition.
The Earthsea books, while hugely successful, were not the first to propose the idea of a school for wizards. Magical education appears in Eleanor Estes' 1960 book The Witch Family, and in Patricia Coombs' Dorrie series (1962+).
John Bellairs' Lewis Barnavelt books also have points in common with the Harry Potter stories. They concern a boy, orphaned when his parents die in a car crash, who goes to live with peculiar Uncle Jonathan and housekeeper Mrs. Zimmermann. Both are wizards, and their house is a Hogwarts-like construction of moving pictures and secret passageways. Big, bearded, affectionate Uncle Jonathan is only somewhat magical (like Rowling's Hagrid), while the shrewder, stricter Mrs. Zimmermann is actually a powerful sorceress, similar to Headmistress McGonagall.
Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch series (first published in 1974), is set in a witchcraft school for girls, hosted in an ancient castle on a remote hill surrounded by a forest. Classes include potions, chant and broomstick flying. In Diana Wynne Jones' Charmed Life (1977), two orphaned children receive magical education while living in a castle. The setting is a world resembling early 1900 Britain, where magic is commonplace. In the early 1990s, Jane Yolen also preceded J.K. Rowling (with Wizard's Hall), as did Eva Ibbotson (with The Secret of Platform 13).
In other media, fans of the comic book series The Books of Magic, by Neil Gaiman (first published in 1990 by DC Comics) cite similarities to the Harry Potter story. These include a dark-haired boy with glasses, named Tim Hunter, who discovers his potential as the most powerful wizard of the age upon being approached by magic-wielding individuals, the first of whom makes him a gift of a pet owl. Rowling officially denies being aware of this series, and Gaiman has gone on record stating that he believes similarities to be either coincidence, or drawn from the same fantasy archetypes. Archie Comics' Sabrina the Teenage Witch (first appearing in the 1960s, later resurrected in the 1990s in response to the success of the live-action television series) also features a young magical protagonist.
In film and television, Hogwarts-like witches - one of whom is played by theatre actress Hermione Gingold - appear in the 1958 movie Bell, Book and Candle. Similar characters appear in the 1960s television series Bewitched: Samantha Stephens' aunts are described as running a school for witches.
The 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes, scripted by Chris Columbus, also displays similarities to the Harry Potter series. The three leads bear a strong physical 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. Trophy-room duels, scars, a hooded Dementor-like apparition, Death Eater-style cultists, a flying bike, and ultimate sacrifice for love are other elements in common. The similarities contributed to Warner Bros. decision to employ Columbus as producer/director of the Potter movies, in preference to Terry Gilliam, Rowling's original choice. Scenes from Young Sherlock Holmes were subsequently used to cast the first Harry Potter film (IGN: Trouble Brewing with Potter Casting?).
Harry Potter as a brand
The Harry Potter brand is very strong due to its devoted fan base and merchandise related to the books and movies is abundant.
On 7 September 2005, Apple Computer announced that it would release a limited edition iPod with the Hogwarts logo engraved on the back. This limited edition iPod would be dubbed the Harry Potter Collector's iPod . The purchase of this iPod included a code to download all of the Harry Potter audiobooks to date as well as J. K. Rowling's biography from the iTunes Music Store. On 12 October 2005 Apple Computer reintroduced the Harry Potter Collector's iPod which comes with all the books and the engraving on the back like the original Harry Potter Collector's iPod but just updated, with the iPod line to match the look of the 5G iPod. The Harry Potter Fifth-Generation Collector's iPod comes with all the features as the other 5G iPods including the feature to watch videos.
The Future
There are currently three more Harry Potter films yet to be released. On the 5th 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.
In December of 2005, Rowling declared on he 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, release date, or proclamation of completion have not accompanied them.
Rowling has however stated that the last chapter of the seventh book was written some time ago, before writing the third book. She has also stated that the last word of the book would be "scar". In a July 2005 interview with fan sites Mugglenet and The Leaky Cauldron she cast doubt on this, saying "I wonder if it will remain that way".
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. 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.
See also
- All Misplaced Pages articles about Harry Potter
- Wizarding world
- Blood Purity in Harry Potter
- Dates in Harry Potter
- Harry Potter (statistics)
- Harry Potter fandom
- Harry Potter Parodies
- List of characters in the Harry Potter books
- List of fictional books within the Harry Potter series
- List of places in the Harry Potter books
- Magic (Harry Potter)
- Money in Harry Potter
Harry Potter in Foreign Languages
- Harry Potter in translation
- Harry Potter in translation series
- List of titles of Harry Potter books in other languages
Filming locations
- Durham Cathedral in the city of Durham in the North East of England
- Alnwick Castle in Alnwick, Northumberland, England.
- Borough Market, London
- New College, Oxford, part of the University of Oxford in the city of Oxford
- Goathland railway station, Goathland, on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in North Yorkshire, England
- Leadenhall Market, London
- King's Cross railway station, London
- Gloucester Cathedral in Gloucester, England
- Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England
- Glenfinnan Viaduct on the West Highland Railway in Glenfinnan, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland.
- Beckley Park, Oxfordshire
References
- "'Potter books are Pagan Discipleship' says author". Retrieved 8 November 2005.
- "Pottermania in London". (8 November 2005). New Straits Times, p. 30.
Further reading
- Beahm, George W. Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in Harry Potter's World: An Unofficial Guide.
- Beahm, George W. Muggles and Magic: An Unofficial Guide to J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter Phenomenon.
- Chippendale, Lisa A. Triumph of the Imagination: The Story of J.K. Rowling. 2002, 2003.
- Fraser, Lindsey. Conversations with J.K. Rowling. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2001.
- J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001.
- Lawrence, Daniel. The Ultimate Unofficial Harry Potter Trivia Book: Secrets, Mysteries and Fun Facts Including Half-Blood Prince Book 6.
- Rowling, J.K. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Sagebrush, 2001.
- --. Quidditch Through the Ages. Sagebrush, 2001.
- Shapiro, Marc. J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter. St. Martin's Press, 2000.
- Smith, Sean. J.K. Rowling: A Biography. Michael O'Mara Books, 1999.
- Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter (Analysis of Books 1-4). No location: Wizarding Press, 2003.
- David Colbert The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter. Penguin Books, 2001.
External links
Official sites:
- JK Rowling's personal website
- Official Harry Potter Movies Website (Warner Bros.)
- Harry Potter on Bloomsbury.com (International publisher)
- Harry Potter on Scholastic.com (U.S. publisher)
- Harry Potter on Raincoast.com (Canadian publisher)
Other resources:
For further fandom links, including "unofficial" websites, see Harry Potter fandom.
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