Posted on 12/02/2005 4:03:15 AM PST by Kurt_Hectic
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. A Norwegian film director has doubts as to whether JK Rowling is really behind the story of Harry Potter.
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."
I think it's more that socialists just don't get it.
So Shakespear isnt' really shakespear.
and rowling isnt' really rowling...
how long before tolkien isn't really tolkien?
or steinbeck isn'teally steinbeck?
or - ?
Envy has no boundaries!
[/sarcasm]
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.
Every SingleMom who makes good is a call-out to all the whiners sitting on their fat bums eating cupcakes and waiting for their cheques -- it's not unlike the Arabs who hate the Jews because they prove the desert can bloom, and the Blacks who hate the Koreans and Laotians because they prove that it's not a nebulous miasma generated by slavery that keeps Blacks from succeeding.
Not only that, but from living under socialism in Canada I would add that the collective ia threatened by any indication that success ia an individual achievement and the fruits thereof belong to the individual, not to the giant money pot in the middle of the room.
Two words: Tom Clancy. The man came from nowhere, actually sold The Hunt For Red October (unrepresented I believe) to the Naval Institute Press, which is not a fiction house, and went on to be one of the most successful authors ever, with movies and video game tie ins all over the place. Yeah, it's possible.
Agree - Clancy is the living proof - look at all the things he has accomplished! EOD
I like Rowling's attitude - she seems a no-nonsense kind of person and has donated a great deal of her financial prosperity to charities. Her life story is one which sets a fantastic example to people from all walks of life that you can "win" your personal lottery if you find your goal and aim high. It isn't always a goal of money either - but the desperate need within to accomplish a task which gives inner satisfaction. It's what life is all about.
I also like that she said to an interviewer once about writing the Potter books in English only. She warned the French and Danish children - "they better get on with learning English".... of course this was before the collection was translated on a global basis.
Ever the teacher talking to the kids however - she has earned her fame and how lucky we are to have been able to share her great gift!
I was thinking the same thing. Socialists are incapable of believeing that, in a capitalist society, someone can go from humble origins to great wealth and success through their own individual efforts without State or Corporate machinations.
Jealousy rears its head!
Socialists HAVE to believe this because in their society, this can't happen.
This "theory" is pure poppycock, made up by the green eyed monster in this woman's eyes. Just printing this drivel is a travesty.
"this was before the collection was translated on a global basis."
Including into Latin, too !
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582348251/103-7340611-5099046?v=glance&n=283155
# Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Latin Edition) by J. K. Rowling
What "financing?"
To write a book all the materials you need are pen and paper, which can probably be scrounged for free from dumpsters in many cases, or at least purchased very inexpensively.
If you want to go higher tech, you could buy a used computer for a couple hundred, or for as little as $10-20 at a garage sale.
Other than that, all you need is time.
And talent, which this idiot apparently believes doesn't really exist unless it is manufactured in secret corporate laboratories.
Al Gore says he invented Harry Potter.
Yes.
This post was not written by me. It just appeared out of thin air.
Didn't think they had tin-foil in Norway........guess I was wrong.
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