Who wrote Harry Potter Joan Rowling. The Magical Life of Joanne Rowling
(Roling, English: Joanne Rowling; July 31, 1965) - English writer, writing under the pseudonym Joanne Katheline Rowling, author of a series (1997-2007), translated into more than 60 languages, including Russian. In 2001, JK Rowling received the Hugo Award.
Name
The real name of the writer is Joanna Murray Rowling, and not Joanna Kathleen Rowling, as many people think. Before its first publication, the publisher feared that boys would be reluctant to buy a book written by a woman. Therefore, Rowling was asked to use initials instead of her full name. At the same time, the publishing house wanted the initials to consist of two letters. Rowling chose her grandmother's name, Kathleen, for her middle initial.
Works from the series about GP
Commercial success
Autograph Books have been translated into more than 60 languages.
More than 250 million copies sold.
USA: 80 million
Germany: 15.5 million
Russia: 13.5 million
UK: 8 million
Canada: 6 million
Australia and New Zealand: 5.3 million
Italy: 3.7 million
Poland: 2.2 million
Lithuania: 2.1 million
According to the British newspaper Sunday Times, the writer's fortune is estimated at 545 million pounds sterling. Since 2004, she has been the richest woman in the UK.
Joan Rowling worked as a secretary for the charity Amnesty International.
The first book about was written on an old typewriter.
Asteroid No. 43844, at the suggestion of Chicago astronomer Mark Hammergren, who discovered it, will be named Rowling in honor of the famous writer.
In June 2006, the British public named JK Rowling "the greatest living British author". JK Rowling took first place in the poll, collecting almost three times more votes than fantasy author Terry Pratchett
The name of the cult British writer JK Rowling is known all over the world. It was she who gave fantasy fans a story about a boy who lived. Joan's life, her youth and adulthood were full of tragic events; such life experiences pushed Rowling to write novels that remain bestsellers even today.
Childhood of a future celebrity
Rowling was born on July 31st, 1965. Her family was not very wealthy; her parents lived in the city of Waite, which is located in the UK.
Initially, Joan did not have a middle name; a little later, when she needed a pseudonym, she took the name of her own grandmother - Catherine.
Joan's father worked for a long time in a car sales company, and her mother simply took care of the house and raised Joan, as well as her younger sister Dianna.
4 years after Joan was born, the girl’s family moved to Winterbourne.
Rowling herself characterizes her childhood as the best time of her life. Her parents loved her and her sister very much. They instilled in Joan a love of literature and played a lot with her and Dianna.
Since the Rowling family was often on the move, little Joan had few friends. Perhaps this brought her and her sister even closer.
After moving to Wells, a terrible event occurred in the Rowling family. Joan's mother fell ill with multiple sclerosis. The disease developed too quickly, the doctors could not help, and the woman died in 1990 as quickly as she fell ill.
The future creator of the Harry Potter novels began writing at the age of six. Then Joan's first stories saw the light of day. When her mother died, the girl often played with neighboring children named Potter. As an adult, Joan decided to give the main character of “Potteriana” this very last name.
First job and the way up
Rowling graduated from university and majored in French linguistics. Joan's first job was Amnesty International. There she held the position of secretary.
After working as a secretary for a year, Rowling meets a young man and moves with him to Manchester.
On the train between London and Manchester, Joan was born with the image of a boy with glasses about whom she wanted to write a novel..
Her relationship with the young man with whom Rowling went to Manchester did not work out. She found a job in Portugal and moved to the city of Porto.
"Potteriana" and work on novels
Fans of Harry Potter call all books about this boy wizard “Potteriana.” The first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was released to the public in 1997. Before the work was released in a circulation of 1,000 units, Rowling was rejected by 12 publishers. Only the latter agreed to print a small sample run.
A couple of months later, JK Rowling woke up famous, and in November she was awarded the prestigious Nesyle Smarties Book Prize.
Rowling then worked on the remaining parts of the Potter series as part of the contract. So that young boys would not be embarrassed to read her novels about the adventures of the wizard and his friends, Joan took the pseudonym “J. K. Rowling." Adults also appreciated the first novel; for their convenience, another super-cover was released, which hid the true title of the book, so that on the way to work on the subway, respectable employees would not be embarrassed to immerse themselves in the world of Hogwarts and magical London.
The second and third Harry Potter books were published within two years of each other. Rowling called them “Chamber of Secrets” and “Prisoner of Azkaban.” Then the fourth book, “The Goblet of Fire,” appeared. It was this novel that broke all popularity records and was sold in 24 hours in the amount of 372 thousand books.
Two years later, Rowling published Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. A little later, the next novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, comes out. This bestseller broke the previous record of "Prisoner of Azkaban". It sold out 9 million books in 24 hours.
The last book on the list and the seventh book, “The Deathly Hallows,” was published at the end of 2007.
All Potter books have been translated into 70 languages and dialects around the world.
All parts of the literary hits about Harry Potter have been made into films directed by such famous personalities as Columbus, Cuaron and Yates.
JK Rowling was part of the writing team for each of the films; she approved all the scripts, and took an active part in the selection of actors, as well as in the filming process itself.
There is a story that Rowling set the directors a condition that most of the actors in the Harry Potter films should have British roots.
Rowling's further work
After the success of the first seven books, Joan wrote two works for adult audiences. Her “Casual Vacancy” received popularity and recognition.
J. K. Rowling published her book “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” under the pseudonym Newt Scamander. Joan received the Order of the British Empire for her tales "The Jester Hare".
Joan donated part of her huge fortune of £13 million to charity.
Rowling: life on the personal front
While working in Portugal, Joan met her future husband, Jorge Arantes. At the beginning of the relationship, everything went well for the young people, but after marriage and the birth of their daughter, their mutual understanding dried up. There are rumors that Jorge was very jealous of Joan, and also repeatedly raised his hand to her.
Rowling decided to end the relationship and divorced Arantes. She later moved to the UK, taking her daughter with her. She had to hide from her violent husband and live on benefits.
Being in distress, the writer did not give up. She took care of her daughter and worked hard on the first Potter book. Early negative experiences in marriage had a profound effect on her. Therefore, Rowling remarried only eight years later. Her lover was the doctor Neil Murray. Rowling had two more sons from this marriage.
It looks like JK Rowling is very happy today. She continues to do charity work, writes new works and pays a lot of attention to her family. The Harry Potter brand has been widely developed, and JK Rowling is today one of the highest paid writers in the world.
In the compartment of an ordinary train 46 years ago, a young man and a girl met, who were destined to become the parents of one of the most successful writers in the world. 45 years ago, the world barely noticed her birth. Today her anniversary is almost an international holiday. The book that came from her pen took an honorable second place in circulation after the Bible. The heroes of her novels have become icons for millions of people of different faiths and nationalities. Her books are read by both children and adults. Thanks to impressive Hollywood adaptations, even the illiterate learned about the adventures of the young wizard, and each episode generated a wave of new fans. The actors who played in these films instantly became stars and idols of millions. They even grew up with their fairy-tale heroes. July 31 is the birthday of JK Rowling and the birthday of her hero, whose name is known to every second child on the planet - Harry Potter.
The Harry Potter series took her seventeen years to complete. An epic saga about the collapse of children's hopes, about dangers and adventures - only seven parts. But this is not just a children's fairy tale. Behind the magical plot is an attempt to find answers to eternal questions. This is a story about good and evil, about love and hate, and ultimately about life and death. Millions of people are haunted by the secret of JK Rowling's success. How did she come up with Harry Potter? How did she come up with this story? And where does this story truly begin?
Joanne Rowling:
“I wrote Harry Potter stories instead of a personal diary.”
In one of the interviews, to the question “What is happiness for you?” JK Rowling replied: “Happy family” *. She dreamed of a happy family since childhood, which was very difficult. Like the early orphaned Harry Potter, Joan grew up in the poor British suburbs. First in the town of Yate on the outskirts of Bristol, after moving - in the village of Winterbourne. The house where the Rowling family lived even has a storage room, the same as Harry's, although, unlike her book hero, Joan, of course, did not sleep in it. But, like Harry Potter, she celebrates her birthday on July 31st. And together with her younger sister, Dee experiences the same gloomy childhood. “My parents dreamed of a son, and I was born,” says Joan. - At first they even wanted to give me a male name - Simon John. They would probably be less upset if I wasn’t there at all.”*
When Joan was nine years old, her family moved to the British suburb of Chepstow, on the outskirts of the Forest of Dean. This forest concealed a new magical and mysterious world. It seemed to her that it was full of magic, that fabulous creatures lived in it and real miracles happened. “I really love this forest,” says Joan. - He is in all my books. It is this forest that surrounds Hogwarts School of Magic, where Harry Potter studied.
The forest is a special space with its own inimitable charm. It is impossible to imagine a crowd here - this is a place of solitude, a refuge. You can always hide here. It is very important for me. And even if the forest seems ominous, in fact, it is not dangerous." *
Since childhood, Joan fantasized and composed fairy tales. There were a lot of ideas around - at least take the old cemetery nearby. Joan and her sister Dee earned their first pocket money at St. Luke's Church. Every day they spent several hours cleaning it. Joan was the only Rowling to attend all Sunday services. When the girl turned eleven, she was baptized in the same church. Joan believes in God, but her judgment about love, death and eternal life was seriously tested after her mother's illness.
In 1980, Anne Rowling was given the then fatal diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Joan was fifteen years old when this happened. The mother's illness devastated the girls' lives. After her death, Rowling's sisters seemed completely orphaned. It turned out to be impossible to live with my father. “On the one hand, I was afraid of my father, but at the same time I was desperate to earn his praise,” Joan says. - I wanted to make him happy, but I couldn’t. These attempts lasted a long time, even too long, and one day I realized that I couldn’t do it anymore.” * The difficult relationship with her father and the slow departure of her mother greatly influenced Rowling, but at the same time, it was these difficulties that shaped the writer in her.
Anne Rowling died in 1990, never knowing about Harry Potter or the phenomenal success her daughter would achieve. Her early death can be seen throughout JK Rowling's work. In fact, the entire Harry Potter story is one big desperate attempt to return to childhood. “I started writing six months before she died,” Joan says. - And here’s what’s strange: death came, but the main idea of the book remained almost unchanged, although everything became darker. According to the plan, Harry Potter's parents died. I asked if he should take revenge for this, especially on their killer, who believed that he himself would become immortal by destroying people? I asked this question at the very beginning, even before my mother died, and consistently looked for the answer in each of my books. Now, having put an end to it, I understand this especially clearly.” *
Joan's father did not allow Joan to attend her mother's funeral. Jo really wanted to see her mother, but her father was categorically against it. “Looking back now, I realize how wrong he was,” Joan says. “I still regret that I listened.” I really needed to see her, no matter what she looked like. It would make me feel better. Because the truth, whatever it may be, is another important theme in all my books. The truth is still simpler than lies and pretense. The truth is easier to deal with. It’s easier to live with her.”*
After her mother's death, Joan moved to Portugal to teach English. There she met and married television journalist George Arantes. They had a daughter, Jessica, but two years later the marriage broke up. Joan became depressed. “My short marriage ended in disaster,” Rowling recalls. - I was left alone with a small child in my arms. We had to return to the UK. I had to build everything anew, but I didn’t have the strength. I lived on adrenaline alone and didn’t understand it for a long time. Finally I realized what I had done with my life, and it was a huge blow. We were practically poor, although we had a house. We lived on one allowance. And I was really depressed. This was expressed in complete numbness. I was surrounded by cold. I didn’t believe in happiness, I didn’t see anything good in the future, and life seemed gloomy. I adored Jessica, but I was very afraid for her. The thought that anything would happen to her terrified me. But I couldn’t think differently. The daughter is the only ray of light in this dark kingdom, but she too will definitely be taken away. Every morning I was surprised to discover that my daughter was alive, because I had the doomed confidence that she would definitely die. It was hell." *
During this depression, the first dark creatures appeared in the Harry Potter books - dementors. Dementors are manifestations of absolute evil, living in the mud at the bottom of the world, where everything rots and decays. They feed on our happiness, our hopes, suck out peace and love, and bring despondency. Get close to a Dementor and it will steal all your warm feelings and good memories.
The events of the Harry Potter books take place in a parallel, fictional world, but are filled with the pain and dilemmas of real life. To be faithful, to be able to trust, and most importantly to feel the need to resist evil with all one's might - these are the moral issues that unite all seven stories, their main moral. Gradually, step by step, Harry Potter understands that it is within him that the strength that will have to oppose evil - Lord Voldemort - lies.
“I think we all understand what evil is and how relentless Voldemort can be,” Joan says. - He uses the most sophisticated weapons, he kills not for the sake of self-defense or to protect those he loves. The principles that apply, for example, in war, do not exist for him. He kills in cold blood, sometimes for pleasure, sometimes for the sake of new achievements. This is what I call evil. In the last book we see a clash of very different, diametrically opposed souls; they have to fight in the name of a new world. Harry's soul is crippled and has almost lost what distinguishes a real human soul - the ability to love. Voldemort dehumanized himself on purpose. Harry is vulnerable, he is suffering, but he is still alive. He still fights, hopes, believes in love. A decisive battle awaits them." *
On July 21, 2007 at 00:01 GMT, the latest book about the adventures of the young wizard and his friends, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” went on sale. In just one day, more than 2.5 million books were sold in the UK, and more than 8 million in the USA. The average sales speed was 7 thousand copies per minute.
The main intrigue is in the ending of the novel, and everyone who reads this book to the end will understand that this story is about the great power of love. “It seemed to me that I would betray Harry if I did not allow him to live on, to live the truth about the enormous power of love that had been revealed to him,” says the writer. “I often thought about people who had terrible experiences, for example, they returned from war and were forced to rebuild their lives. I always thought: you need to be very brave to recover from an injury, because restoring is much more difficult than destroying. Sometimes it seemed to me that there was no other way out and Harry needed to be killed. But then I realized that it would be dishonest, because he is my hero, which means he must do a noble act - return from the war and try to build a new, better world, at least for his family, and ideally for everyone." *
Harry Potter phenomenon
What is the secret to the success of the Harry Potter novels? Many people are trying to understand this phenomenon; articles periodically appear on the pages of the press in support of one or another version of the reasons for the popularity of the young wizard. Everyone expressing their opinion can be divided into two camps: the first admit that JK Rowling wrote a children's bestseller and the Harry Potter series of books deserves to take pride of place among the best children's works; the latter argue that the phenomenal success of Harry Potter is just a well-thought-out advertising campaign, a PR project, a product of the book market. However, it seems more fair to say that the Harry Potter phenomenon is a combination of factors contributing to the popularity of J. Rowling's fictional world and the characters living in it.
The first component of the Harry Potter phenomenon is the literary and artistic originality of the series of novels about the adventures of a young wizard and his friends.
The hero in children's literature is usually the same age as the reader. He is endowed with the same habits, weaknesses, he may have the same problems in relationships with parents and peers. But Harry is not just the same age as his readers. He grows with them. The hero's inner world and his perception of the surrounding reality change from novel to novel. The magical world, full of wonders and colors, into which Harry finds himself at the very beginning, gradually takes on increasingly darker contours. The stunning detail that gives Rowling's novels its unique charm fades into the background, giving way to the problems that the main character must face. The boundaries of dividing characters into positive and negative are gradually erased. As he grows up, the hero loses his protectors: in the fifth book, Harry's godfather Sirius Black dies, and in the sixth, school principal Albus Dumbledore dies. Rowling leaves Harry alone with the evil opposing him, and he bears all the responsibility for his future and the future of his friends.
Time in children's literature, as a rule, is very conditional: events can occur at all times, and only the objective and material world sometimes indicates belonging to a particular century. However, time should not disrupt its logical course, and the calendar-seasonal flow usually does not go beyond the boundaries of reality. The events in JK Rowling's books take place in the modern era, as evidenced by such realities as, for example, the subway, telephone, and television. But the magical world of Harry Potter retains its ancient traditions. This is another secret of the success of Rowling's novels. Wizards live among us. The world of magic exists parallel to the real, everyday world and has a similar and, at the same time, its own, unique structure. Wizards have their own government (Ministry of Magic), schools (Hogwarts, Durmstrang, Beauxbatons), hospitals (St. Mungo's Hospital), banks (Gringotts), banknotes (galleons, shekels and knuts), their own railway that connects London with the village of Hogsmeade in northern England. There are even their own games - Quidditch, gobstones, wizard chess and others. Wizards prefer to travel through fireplaces using floo powder. Instead of ballpoint pens, feathers and inkwells are used, letters are written not on paper, but on parchment, instead of mail, telephone and telegraph, messages are delivered by owls.
Rowling's mythology is based on the mythological and literary traditions of previous generations, and at the same time, it is a fundamentally new design of already known images, plots, and motifs.
Perhaps the most controversial issue regarding the literary merits of the Harry Potter books is the question of the ideological basis of this work. Various points of view are expressed, for example: 1) the main idea is the struggle between Good and Evil; 2) the book reflects the essence of life in European boarding schools and the main problem in it is the adaptation of children to school life; 3) the story of the adventures of children in a magical land is a paraphrase of the Holy Scriptures; 4) the story of Harry Potter is an illustration of personality development, problems of self-formation, self-development, and assertion of one’s own individuality. Good and Evil are fighting here not only on a global scale, but also within the boundaries of the consciousness of each person. 5) “Just be yourself!” - the main rule that the director of the Hogwarts school of wizardry, Dumbledore, tells Harry Potter, and at the same time, the main idea of the work.
All of the above statements are true in relation to JK Rowling’s novels, but it is not right to give preference to one of them: they complement each other and represent a complex of ideas of the work. Another feature of the Harry Potter novels is a new look at the category of childhood. Children do not appear here as examples of ideality and innocence. Childhood in Harry Potter is not a magical world that adults want to return to, but a difficult period of a person’s life, with a lot of its own problems. The children's characters created by JK Rowling are striking in their psychological complexity. The book about Harry Potter not only allows children to find themselves in a magical world, to be observers of wonderful adventures, but with all its content it tells about the vicissitudes and complexities of their children's world, the characteristics of the children's subculture. In contrast to the established tradition of literary fairy tales to contrast the world of adults and the world of children, Rowling makes adults full participants in magical adventures, but only those adults who are able to believe in miracles and use them in everyday life.
So, the first factor contributing to the success of JK Rowling's book about Harry Potter - its literary and artistic merits - is truly fundamental.
The second factor in the Harry Potter phenomenon is the life story of the author - JK Rowling. Experts in her biography claim that if the author of the international children's bestseller did not have such a life story, then it would have to be invented. The factor of JK Rowling herself is also important because she turns out to be associated with such a feature of the British tradition as a lady writer. Perhaps no country in Europe has given the world so many wonderful female names in the field of literature: from the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, George Eliot to Virginia Woolf and Joan Rowling.
The third component of the Harry Potter phenomenon is the advertising campaign and derivative products, which include film adaptations of novels, computer and role-playing games, T-shirts, posters depicting the main characters of the book, and the like. Rowling's books appeared at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, during the heyday of the market economy and trade relations. Is it right to call advertising, which is just a natural phenomenon of modern life, the main reason for the success of Harry Potter? Of course, the PR campaign contributed to the popularization of the book, but most likely, this work would have found its way to the hearts of readers even without such powerful advertising support, even if a little more time would have been spent on it.
Film adaptations of novels
In 1998, JK Rowling sold the rights to create films based on the first four books about the adventures of Harry Potter to the film company Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. for the modest sum of one million pounds sterling (at that time a little more than 1.5 million dollars). However, it was agreed that the writer would receive a certain portion of the grosses of each film, and would have significant control over all stages of the film's production. She made it a sine qua non that all actors in future films must be British. Only in the fourth film, where it was necessary due to the content of the book, did actors from other countries appear.
The first film adaptation was directed by Chris Columbus. The three main roles went to practically unknown Britons at that time: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.
The film's budget was $125 million. Filming began in October 2000 at Leavesden Studios, located near London and in the city itself. Most of the scenes taking place in and around Hogwarts were filmed in the cathedrals of Gloucester and Durham. Scenes in the hospital and the school library were filmed in two ancient buildings at Oxford University. The building of the Australian representative office in London was used as the Gringotts wizard bank. According to the book, filming also took place at London Zoo and King's Cross Station. The film premiered on November 14, 2001. The final worldwide gross was $976.5 million. Of these, 317.6 million (32.5%) fell to the United States, and 658.9 million (67.5%) to the world box office. At the time of its release, it became the second highest-grossing film of all time after Titanic. It is also the highest-grossing of all Harry Potter films**.
I - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
II - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
III - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
IV - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
V - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
VI - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
VII - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I (2010)
Just three days after the release of the first film, filming began on the second part, also headed by Chris Columbus. The film "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was released on November 15, 2002.
During the filming of the third part - “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” - Columbus acted as a producer. The director was Mexican Alfonso Cuaron. The film was released on June 4, 2004. Since work on the fourth part of the Potter series began even before the release of the third film, Mike Newell was invited to direct the next film. The premiere of the film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" took place on November 18, 2005. Newell declined further participation in the film adaptation and was replaced by David Yates. On July 11, 2007, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released worldwide, and on July 15, 2009, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
In March 2008, representatives of the film company Warner Bros. stated that the last part of the Potter series will be released in two parts: the first in November 2010, the second in July 2011. The last part of the epic was again directed by David Yates. Filming for both parts began in February 2009 and ended on July 10, 2010.
JK Rowling twice acted as a producer (the first and last part of the film adaptation), and also took an active part in writing scripts for all films.
Despite all the efforts of the creators, the film adaptation lacks some characters and entire storylines, although the general idea of the work is preserved and in some places even expanded. “It is simply impossible to include every major storyline in a film that is less than four hours long,” Rowling herself admitted. - Films have time and budget restrictions, but novels do not. I can create great effects relying solely on my own imagination and the imagination of my readers."
The cast remained virtually unchanged throughout all the films. To date, all films released are among the thirty highest-grossing films in the history of cinema. The film “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” will be released in Russian cinemas on July 14, 2011. This film is expected to be released in 3D format.
Place | Name | Film company | Worldwide box office, million $ (USA) | National distribution, million $ (USA) / % | Foreign distribution, million $ (USA) / % | Year | ||
1 | Avatar | 20th Century Fox | 2,781.1 | 760.5 | 27.3% | 2,020.6 | 72.7% | 2009 |
2 | Titanic | Paramount Pictures Corporation | 1,843.2 | 600.8 | 32.6% | 1,242.4 | 67.4% | 1997 |
3 | The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King | New Line Cinema | 1,119.1 | 377.0 | 33.7% | 742.1 | 66.3% | 2003 |
4 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | Walt Disney Pictures Jerry Bruckheimer Films |
1,066.2 | 423.3 | 39.7% | 642.9 | 60.3% | 2006 |
5 | Toy Story 3 | Walt Disney Pictures Jerry Bruckheimer Films |
1,063.2 | 415.0 | 39.0% | 648.2 | 61.0% | 2010 |
6 | Alice in Wonderland | Walt Disney Pictures Jerry Bruckheimer Films |
1,024.3 | 334.2 | 32.6% | 690.1 | 67.4% | 2010 |
7 | The Dark Knight | 1,001.9 | 533.3 | 53.2% | 468.6 | 46.8% | 2008 | |
8 | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. | 974.7 | 317.6 | 32.6% | 657.2 | 67.4% | 2001 |
9 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | Walt Disney Pictures Jerry Bruckheimer Films |
961.0 | 309.4 | 32.2% | 651.6 | 67.8% | 2007 |
10 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I | Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. | 942.4 | 291.3 | 30.9% | 651.1 | 69.1% | 2010 |
11 | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. | 938.2 | 292.0 | 31.1% | 646.2 | 68.9% | 2007 |
12 | Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince | Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. | 934.0 | 302.0 | 32.3% | 632.0 | 67.7% | 2009 |
13 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | New Line Cinema | 925.3 | 341.8 | 36.9% | 583.5 | 63.1% | 2002 |
14 | Star Wars. Episode I: The Phantom Menace | 20th Century Fox | 924.3 | 431.1 | 46.6% | 493.2 | 53.4% | 1999 |
15 | Shrek 2 | DreamWorks Animation | 919.8 | 441.2 | 48.0% | 478.6 | 52.0% | 2004 |
16 | Jurassic Park | Universal Studios | 914.7 | 357.1 | 39.0% | 557.6 | 61.0% | 1993 |
17 | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. | 895.9 | 290.0 | 32.4% | 605.9 | 67.6% | 2005 |
18 | Spider-Man 3 | Sony | 890.9 | 336.5 | 37.8% | 554.3 | 62.2% | 2007 |
19 | Ice Age 3: Age of the Dinosaurs | 20th Century Fox | 886.7 | 196.6 | 22.2% | 690.1 | 77.8% | 2009 |
20 | Harry Potter And The Chamber of secrets | Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. | 878.6 | 262.0 | 29.8% | 616.7 | 70.2% | 2002 |
21 | Lord of the rings, Brotherhood of the ring | New Line Cinema | 870.8 | 314.8 | 36.1% | 556.0 | 63.9% | 2001 |
22 | Finding Nemo | Walt Disney Pictures Jerry Bruckheimer Films |
867.9 | 339.7 | 39.1% | 528.2 | 60.9% | 2003 |
23 | Star Wars. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith | 20th Century Fox | 848.8 | 380.3 | 44.8% | 468.5 | 55.2% | 2005 |
24 | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | DreamWorks Animation Pacific Data Images |
836.3 | 402.1 | 48.1% | 434.2 | 51.9% | 2009 |
25 | Start | Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. | 823.6 | 292.6 | 35.5% | 531.0 | 64.5% | 2010 |
26 | spider man | Sony | 821.7 | 403.7 | 49.1% | 418.0 | 50.9% | 2002 |
27 | independence Day | 20th Century Fox | 817.4 | 306.2 | 37.5% | 511.2 | 62.5% | 1996 |
28 | Shrek 3 | DreamWorks Animation Pacific Data Images |
799.0 | 322.7 | 40.4% | 476.2 | 59.6% | 2007 |
29 | Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban | Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. | 795.6 | 249.5 | 31.4% | 546.1 | 68.6% | 2004 |
30 | Alien | Universal Studios | 792.9 | 435.1 | 54.9% | 357.8 | 45.1% | 1982 |
Conclusion
The Harry Potter series of novels changed not only popular culture around the world, but also the life of JK Rowling herself. Success with readers, as well as films based on the novels, brought her worldwide fame and fortune. Since 2004, JK Rowling has been the richest woman in the UK. In 2008, Forbes magazine estimated her fortune at $1 billion.
Rowling has received many prestigious literary awards for her work, including Nestle Smarties Gold Award (three times), British Book Awards, Children's Book Award (twice), The Booksellers Association/The Bookseller Author of the Year Award (twice), Scottish Arts Council Children's Book Award (twice) and the Spanish Prince of Asturias Award. In 2000, Joan was awarded the Order of the British Empire.
On December 26, 2001, JK Rowling married Edinburgh anesthetist Neil Scott Murray. Their son David was born in March 2003, and their daughter Mackenzie was born in January 2005.
The writer is actively involved in charity work. In particular, she supports the Single Parents Foundation and the Foundation for Research into Multiple Sclerosis, the disease from which her mother died.
Joan is not going to write new books about the adventures of Harry Potter, although in 2008 she did publish a book of fairy tales that helped Harry and his friends defeat Lord Voldemort. “Reflecting on my book, I understand that this is the best thing I can offer the world,” says Joan. “The novel came out exactly the way I wanted.”
LITERATURE
1. James Runcie. JK Rowling: a year in the life. URL: http://www.1tv.ru/anons/id=159752
2. Odysheva A. S. The Harry Potter phenomenon in modern culture. URL: http://zhurnal.lib.ru/o/odyshewa_a_s/fenomenofharrypotter.shtml (date of access: 01/25/2011)
3. Rowling J.K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. - M.: ROSMEN-PRESS, 2010. - 400 p.
4. Rowling J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. - M.: ROSMEN-PRESS, 2002. - 473 p.
5. Rowling J.K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. - M.: ROSMEN-PRESS, 2002. - 511 p.
6. Rowling J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. - M.: ROSMEN-PRESS, 2007. - 667 p.
7. Rowling J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. - M.: ROSMEN-PRESS, 2007. - 832 p.
8. Rowling J.K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. - M.: ROSMEN-PRESS, 2010. - 672 p.
9. Rowling J.K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. - M.: ROSMEN-PRESS, 2007. - 640 p.
10. Box Office Mojo. All Time Box Office. (URL: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/ (accessed 01/25/2011)
* James Runcie. JK Rowling: a year in the life. URL: http://www.1tv.ru/anons/id=159752 (date of access: 01/25/2011)
**Box Office Mojo. All Time Box Office. (URL: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/ (accessed 01/25/2011)
- 53 years old.
We have collected 7 facts from the writer’s life that influenced the plot and images of the novels and made “Potter” as we know it.
LoserJoan disobeyed her parents, who wanted her to study something useful at university, and took up classical literature. It was impossible to imagine a more impractical choice. Seven years after graduating from university, by the time she sat down to write the book, twenty-seven-year-old Rowling was a complete failure - she had no job, she was separated from her husband and remained a single mother. There was barely enough money just to pay the rent.
Nevertheless, as she believes, it was precisely the hopeless situation that pushed her to take up the matter that she really had her heart in - writing. “If I had been successful in something else, I might never have had the courage to pursue a goal in what I truly love.” Well, knowledge of classical philology helped to come up with many new words for the fantasy world.
DepressionWarner Bros.
The first novel took five years to write, and another two years passed before the work was published. So the sad financial situation of the author lasted for a very long time. It is not surprising that Rowling eventually ended up in a specialized hospital with a diagnosis of clinical depression. Subsequently, she admitted to journalists that she was inspired to create the image of dementors precisely by this state of melancholy and the feeling of absolute hopelessness that she experienced during her illness.
Hermione RowlingWarner Bros.
Rowling wrote Hermione Granger from herself. She considers this character a caricature of her eleven-year-old self: she studied just as greedily, wanted to be on time everywhere, and readily demonstrated her knowledge to everyone. Well, we think that if this was satire, it was quite delicate towards itself.
By the way, Hermione's patronus is an otter because it's Rowling's favorite animal.
InspirationThe idea for the Harry Potter novels came to Joan while she was traveling on a train from Manchester to London: “I was returning to London alone on a crowded train and the idea of Harry Potter just popped into my head. I've been writing almost continuously since I was six years old, but I've never been so excited about an idea before. Much to my disappointment, I didn't have a pen and was too shy to ask anyone. And I think that was probably a good thing. I just sat and thought while all the details bubbled up in my brain and this skinny black-haired boy with glasses who didn't know he was a wizard became more and more real to me. Maybe if I had slowed down to get them down on paper, I would have suppressed some of them (though sometimes I wonder how much of what I imagined then I had forgotten by the time I found myself with a pen). I started writing The Philosopher's Stone that evening, although those first few pages have nothing in common with the finished book."
Mother's deathWarner Bros.
Rowling had just begun writing the novel when her mother died of multiple sclerosis in December 1990. Joan never told her about the boy wizard. “The books are what they are because she died. Because I loved her and she died." This is why the theme of death, especially the death of parents, is so important in novels.
Biker HagridWarner Bros.
Rowling told actor Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the films, that the character was inspired by a biker she met in a bar. “When he walked in, people ran away from him like ants. He took a mug of beer, sat down and said: “The petunias didn’t grow this year.” He was a gardener, but his fists were like two hammers. And he had a soft heart."
Ron's deathWarner Bros.
While working on one of the novels, Joan almost killed Ron Weasley. At that moment it was not the best period in my life, and the mood was most suitable for “killing” someone. Now the writer says that if she had given in to an impulse, she would never have forgiven herself for it.
All readers love adventure and heroic works. And their audience is wide, especially for teenage literature. Many people read it: for children it is a daily intellectual diet, and for adults it is a way to escape from the inevitable boredom of “adult” books. When the "boy who lived" was not yet so famous, many people probably wondered who wrote Harry Potter. The answer is below.
The difficult fate of Harry Potter
Harry Potter - "the boy who lived." The hero of all children from the very moment when the first book in the series about the little wizard and his life at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was published in 1997. The magic of this character lies not only in his abilities, but also in his character. He overcame difficulties all his life, starting at the age of one. At first, he was a "whipping boy" for his cousin Dudley and a tool for venting all the negative emotions of his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Then Harry became the object of attention of a world hidden from ordinary people (Muggles), in which flying is easier than inventing a radio, and a magic wand replaces almost all tools - from a shovel to a helicopter. His every action and statement was retold many times and caused a wave of reviews. One wrong step and everyone hates Harry Potter, shuns him and whispers behind his back. Victory or joy - and all the students of the Hogwarts school, together with their parents and other relatives, discuss it, pat the boy on the shoulder, and unknown girls make eyes. And all this against the backdrop of a personal tragedy: the death of his parents from the worst black wizard in the history of the magical world - Voldemort, whom other wizards feared so much that even his name became taboo, he was simply “He-who-cannot-be-remembered.” Moreover, this sorcerer was hunting for Harry too. So death could await the boy at any moment, around any turn and in the guise of anyone. And the most wonderful thing about this character is that he did not give up, did not withdraw into himself, but remained open, friendly, inquisitive, found friends for himself and only strengthened his abilities under the onslaught of all the troubles that befell him.
What kind of person do you have to be to create such a literary hero and such a wonderful world, in other words, who wrote “Harry Potter” - a modern version of “Cinderella”? After all, whatever one may say, Harry eventually melted all his difficulties into a wonderful and memorable biography and became a real legend of the wizarding world.
JK Rowling is one of the most famous authors of our time
JK Rowling is a living symbol of modern English literature. In this capacity, she performed at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in London in 2012. This is a legendary woman, the only one in history who turned from a billionaire to a millionaire thanks to active charity work. But before reaching the pinnacle of fame, she experienced something that you wouldn’t wish on your enemy. And she embodied every test, every drop of emotion into the heroes of the Harry Potter series of books. Of course, it is now difficult to answer the question of who wrote Harry Potter wrong. Nevertheless, in the biography of the “sorceress” there is still a lot of interesting things to talk about.
The difficult fate of J. Rowling herself
Joan's parents (Peter James and Anne) met at King's Cross station in London. The writer was traveling there when the idea of a boy who does not know that he is actually a wizard came to her mind. Therefore, one of the inanimate but important heroes of the wizarding world is King's Cross Station. Precisely the heroes, because the places and settings imply staticity, immobility, as if a frame for action, and this station is not like that. He is like a mystery, like a living being; to unlock his secrets, you need to have a certain code. After all, as everyone who has ever read a book or seen a movie knows, to get to platform nine and three-quarters, you need to go straight through the brick column supporting the vaults of the station between platforms 9 and 10. And do this in such a way that no one from the Muggles noticed. In the first book, eleven-year-old Harry was never able to see the immediate moment of transition of any of the Weasley family members and did not understand what to do until he asked. In the second book, the beginning would not have been so exciting if the passage to the platform had not been closed to him and his friend Ron. These are the secrets hidden in an ordinary, at first glance, teenage book and biography of the one who wrote Harry Potter.
Heroes and their real prototypes
By the way, about Ron and the flying Ford Anglia. According to Joan herself, they have very real prototypes: while the writer was in the sixth grade, her friend had a turquoise car of this brand. And the friend himself began to create the character and appearance of Ron. And his name was Sean. It looks like it, doesn't it?
And eleven-year-old Joan herself put herself in this book. Hermione Granger: an ugly and annoying know-it-all nerd. Rowling copied it from herself. Fans of the series know that few people liked Hermione. Apparently, little Joan or Jo, as everyone called her, did not like herself (as she perceived herself). The creator of "Harry Potter" has repeatedly said in interviews that she was not happy at that period of her life. Joan's father did not understand and did not seek a common language with her; her mother was sick. Rowling then devoted all the passion of her soul to literature; this did not at all make her popular among her peers. A dramatic story from the biography of the one who wrote the book “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” isn’t it?
Rowling's relationship with her mother had a huge impact on the development of the plot of the Harry Potter books. While Joan was writing her first book about a boy wizard, her mother died after a long and painful illness. She conveyed all the pain from experiencing this tragic event, all the feelings associated with it, to her hero; as you know, the boy’s parents also died. That's why the reader believes Harry's loss so much.
As Nietzsche said: “I love only those books that are written with the blood of the heart.” And these words, surprisingly, fit well with the works of the one who wrote the book “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.”
Also, the writer’s mother was half Scottish. Joan's sister, Diana, also went to Scotland. Rowling lived with her when she created the world of wizards and sorcerers. This is probably why Hogwarts is located in the mountains of Scotland. Anyone who has read the Potter books is amazed at how realistically the landscapes and weather anomalies are depicted. If it snows on the pages of a novel, then even in summer you want to cover yourself with a blanket. If it rains during Quidditch, you really feel for the players and fans. All this is due to the fact that the writer herself experienced snowfalls, thunderstorms, and rains for several years and put this into the pages of her books. An analysis of the biography and works of the one who wrote “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” reveals a very interesting story to us, but this is not the end.
"The Woman Who Could"
With a small child in her arms, receiving unemployment benefits (at the time of writing the first book, she belonged to the poorest segment of the country's population, without being a homeless beggar), Rowling soulfully describes the condition of Harry, forced to wear his brother's cast-offs and eat leftovers from the table, and the life of the family The Weasleys are poor people who love each other. And all because she knows well the sorrows of life in poverty.
When Rowling was depressed (she even had thoughts of suicide), she came up with dementors (Azkaban guards who suck the souls out of prisoners). When I wanted to hide from all the people and the world - animagi who can turn into animals. When she felt bad, she thought of ways out of the most terrible and dangerous situations for her little hero. And she survived thanks to this.
Now, it seems, the reader can easily answer the question, who wrote Harry Potter? Author J. K. Rowling is “the woman who could.” Yes, before success and fame, she experienced despair, hunger, fear, loneliness, and the loss of loved ones. But if all this horror did not exist, would the reader believe its heroes?
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