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. There may be additional influences, whether intentional or not, that will be found.
Acknowledged 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." However, she has mentioned a number of favourite authors as probable influences in her creation of Harry Potter.
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 Living with Harry Potter BBC Radio4, 10 December 2005.
The Iliad When an interviewer said that saving Cedric's body resembled the actions of Hector, Achilles, and Patroclus in the Iliad, 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."
The Bible A number of commentators have drawn attention to the Biblical themes and references in J. K. Rowling's final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In an August 2007 issue of Newsweek, Lisa Miller opined that Harry dies and then comes back to life to save humankind, like Christ. She points out the title of the chapter in which this occurs — "King's Cross" — a reference to the station on the London Underground, but also 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, 2007-08-06, Vol. 150 Iss. 6, p. 12 Jeffrey Weiss adds, in the Dallas Morning News, that the biblical quotation "And the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26), featured on the tombstones of Harry's parents, refers to Christ's resurrection.
The quotation 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. Kept at: OSV.com "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."
Aeschylus and William Penn Deathly Hallows begins with a pair of epigraphs, one from Quaker leader William Penn's More Fruits of Solitude and one from Aeschylus' The Libation Bearers. "I really enjoyed choosing those two quotations because one is pagan, of course, and one is from a Christian tradition", Rowling said. "I'd known it was going to be those two passages since Chamber was published. I always knew [that] if I could use them at the beginning of book seven then I'd cued up the ending perfectly. If they were relevant, then I went where I needed to go. They just say it all to me, they really do."
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, The Tale of the Three Brothers, retold by Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 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.
Macbeth Rowling has cited William 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."
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."
Emma Rowling cites Jane Austen as her favourite author and a major influence. Rowling has said: "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."
The Story of the Treasure Seekers Rowling frequently mentions E. Nesbit in interview, citing her "very real" child characters. 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 cannot remember exactly how it felt to be a child."
The Wind in the Willows
In a 2007 reading for students in New Orleans, Rowling said 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 measles at the age of 4.
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 not really 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 in as much 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."
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 The Chronicles of Narnia 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 King's Cross station – it dissolves and he's on platform Nine and Three-Quarters, and there's the train for Hogwarts."
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 world. 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.
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." 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."
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 adult 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, initially intended for children, with White's own illustrations) which was made into an animated movie by Walt Disney. 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") who takes him to a castle to educate him.
As writer Phyllis Morris notes, "The parallels between Dumbledore and Merlin do not end with the protection of the hero in danger … In addition to both characters sporting long, flowing beards (and blue eyes, according to T.H. White), Merlin was King Arthur's mentor and guide, as Dumbledore has been Harry's guide and mentor." Rowling describes Wart as "Harry's spiritual ancestor."
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."
Also in 1999, Rowling said in interview that she was a 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?"