…’Harry Potter’
A Norwegian film director has sparked a debate in Norway over whether JK Rowling really is the enormously successful author who launched the Harry Potter craze, or whether she’s just a good actress fronted by multinational commercial interests.
Film director Nina Grünfeld simply thinks the rags-to-riches story of JK Rowling is too good to be true.
Writing in a commentary in Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten’s cultural pages this week, she questioned whether it’s really possible for Rowling to have been the sole creative force behind what’s become an international book and movie empire.
Grünfeld recounted the stories told about Rowling, where it’s claimed the aspiring author was a poor, single mother with a hungry child to feed, who got the idea for Harry Potter while she sat on a delayed train between Manchester and London. With no money for paper or an office, Rowling reportedly started scribbling out the story of Harry Potter on paper napkins picked up in Edinburgh’s cafés
Grünfeld called it a “fantastic” story, that “gives hope” not least to single mothers around the world as well as mothers with unrealized dreams and strong purchasing power.
“But can a person be so productive and commercially successful in a media industry where nothing is left to coincidence?” wondered Grünfeld. “Is it possible that a person can write six thick books that are translated into 55 languages and sell more than 250 million copies in less than 10 years? Is it probable that the stories then get filmed and commercially exploited to the degree seen here, without any well-thought-out strategy or highly professional players behind them?”
And then came Grünfeld’s provocative question: “Is it possible that JK Rowling exists?” Her own answer: “Well, who do they think they’re kidding? Not me!”
Grünfeld then went on to float what she willingly concedes may be a conspiracy theory, that the books instead have been produced by hack writers like those at the syndicate that produced the “Nancy Drew” mystery series for young readers. The author printed on all the books, “Carolyn Keene,” never really existed, Grünfeld notes, adding that she thinks Rowling is a product of “a gigantic concern with the names Bloomsbury Publishing plc and Warner Bros” in the concern’s ranks.
“I may be both paranoid and conspiratorial, but I can’t shake the thought that JK Rowling is a pseudonym along the same lines as Carolyn Keene,” wrote Grünfeld, the 36-year-old daughter of a prominent psychiatrist who’s been decorated by King Harald. Grünfeld recently completed a highly acclaimed documentary on her father’s life as a juvenile Jewish refugee from Slovakia who was sent to Norway in the 1930s, and knows all too well the challenges artists face in securing financing for projects.
“I think the secret behind JK Rowling is guarded more strongly than the entrance to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory,” Grünfeld wrote. The truth, she believes, won’t emerge until “the market for Harry Potter is saturated, until the actress behind JK Rowling gets tired of her role and not until the real authors behind the pseudonym feel an enormous need for recognition.”
‘Pure speculation’
Nonsense, reply Norwegian publishers and translators. Torstein Bugge Høverstad, who has translated the “Harry Potter” books into Norwegian, says the books offer evidence that just one author is behind them. He notes how it took three years to get the fourth book finished, and he sees consistent weaknesses in Rowling’s writing that no group of hack writers would leave behind.
Tom Dahl of publishing firm Damm, which releases the books in Norway, says he doesn’t take Grünfeld’s theory seriously.
“This is pure speculation,” Dahl told Aftenposten on Thursday. “It’s fun to fantasize about such theories, but this one is entirely without facts. We’re parking (Grünfeld’s theory) here and now.”
Øyvind Hagen, head of the first publishing house who had the rights to “Harry Potter” in Norway, Bazar Forlag, laughed at Grünfeld’s commentary in Aftenposten. “I met the author (Rowling) a few years ago, and she was decidedly genuine and human, in addition to being a charming and quite special person,” Hagan said. “There are actually some people who are very talented and productive.”
Aftenposten English Web Desk
Nina Berglund
Will
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