Harry Potter influences and analogues

Writer J. K. Rowling cites several writers as influences in her creation of her bestselling "Harry Potter" series. Writers, journalists and critics have noted that the books also have a number of analogues; a wide range of literature, both classical and modern, which Rowling has not openly cited as influences.

This article is divided into three sections. The first section lists those authors and books which Rowling has suggested as possible influences on "Harry Potter". The second section deals with those books which Rowling has cited as favourites without mentioning possible influences. The third section deals with those analogues which Rowling has not cited either as influences or as favourites but which others have claimed bear comparison with "Harry Potter".

Influences

Rowling has never openly credited any single author with inspiration, saying, "I haven't got the faintest idea where my ideas come from, or how my imagination works. I'm just grateful that it does, because it gives me more entertainment than it gives anyone else."cite web|title=From Mr Darcy to Harry Potter by way of Lolita|author=J. K. Rowling|work=Sunday Herald|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0500-heraldsun-rowling.html|year=2000|accessdate=2007-07-10] However, she has mentioned a number of favourite authors as probable influences in her creation of "Harry Potter". Order is roughly chronological.

British folklore and mythology

Rowling has said, "I've taken horrible liberties with folklore and mythology, but I'm quite unashamed about that, because British folklore and British mythology is a totally bastard mythology. You know, we've been invaded by people, we've appropriated their gods, we've taken their mythical creatures, and we've soldered them all together to make, what I would say, is one of the richest folklores in the world, because it's so varied. So I feel no compunction about borrowing from that freely, but adding a few things of my own." [Fry, Stephen [http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2005/1205-bbc-fry.html Living with Harry Potter] BBC Radio4, 10 December 2005.]

"The Iliad"

When an interviewer said that saving Cedric's body resembled the "Iliad" and the actions of Hector, Achilles, and Patroclus, Rowling said, "That's where it came from. That really, really, REALLY moved me when I read that when I was 19. The idea of the desecration of a body, a very ancient idea... I was thinking of that when Harry saved Cedric's body." [cite web|title=Harry Up!|work=ew.com|author= Jeff Jensen|year=2000|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,85524~5~0~,00.html|accessdate=2007-09-20]

The Bible

A number of commentators have drawn attention to the Biblical themes and references in her final "Harry Potter" novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". In an August 2007 issue of "Newsweek", Lisa Miller commented that Harry dies and then comes back to life to save mankind, like Christ. She points out the title of the chapter in which this occurs—"King's Cross"—a possible allusion to Christ's cross. Also, she outlines the scene in which Harry is temporarily dead, pointing out that it places Harry in a very heaven-like setting where he talks to a father figure "whose supernatural powers are accompanied by a profound message of love." [Miller, Lisa. "Christ-like." "Newsweek." Published: 2007-08-06 Vol. 150 Iss. 6 pg. 12 ISSN: 00289604] Jeffrey Weiss adds, in the "Dallas Morning News", that the biblical quote "And the last enemy that shall be defeated is death", (I Corinthians 15:26), featured on the tombstones of Harry's parents, refers to Christ's resurrection. [cite web|title=Christian Themes Abound in the Harry Potter books|author=Jeffrey Weiss|work=Dallas Morning News|url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-weiss_28edi.ART.State.Edition1.2758dd6.html|year=2007|accessdate=2007-08-18] The quote on Dumbledore's family tomb, "Where your treasure is, your heart will be also", is from Matthew 6:21, and refers to knowing which things in life are of true value. [cite web|title="For Where Your Treasure Is, There Your Heart Will Be Also": Bible Quotes or Harry Potter Quotes?|author=Simran Khurana|work=about.com|year=2007|url=http://quotations.about.com/b/a/257731.htm|accessdate=2007-08-16] "They're very British books," Rowling revealed to an Open Book conference in October 2007, "So on a very practical note Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones, [but] I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric's Hollow, they (...) almost epitomize the whole series." [cite web|title='Harry Potter' Author J.K. Rowling Opens Up About Books' Christian Imagery|author=Shawn Adler|work=mtv.com|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1572107/20071017/index.jhtml|year=2007|accessdate=2007-10-18]

"The Pardoner's Tale

In a July 2007 webchat hosted by her publisher Bloomsbury, Rowling stated that "The Pardoner's Tale" of Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" was an inspiration for a folktale retold by Xenophilius Lovegood in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". [cite web|title=J.K. Rowling Web Chat Transcript|work=The Leaky Cauldron|url=http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript|year=2007|accessdate=2007-08-25] In the tale, three brothers outwit Death by magicking a bridge to cross a dangerous river. Death, angry at being cheated, offers to give them three gifts, the Deathly Hallows, as a reward for evading him. The first two die as a result of the gifts granted to them, but the third uses his gift wisely and dies in his bed an old man. In "The Pardoner's Tale", three rogues are told that if they look under a tree, they can find a means to defeat Death. Instead they find gold, and, overcome with greed, eventually kill each other to possess it. [cite book|title=The Riverside Chaucer|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1987|editor=Larry D. Benson]

"Macbeth"

Rowling has cited Shakespeare's "Macbeth" as an influence. In an interview with The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet, when asked, "What if [Voldemort] never heard the prophecy?", she said, "It's the “Macbeth” idea. I absolutely adore “Macbeth.” It is possibly my favourite Shakespeare play. And that's the question isn't it? If Macbeth hadn't met the witches, would he have killed Duncan? Would any of it have happened? Is it fated or did he make it happen? I believe he made it happen." [cite web|title=The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Three|author=Melissa Anelli and Emerson Spartz|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2005/0705-tlc_mugglenet-anelli-3.htm|year=2005|accessdate=2007-06-26] On her website, she referred to "Macbeth" again in discussing the prophecy: "the prophecy (like the one the witches make to Macbeth, if anyone has read the play of the same name) becomes the catalyst for a situation that would never have occurred if it had not been made." [cite web|title=What is the significance of Neville being the other boy to whom the prophecy might have referred?|work=J.K.Rowling Official Site|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=84|accessdate=2007-06-26]

"Emma"

Rowling cites Jane Austen as her favourite author and a major influence. "My attitude to Jane Austen is accurately summed up by that wonderful line from "Cold Comfort Farm": 'One of the disadvantages of almost universal education was that all kinds of people gained a familiarity with one's favourite books. It gave one a curious feeling; like seeing a drunken stranger wrapped in one's dressing gown.'" The "Harry Potter" series is known for its twist endings, and Rowling has stated that, "I have never set up a surprise ending in a Harry Potter book without knowing I can never, and will never, do it anywhere near as well as Austen did in "Emma"." [ cite web | author= Boquet, Tim| title=J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter| work=Reader's Digest| url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/1200-readersdigest-boquet.htm
accessdate=2006-10-10 ]

"The Story of the Treasure Seekers"

Rowling frequently mentions E. Nesbit in interview, citing her "very real" child characters. [ cite web | author= J. K. Rowling| title=J. K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival| url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80| accessdate=2006-10-10 ] In 2000, she said, "I think I identify with E Nesbit more than any other writer", and described Nesbit's "The Story of the Treasure Seekers"' as, "Exhibit A for prohibition of all children's literature by anyone who can not remember exactly how it felt to be a child."

"The Wind in the Willows"

In a 2007 reading for students in New Orleans, Rowling claimed that the first book to inspire her was Kenneth Grahame's children's fantasy "The Wind in the Willows", read to her when she had the measles at age 4. [cite web|title="New Orleans students give Rowling a rousing welcome." |author=Susan Larson|work=Times-Picayune|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2007/1018-timespicayune-larson.html|year=2007|accessdate=2008-05-17]

Dorothy L. Sayers

Rowling has also cited the work of Christian essayist and mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers as an influence on her work, saying "There's a theory — this applies to detective novels, and then Harry, which is notreally a detective novel, but it feels like one sometimes — that you should not have romantic intrigue in a detective book. Dorothy L. Sayers, who is queen of the genre said — and then broke her own rule, but said — that there is no place for romance in a detective story except that it can be useful to camouflage other people's motives. That's true; it is a very useful trick. I've used that on Percy and I've used that to a degree on Tonks in this book, as a red herring. But having said that, I disagree inasmuch as mine are very character-driven books, and it's so important, therefore, that we see these characters fall in love, which is a necessary part of life." [cite web|title=Placetne, J. K. Rowling?|author=Peg Duthie|url=http://www.nashpanache.com/sayers/placetne.pdf|accessdate=2007-08-28]

"The Chronicles of Narnia"

Rowling has said she was a fan of the works of C. S. Lewis as a child, and cites the influence of his "Narnia" chronicles on her work: "I found myself thinking about the wardrobe route to Narnia when Harry is told he has to hurl himself at a barrier in Kings Cross Station - it dissolves and he's on platform Nine and Three-Quarters, and there's the train for Hogwarts." cite web | author= Renton, Jennie| title="The story behind the Potter
|work=Sydney Morning Herald| url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2001/1001-sydney-renton.htm
accessdate=2006-10-10 ]

She is, however, at pains to stress the differences between Narnia and her world: "Narnia is literally a different world", she says, "whereas in the Harry books you go into a world within a world that you can see if you happen to belong. A lot of the humour comes from collisions between the magic and the everyday worlds. Generally there isn't much humour in the Narnia books, although I adored them when I was a child. I got so caught up I didn't think CS Lewis was especially preachy. Reading them now I find that his subliminal message isn't very subliminal." "New York Times" writer Charles McGrath notes the similarity between Dudley Dursley, the obnoxious son of Harry's neglectful guardians, and Eustace Scrubb, the spoiled brat who torments the main characters until converted by Aslan. [cite web|title=The Narnia Skirmishes|author=Charles McGrath|work=The New York Times|year=2005|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/13/movies/13narnia.html?ei=5090&en=49132a2956301464&ex=1289538000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
accessdate=2008-05-29}]

"The Little White Horse"

In an interview in "The Scotsman" in 2002, Rowling described Elizabeth Goudge's "The Little White Horse" as having, "perhaps more than any other book . . . a direct influence on the "Harry Potter" books. The author always included details of what her characters were eating and I remember liking that. You may have noticed that I always list the food being eaten at Hogwarts."cite web |url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2002/1102-fraser-scotsman.html|title=Fraser, Lindsay. "Harry Potter - Harry and me,"|publisher=The Scotsman|date=November 2002] Rowling said in "O" that "Goudge was the only [author] whose influence I was conscious of. She always described exactly what the children were eating, and I really liked knowing what they had in their sandwiches." [cite web|title=J.K. Rowling's bookshelf|work=oprah.com|url=http://www2.oprah.com/obc/omag/bookshelf/omag_books_rowling_d.jhtml|year=2001|accessdate=2007-08-18]

"The Sword in the Stone"

Rowling also cites the work of T. H. White, a grammar school teacher, and the author of the well-known children's classic saga, "The Once and Future King", which tells the story of King Arthur of Britain, from childhood to grave. Perhaps the best-known book from this saga is "The Sword in the Stone" (the first book) which was made into an animated movie by Disney Studios. Arthur, (called Wart) is a small scruffy-haired orphan, who meets the wizard Merlin (who has an owl, Archimedes, and acts, much like Dumbledore, in the manner of an "absent-minded professor" [cite web|title=Real Wizards: The Search for Harry's Ancestors|work=Channel4.com|url=http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/R/real_wizards/myth.htm |year=2001|accessdate=2007-06-01] ) who takes him to a castle to educate him. As writer Evelyn Perry notes, "Dumbledore resembles Merlin both personally and physically; he is an avid lover of books and wisdom who wears flowing robes and a long, white beard." [cite web|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Novel|author=Evelyn M Perry|work-Farmingham State College|url=http://www.aolatschool.com/students/books/booknotes/_a/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/20060103193609990005| accessdate=2007-06-01] Rowling describes Wart as "Harry's spiritual ancestor." [cite web|title=JK (JOANNE KATHLEEN) ROWLING (1966-)|url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,5917,412962,00.html|work=Guardian Unlimited|accessdate=2007-10-08]

"Manxmouse"

Rowling is also a fan of Paul Gallico, [ cite web | title=Edinburgh "cub reporter" press conference|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2005/0705-edinburgh-ITVcubreporters.htm| accessdate=2006-10-10] "especially "Manxmouse". That's a great book. Gallico manages the fine line between magic and reality so skillfully, to the point where the most fantastic events feel plausible."

Jessica Mitford

In the "Scotsman" interview, Rowling described civil rights activist Jessica Mitford as "my most influential writer", saying, "I love the way she never outgrew some of her adolescent traits, remaining true to her politics - she was a self-taught socialist - throughout her life." In a review of "Decca--The letters of Jessica Mitford", she went further saying, "Jessica Mitford has been my heroine since I was 14 years old, when I overheard my formidable great-aunt discussing how Mitford had run away at the age of 19 to fight with the Reds in the Spanish Civil War", and claims what inspired her about Mitford was that she was "incurably and instinctively rebellious, brave, adventurous, funny and irreverent, she liked nothing better than a good fight, preferably against a pompous and hypocritical target." [cite web|title= The first It Girl|author=J. K. Rowling|work=The Telegraph|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/11/26/bomit05.xml&sSheet=/arts/2006/11/26/bomain300.html|year=2006|accessdate=2007-06-27]

Other favourites

In 1999, while Rowling was on a tour of the United States, a bookseller handed her a copy of "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith, saying she would love it. The book became one of her all time favourites. Rowling says that, "it is the voice of the narrator, in this case 17-year- old Cassandra Mortmain, which makes a masterpiece out of an old plot." [cite web|title=J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival, Sunday, 15 August 2004|author=Lindsey Fraser|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2004/0804-ebf.htm|year=2004|accessdate=2007-05-10]

Also in 1999, Rowling said in interview that she was great fan of "Grimble", by Clement Freud, saying, "Grimble is one of funniest books I've ever read, and Grimble himself, who is a small boy, is a fabulous character. I'd love to see a "Grimble" film. As far as I know, these last two fine pieces of literature are out of print, so if any publishers ever read this, could you please dust them off and put them back in print so other people can read them?" [cite web|title=Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem: An Interview with J.K. Rowling|work=Amazon.com|year=199|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1999/0099-amazon-staff.htm|accessdate=2008-05-17]

On a number of occasions, Rowling has cited her admiration for French novelist Colette. [cite web|title=Wild About Harry|author=Jennie Renton|work=Candis Magazine|year=2001|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2001/1101-candis-renton.html|accessdate=2008-05-17]

Rowling that the death of Sydney Carton in Charles Dickens's "The Tale of Two Cities", and the novel's final line, "It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known", had a profound impact on her. [cite web|title=The J.K. Rowling Story|author=Stephen Mcginty|work=The Scotsman|year=2003|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2003/0616-scotsman-mcginty.html|accessdate=2008-05-17]

In a 2000 interview with BBC Radio 4, Rowling revealed a deep love of Vladimir Nabokov's controversial book "Lolita", saying, "There just isn't enough time to discuss how a plot that could have been the most worthless pornography becomes, in Nabokov's hands, a great and tragic love story, and I could exhaust my reservoir of superlatives trying to describe the quality of the writing." [cite web|title=How Lolita inspired Harry Potter|author=Sarah-Kate Templeton|work=The Sunday Herald|year=2000|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0500-heraldsun-templeton.html|accessdate=2008-05-17]

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey's O Magazine, Rowling described Irish author Roddy Doyle as her favourite living writer, saying, "I love all his books. I often talk about him and Jane Austen in the same breath. I think people are slightly mystified by that because superficially they're such different writers. But they both have a very unsentimental approach to human nature. They can be profoundly moving without ever becoming mawkish." [cite web|title=JK Rowling: Favourite living author|work=O Magazine|url=http://www2.oprah.com/obc/omag/bookshelf/omag_books_rowling_b.jhtml |year=2001|accessdate=2007-08-19]

Many of Rowling's named favorites decorate the links section of her personal webpage. The section is designed to look like a bookcase, and includes "I Capture the Castle", "The Little White Horse" and "Manxmouse", Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", "Sense and Sensibility" and "Emma", a book of fairy tales by E. Nesbit, "The Commitments" and "The Van" by Roddy Doyle, two books by Dorothy L. Sayers and a book by Katherine Mansfield. [cite web|title=J. K. Rowling's Official Site|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/en|accessdate=2007-06-10]

In January 2006, Rowling was asked by the Royal Society of Literature to nominate her top ten books every child should read. Included in her list were "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl, "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe, "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens, "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare, "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, "The Tale of Two Bad Mice" by Beatrix Potter, "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger and "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller. [cite web|title=From Beatrix Potter to Ulysses ... what the top writers say every child should read|author=Higgins, Charlotte|work=The Guardian|year=2006|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2006/0131-guardian-higgins.html|accessdate=2007-08-17]

Analogues

There are a number of authors to which Rowling has been repeatedly compared in the media. Some of these she has herself mentioned, others have been mentioned by internet sites, journalists, critics or other authors. Order is roughly chronological.

"The Pilgrim's Progress"

John Granger sees "Chamber of Secrets" as similar to a morality play like John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. He describes the climax, where Harry descends to the chamber of secrets to rescue Ginny Weasley as “the clearest Christian allegory of salvation history since Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. ... Using only traditional symbols, from the ‘Ancient of Days’ figure as God the Father to the satanic serpent and Christ-like phoenix (‘the Resurrection Bird’), the drama takes us from the fall to eternal life without a hitch.” [cite web|title=Reconstructing Harry|work=Sydneyanglicans.net|year=2003|url=http://your.sydneyanglicans.net/culture/thinking/561a/|accessdate=2007-09-05]

"Wuthering Heights"

In 2006, Rowling recommended Emily Bronte's Gothic romance "Wuthering Heights" as one of ten books every child should read. In her essay, "To Sir With Love" in the book "Mapping the World of Harry Potter", Joyce Millman suggests that Severus Snape, Harry Potter's morally ambiguous potions master, is drawn from a tradition of Byronic heroes such as "Wuthering Heights"' Heathcliff. [cite book|title=Mapping the World of Harry Potter|editor=Mercedes Lackey|publisher=BenBella Books, Inc.|year=2006|pages=39-52|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sKRkzVIK3foC&pg=PT13&lpg=PT13&dq=snape++wuthering-heights+byronic+snape&source=web&ots=MqgdkIDEs4&sig=QajAgLIhlGmLt9xOwb3xqVLKm8g&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result#PPT13,M1|accessdate=2008-07-30]

"Tom Brown's Schooldays

The "Harry Potter" series draws 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. [

*cite web|title=J K Rowling|author=Dr Jules Smith|year=2003|work=contemporarywriters.com|url=http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/profile/?p=auth03D22J591912635584|accessdate=2007-09-20

*cite web|title=Happiest Days: The Public Schools in English Fiction by Jeffrey Richards; English Children and Their Magazines, 1751-1945 by Kirsten Drotner|author=Nicholas Tucker|work=History of Education Quarterly|url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-2680(199121)31%3A1%3C139%3AHDTPSI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L|year=1991|accessdate=2007-05-31]

Both "Tom Brown's Schooldays" and "Harry Potter" 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 (In Tom's case, East, in Harry's case, Ron Weasley) who helps him adjust to the new environment. They are set upon by an arrogant bully — in Tom Brown's case, Flashman, in Harry's case Draco Malfoy. Stephen Fry, who both narrates the British audio adaptations of the "Harry Potter" novels and has starred in a screen adaptation of "Tom Brown", has commented many times about the similarities between the two books. "Harry Potter - a boy who arrives in this strange school to board for the first time and makes good, solid friends and also enemies who use bullying and unfair tactics", notes Fry, "then is ambiguous about whether or not he is going to be good or bad. His pluck and his endeavour, loyalty, good nature and bravery are the things that carry him through - and that is the story of Tom Brown's Schooldays". [ cite web | author= Ian Wylie| title=Stephen Fry's Schooldays| work=Manchester Evening News| url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/filmandtv/tv/s/139/139421_stephen_frys_schooldays.html
accessdate=2006-10-10 ]

"The Lord of the Rings"

Fans of author J. R. R. Tolkien have drawn attention to the similarities between his novel "The Lord of the Rings" and the "Harry Potter" series; specifically Tolkien's Wormtongue and Rowling's Wormtail, Tolkien's Shelob and Rowling's Aragog, Rowling's Dementors and Tolkien's Nazgûl, the Whomping Willow and Old Man Willow and similarities between both authors' antagonists, Tolkien's Dark Lord Sauron and Rowling's Lord Voldemort (both of whom are sometimes within their respective continuities unnamed due to intense fear surrounding their names; and both of whom are, during the time when the main action takes place, seeking to recover their lost power after having been considered dead or at least no longer a threat). [cite web|publisher=GreenBooks. TheOneRing.net| url=http://greenbooks.theonering.net/guest/files/050102.html| title=How Much Was Rowling Inspired by Tolkien?| first=Caroline | last=Monroe| accessdate=2006-05-21] Several reviews of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" noted that the locket used as a horcrux by Voldemort bore comparison to Tolkien's One Ring, as it negatively affects the personality of the wearer. [

*cite web|title= Harry's Final Fantasy: Last Time's the Charm |author=Elizabeth Hand|work=Powell's Books|url=http://www.powells.com/review/2007_07_27.html|year=2007|accessdate=2007-09-04

*cite web|title=Book review: 'Deathly Hallows'|author=Gina Carbone|work=Seacoastonline|url=http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070722/ENTERTAIN/70722031/-1/ENTERTAIN08|year=2007|accessdate=2007-09-04

*cite web|title=Goodbye, Harry Potter|author=Laura Miller|work=salon.com|url=http://www.salon.com/books/review/2007/07/20/harry/|year=2007|accessdate=2007-09-04

] Rowling maintains that she hadn't read "The Hobbit" until after she completed the first Harry Potter novel (though she had read "The Lord of the Rings" as a teenager) and that any similarities between her books and Tolkien's are "fairly superficial. Tolkien created a whole new mythology, which I would never claim to have done. On the other hand, I think I have better jokes."cite news
url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/1000-scholastic-chat.htm
publisher=Scholastic.com
title=About the Books: transcript of J. K. Rowling's live interview on Scholastic.com
date=October 2000] Tolkienian scholar Tom Shippey has maintained that no "modern writer of epic fantasy has managed to escape the mark of Tolkien, no matter how hard many of them have tried". [cite book|last=Thomas, Shippey|title=J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century| year=2000|publisher=Harper Collins]

Roald Dahl

Many have drawn attention to the similarities between Rowling's works and those of Roald Dahl, particularly in the depiction of the Dursley family, which echoes the nightmarish guardians seen in many of Dahl's books, such as the Wormwoods from "Matilda", Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker from "James and the Giant Peach", and Grandma from "George's Marvellous Medicine". [

*cite web|title=The Golden Fairytale|author=Sally Blakeney|work=The Australian|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/1998/1198-australian-blakeney.html|year=1998|accessdate=2007-05-15

*cite web|title=Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone|author=John Shirley|work=LocusOnline|url=http://www.locusmag.com/2001/Reviews/Shirley_HarryPotter.html|year=2001|accessdate=2007-05-15] Rowling acknowledges that there are similarities, but believes that at a deeper level, her works are different from those of Dahl; in her words, more "moral". [ cite web | author= Feldman, Roxanne| title=The Truth About Harry| work=School Library Journal| url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/0999-slj-feldman.htm| accessdate=2006-10-10 ]

"X-Men"

The Marvel Comics superhero team the "X-Men", created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963, are similar to "Harry Potter" in their examination of prejudice and intolerance. Comic book historian Michael Mallory examined the original premise of the comic, in which teenage mutants study under Professor X to learn how to control their abilities, safe from fearful "Homo sapiens", and also battle less benign mutants like Magneto. He argued, "Think about [the comic] clad in traditional British university robes and pointy hats, castles and trains, and the image that springs to mind is Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizarding, with Dumbledore, Voldemort and the class struggle between wizards and muggles." He acknowledged that while the X-Men was for the longest time "a phenomenon that was largely contained in the realm of comic book readers as opposed to the wider public [such as Rowling] ", he argued "nothing exists in a vacuum, least of all popular culture. Just as the creators of "X-Men" consciously or unconsciously tapped into the creative of their time for inspiration, so has the "X-Men" phenomenon had an effect on the books and films that has since followed." [cite book | author = Michael Mallory | title = X-Men: The Characters and Their Universe | publisher = Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc. | date = 2006 | pages = 133 | isbn = 0-88363-120-2]

"The Chronicles of Prydain"

Lloyd Alexander's five-volume Prydain Chronicles, begun in 1964 with "The Book of Three" and concluding in 1968 with "The High King", features a young protagonist, an assistant pig keeper named Taran, who wishes to be a great hero in a world drawn from Welsh mythology. "Entertainment Weekly" cited Lloyd Alexander as a possible influence on Rowling when it named her its 2007 Entertainer of the Year. [cite web|title=2007 Entertainer of the Year: J.K. Rowling|author= Mark Harris|work=Entertainment Weekly|year=2007|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20152943_20153269_20162480,00.html|accessdate=2008-07-30] When Alexander died in 2007, his obituary in "New York Magazine" drew many comparisons between "Harry Potter" and "Prydain", saying that "The High King" is everything we desperately hope "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will be." [cite web|title=Author Lloyd Alexander Dies at 83|work=New York Magazine|year=2007|url=http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/05/lloyd_alexander.html|accessdate-2007-11-26]

"The Dark Is Rising"

Susan Cooper's "Dark Is Rising" sequence of stories (commenced with "Over Sea, Under Stone" in 1965 and now more commonly bound in a single volume) have been compared to the "Harry Potter" series. The sequence's second volume, also called "The Dark Is Rising", features a young boy named Will Stanton who, much like Harry Potter, discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is in fact imbued with magical power; in Will's case, that he is the last of the Old Ones, beings empowered by the Light to battle the Dark. The books open in much the same way, with Will finding that people are telling him strange things and that animals run from him. [
*cite web|title=The Christian Guide to Fantasy: The Dark Is Rising|author=Anne Pelrine|url=http://www.christianfantasy.net/youngadult2.html|accessdate=2007-05-17
*cite web|title=The Ottery: Rereading "The Dark Is Rising"|url=http://www.theottery.com/2007/02/re-reading-the-dark-is-rising/|accessdate=2007-05-17] John Hodge, who wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of "", made a number of very substantial changes to the novel's plot and tone deliberately to differentiate it from "Harry Potter". [cite web|title=Author Uncertain About 'Dark' Leap to Big Screen|author=Margot Adler |work=NPR|year=2007|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14783609|accessdate=2007-10-11]

"A Wizard of Earthsea"

The basic premise of Ursula K. Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea" (1968), in which a boy with unusual aptitude for magic is recognised, and sent to a special school for wizards, resembles that of "Harry Potter". [cite web|title=Rowling’s Magic Spell: Two Parts Fantasy, One Part Familiar?|author=Ben Patrick Johnson|work=CultureKiosque|url=http://www.culturekiosque.com/nouveau/books/harrypotter.html|year=2001|accessdate=2007-05-16] The hero encounters Jasper, a typically unpleasant Draco-like rival, in the Flashman tradition. [cite web|title=Novel Reflections: A Wizard of Earthsea|url=http://www.novelreflections.com/authors/ursula-le-guin/wizard-earthsea/summary.php|year=2001|accessdate=2007-05-16] Le Guin has claimed that she doesn't feel Rowling "ripped her off", but that she felt that the books were overpraised for supposed originality, and that Rowling "could have been more gracious about her predecessors. My incredulity was at the critics who found the first book wonderfully original. She has many virtues, but originality isn't one of them. That hurt." [ cite web | author= Maya Jaggi| title=The magician
work=Guardian Unlimited| url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/childrenandteens/story/0,6000,1669112,00.html| accessdate=2006-10-10 ]

"The Worst Witch"

Many critics have noted that Jill Murphy's "The Worst Witch" series (first published in 1974), is set in a school for girls, "Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches", remarkably reminiscent of Hogwarts. [cite web|title=The Harry Potter series|author=Polly Shulman|url=http://slate.msn.com/?device=&displaymode=&workarea=&id=2000111&entry=1003466|work=slate.com| year=1999|accessdate=2007-05-10] [cite web|title=We've Been Muggled|author=David Aaronovitch|work=The Observer|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,982450,00.html|year=2003|accessdate=2007-05-10] The school is hosted in an ancient castle on a remote hill surrounded by a forest. Classes include potions, chanting and broomstick flying. Though the headmistress is kind and understanding, the hooknosed Potions mistress is harsh and unpleasant. She is particularly cruel towards the protagonist, a young witch named Mildred Hubble - but Mildred's nemesis is her pet student, Ethel Hallow, who is a member of a prominent witch family. [ cite web | author= Jonas Ramstein| title=Harry Potter Similarities to Worst Witch, Accusations of Plagiarism, J RK Rowling Same as Worst Witch Some Say|url=http://www.geocities.com/sayswamp/worst.htm| accessdate=2006-10-10 ] Murphy has commented on her frustration at constant comparisons between her work and "Harry Potter": "It’s irritating … everyone asks the same question and I even get children writing to ask me whether I mind about the Hogwarts school of witchcraft and pointing out similarities. Even worse are reviewers who come across my books, or see the TV series, and, without taking the trouble to find out that it’s now over quarter of a century since I wrote my first book, make pointed remarks about “clever timing” – or say things like “the Worst Witch stories are not a million miles from J K Rowling’s books”. The implications are really quite insulting!" [cite web|title=Jill Murphy interview|author=Joanna Carey|year=2002|work=Books For Keeps|url=http://www.booksforkeeps.co.uk/issues/136/350|accessdate=2007-10-13]

"Charmed Life"

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 1900s Britain, where magic is commonplace. Diana Wynne Jones has stated in answer to a question on her webpage: "I think Ms Rowling did get quite a few of her ideas from my books - though I have never met her, so I have never been able to ask her. My books were written many years before the Harry Potter books ("Charmed Life" was first published in 1977), so any similarities probably come from what she herself read as a child. Once a book is published, out in the world, it is sort of common property, for people to take ideas from and use, and I think this is what happened to my books." [ cite web | author= Wynn Jones, Diana| title=DIANA'S ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS| work=Diana Wynne Jones: Official Site| url=http://www.leemac.freeserve.co.uk/answers3.htm| accessdate=2006-10-10 ]

"Discworld"

Before the arrival of J. K. Rowling, Britain's bestselling author was comic fantasy writer Terry Pratchett. His "Discworld" books, beginning with "The Colour of Magic" in 1983, satirise and parody common fantasy literature conventions. Pratchett is repeatedly asked if he "got" his idea for his magic college, the Unseen University, from "Harry Potter"'s Hogwarts, or if the young wizard Ponder Stibbons, who has dark hair and glasses, was inspired by Harry Potter. Both in fact predate Rowling's work by several years; Pratchett jokingly claims that yes he did steal them, though "I of course used a time machine." [cite web|title=The Last Hero|work=The Annotatted Pratchett File|url=http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/the-last-hero.html|accessdate=2007-06-30] The BBC and other British news agencies have emphasised a supposed rivalry between Pratchett and Rowling, [

*cite web|title=Pratchett casts a bitter spell on rivals|author=KAREN MCVEIGH and LESLEY WALKER|work=TheScotsman|url=http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=99&id=754152002|year=2002|accessdate=2007-05-16

*cite web|title=Pratchett wins first major award|work=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2124520.stm|year=2002|accessdate=2007-05-15

*cite web |title=Pratchett takes swipe at Rowling| work=BBC News| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4732385.stm| accessdate=2006-10-16

] but Pratchett has said on record that, while he doesn't put Rowling on a pedestal, he doesn't consider her a bad writer, nor does he envy her success. [ cite web |title=Mystery lord of the Discworld| work=The Age| url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/11/05/1099547374551.html?from=storyrhs| accessdate=2006-10-10 ] Claims of rivalry were due to a letter he wrote to The Sunday Times, about an article published declaring that fantasy "looks backward to an idealized, romanticized, pseudofeudal world, where knights and ladies morris-dance to Greensleeves". [ cite web |title=Rowling Hogwarts And All| work=Time| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1083935-1,00.html| accessdate=2007-06-30 ] Actually, he was protesting the ineptitude of journalists in that genre, many of whom did not research their work and, in this case, contradicted themselves in the same article. [ cite web |title=Terry Pratchett clarifies J.K. Rowling remarks| work=Wizard News| url=http://www.wizardnews.com/story.20050802.html| accessdate=2007-06-30 ]

"Ender's Game"

Science fiction author Orson Scott Card, in a fierce editorial in response to Rowling's copyright lawsuit against the Harry Potter Lexicon, claimed that her assertion that she had had her "words stolen" was rendered moot by the fact that he could draw numerous comparisons between her books and his own 1985 novel "Ender's Game"; in his words, "A young kid growing up in an oppressive family situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children with special abilities, who are to be educated in a remote training facility where student life is dominated by an intense game played by teams flying in midair, at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally talented and a natural leader. He trains other kids in unauthorized extra sessions, which enrages his enemies, who attack him with the intention of killing him; but he is protected by his loyal, brilliant friends and gains strength from the love of some of his family members. He is given special guidance by an older man of legendary accomplishments who previously kept the enemy at bay. He goes on to become the crucial figure in a struggle against an unseen enemy who threatens the whole world." [cite web|title=Rowling, Lexicon, and Oz|author=Orson Scott Card|work=Uncle Orson Reviews Everything|url= http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2008-04-20.shtml|year=2008|accessdate=2008-09-09]

"Young Sherlock Holmes"

Chris Columbus, who directed the first two "Harry Potter" film adaptations, has cited the 1985 film "Young Sherlock Holmes", which he wrote, as an influence in his direction for those films. "That was sort of a predecessor to this movie, in a sense", he told the BBC in 2001, "It was about two young boys and a girl in a British boarding school who had to fight a supernatural force." [cite web|title=Potter director's Brit passion|work=BBC news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1651592.stm|year=2001|accessdate=2007-06-01] Scenes from "Young Sherlock Holmes" were subsequently used to cast the first Harry Potter film. [ cite web | author= Brian Linder| title=Trouble Brewing with "Potter" Casting?| work=Filmforce| url=http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/034/034108p1.html
accessdate=2006-10-11 ]

"Troll"

The 1986 Charles Band-produced low-budget horror/fantasy film "Troll", directed by John Carl Buechler and starring Noah Hathaway, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Sonny Bono, features a character named "Harry Potter Jr." In an interview with M. J. Simpson, Band claimed, "I've heard that J. K. Rowling has acknowledged that maybe she saw this low-budget movie and perhaps it inspired her." [cite web|Charles Band (Part 2)|author=MJ Simpson|title=Charles Band (Part 2)|url=http://www.mjsimpson.co.uk/interviews/charlesbandb.html|accessdate=2007-05-06] However, a spokesman for Rowling, responding to the rumors of a planned remake of the film, has denied that Rowling ever saw it before writing her book. [cite web|title=Second coming for first Harry Potter|author=Vanessa Thorpe|work=The Observer|year=2007|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2185321,00.html|accessdate-2007-10-07] Rowling has said on record multiple times that the name "Harry Potter" was derived in part from a childhood friend, Ian Potter, and in part from her favourite male name, Harry. [

*cite web|title=Harry Potter and the source of inspiration|author=Danielle Demetriou|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0700-dailytelegraph-demetriou.htm|accessdate=2007-05-06

*cite web|title=J. K. Rowling: Autobiography|author=J. K. Rowling|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm|accessdate=2007-05-06

*cite web|title="J.K. Rowling Discusses the Surprising Success of 'Harry Potter'", Larry King Live|url=http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1000-cnn-larryking.htm|year=2000|accessdate=2007-05-11] On 13 April 2008, "The Mail on Sunday" wrote a news article claiming that Warner Bros. had begun a legal action against Buechler; however, the story was denied and lawyers for Rowling demanded the article be removed. [cite web|title=JK Rowling threatens to sue Political Gateway?|url=http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/142305 cite web|title='Harry Potter' at center of legal battle|author=The Political Gateway|url=http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/142305|year=2008|accessdate=2008-04-25]

On 14 April 2008 John Buechler's partner in the "Troll" remake, Peter Davy, said about "Harry Potter", “In John's opinion, he created the first Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling says the idea just came to her. John doesn't think so. There are a lot of similarities between the theme of her books and the original "Troll". John was shocked when she came out with "Harry Potter"." [cite web|title=Helmer says he invented Harry Potter|author=Paul Heath|work=The Hollywood News|url=http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/artman2/publish/movie_news/Helmer_says_he_invented_Harry_Potter_21140408.php|year=2008|accessdate=2008-06-10]

"The Books of Magic"

Fans of the comic book series "The Books of Magic", by Neil Gaiman (first published in 1990 by DC Comics) have cited similarities to the Harry Potter story. These include a dark-haired English boy with glasses, named Timothy Hunter, who on his twelfth birthday 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. Similarities led the British tabloid paper the "Daily Mirror" to claim Gaiman had made accusations of plagiarism against Rowling, which he went on the record denying, saying the similarities were either coincidence, or drawn from the same fantasy archetypes. "I thought we were both just stealing from T.H. White", he said in an interview, "very straightforward." [ cite web | author= Linda Richards| title=Interview: Neil Gaiman| work=January Magazine| url=http://www.januarymagazine.com/profiles/gaiman.html
accessdate=2006-12-22 ]

"Spellcasting series"

The text adventure game (1990) is the first installment of the Spellcasting series created by Steve Meretzky during his time at Legend Entertainment. All the three games in the series tell the story of young Ernie Eaglebeak, a bespectacled student at the prestigious Sorcerer University, as he progresses through his studies, learning the arcanes of magic, taking part in student life, occasionally saving the world as he knows it. Each separate game takes place during consecutive school years as well, much like the Harry Potter books. [ cite web|title=Huw Collingbourne's Rants and Raves June 2005|author=Huw Collingbourne|year=2005|url=http://www.rantsandraves.co.uk/rant4.html|accessdate=2007-08-06 ]

"Wizard's Hall"

In 1991, the author Jane Yolen released a book called "Wizard's Hall", to which the Harry Potter series bears a resemblance. The main protagonist, Henry (also called Thornmallow), is a young boy who joins a magical school for young wizards. [ cite web|title=Before there was Harry Potter, there was Thornmallow!|author=Stephen Richmond|year=2005|url=http://www.rambles.net/yolen_wizhall91.html
accessdate=2006-10-27 ] At the school "he must fulfill an ancient prophecy and help overthrow a powerful, evil wizard." [ [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0152020853/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books Publishers Weekly quoted on amazon.com] ] Yolen has been very critical of Rowling's work, and has stated publicly that she believes Rowling stole her ideas. In an interview with the magazine "Newsweek", Yolen said, "I always tell people that if Ms. Rowling would like to cut me a very large cheque, I would cash it." [cite web|title=Writing Dynamo|author=Karen Springen|work=Newsweek magazine|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8917828/site/newsweek/|year=2005|accessdate=2007-05-16]

"The Secret of Platform 13"

Eva Ibbotson's "The Secret of Platform 13" (first published in 1994) features a gateway to a magical world located on an underground railway platform. The protagonist belongs to the magical world but is raised in our world by a rich family who neglect him and treat him as a servant, while their fat and unpleasant biological son is pampered and spoiled. Amanda Craig is one example of a journalist who has written about the similarities: "Ibbotson would seem to have at least as good a case for claiming plagiarism as the American author currently suing J. K. Rowling [i. e Nancy Stouffer] , but unlike her, Ibbotson says she would 'like to shake her by the hand. I think we all borrow from each other as writers.'" [ cite web|title=Eva Ibbotson|author=Amanda Craig|url=http://www.amandacraig.com/pages/childrens/articles/harrys_heirs.htm
accessdate=2006-10-11 ]

References

Bibliography

# Pat Pincent, "The Education of a Wizard: Harry Potter and His Predecessors" in "The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives in a Literary Phenomenon". Edited with an Introduction by Lana A. Whited. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002.
# Amanda Craig, " [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1696921,00.html Harry Potter and the art of lifting ideas] ", The Sunday Times, 17 July 2005.
# Heath Paul, [http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/artman2/publish/movie_news/Helmer_says_he_invented_Harry_Potter_21140408.php Helmer says he invented Harry Potter] ", The Hollywood News 14 April 2008.

ee also

* Rowling and the Inklings
* Harry Potter parodies
* Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-to-Dragon
* Legal disputes over the Harry Potter series