The Phenomenon "Harry Potter" - The Secret of its success

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2 (B), University of Bamberg (Centre for British Studies), course: Introdution to british media and communication science, language: English, abstract: At the age of six, Joanne Kathleen Rowling2 wrote her first short story about a

rabbit named Rabbit, who had the measles and was visited by his friends. Amongst

them was a little bee called Miss Bee.

However, she never told anyone about her ¿burning ambition¿3 to become a

writer, not even Ms Shephard, her English teacher at Wyedean Comprehensive School.

Ms Shephard was a great influence on young Joanne as ¿she inspired trust¿4.

Shephard¿s comments on Harry Potter and the Philosopher¿s Stone ¿meant more to

[Joanne Rowling] than any newspaper reviews¿5.

After finishing secondary school and her studies in French and Classics at Exeter

University, Joanne Rowling started to work as a research asssistant at Amnesty

International which was a ¿very, very interesting place to work¿6, but at the same time a

huge mistake, because Joanne Rowling admits that as a secretary she would be

anybody¿s ¿worst nightmare¿7.

It was during a delayed train journey from Manchester to King¿s Cross Station in

London, when she was obviously hit by magic. The story about a little orphan named

Harry Potter, who has to live with his old-fashioned relatives and finds out that he is a

wizard, came to her mind. And because she had no pen or notebook with her, she had to

think it. So, Hogwarts - School of Witchcraft and Wizardry came to life in her

imagination, and as she invented it, it ¿felt like research¿8. ¿It was a question of

discovery why Harry was where he was, why his parents were dead¿9. At the end of the

journey she knew ¿it was going to be a seven-book series¿10. The next five years, while she moved to Portugal, got married, had a baby, got

divorced and moved back to Britain, she continued writing the first book of the series

Harry Potter and the Philosopher¿s Stone (HP1)11 which she finished in 1995.

2 see Picture 1

3 Lindsey Fraser, Conversations with J.K. Rowling, New York 2001, p.22.

4 ibid, p. 19.

5 ibid, p. 19.

6 ibid, p. 36.

7 ibid, p. 35.

8 ibid, p. 39.

9 ibid, p. 39.

10 ibid, pp. 39.

11 see Picture 2