I found this article.

[kirito210]

elftor.medium.com/harry-potter-and-the-possible-plagiarism-of-one-j-rowling-c19f1b05595c

I found this linked to a thread on Twitter/X.

 

I don't know what to think about it, so I wanted to share it with you.

 

(I might end up deleting this post later)

Comments

[epistler]

Don't delete it - this looks interesting!

[torylltales]

Interesting! I'll have to read it properly later.

On the headline, though, I think there are a lot of similarities between HP and older works because HP is merely the latest in a long and grand tradition of English boarding school stories, and a slightly less long sub-tradition of magical boarding school stories. It leans heavily on established genre tropes developed by writers like Enid Blyton, Sarah Fielding, Talbot Reed, the Jennings and Billy Bunter serieses, and so on.

There is also a tradition of "magical orphan discovers they're special and escapes from abusive situation" stories, one of which I distinctly remember involved a character named Harriet being locked in a coal cellar by her uncle when she refused to eat a disgusting rice pudding.

That said, I would be absolutely not surprised at all if it turns out JKR intentionally and knowingly committed plagiarism. One of the stories I read before HP was Groosham Grange, which is eerily similar in many oddly specific ways, but was published almost 10 years before the first Harry Potter book.

[epistler]

The writer Neil Gaiman has called Rowling’s depiction of boarding school a “weird and idealized” vision of something that’s “really all about bullying, torture and [in deference to any children who might be reading this, let’s just say that the last word he mentioned refers to an activity usually practiced alone

Idealised? Hogwarts is a horribly run nightmare of unchecked bullying and abuse at the hands of both students AND at least one teacher, none of whom are disciplined for their behaviour. Snape TORTURES his own students and goes completely unpunished when he should have been fired a long time ago. Or not even hired in the first place because he was a member of the Wizard Nazi Party. The number of injuries and deaths are off the charts. Hard to believe so many fans are so desperate to go there, really.

“I, of course, used a time machine to ‘get the idea’ of Unseen University from Hogwarts; I don’t know what Paul [Kidby, the illustrator] used in this case. Obviously he must have used something.”

LOL! Good ole Sir Terry. It's always nice to see him aim his snark at a deserving target.

Talent does not excuse Rowling’s ingratitude, her vanity, her greed, her bullying of the little guy, and her pathetic claims of emotional distress.

It's becoming depressingly more and more apparent that JKR was a nasty piece of work even before she went all TERF on us.

I loved the Potter books as a kid, but the whole thing has soured for me to the point that I got rid of my copies and the few bits of merchandise I owned. Initially I did it on a point of principle because I was so disgusted by Rowling's behaviour, but over the years I've realised the series really doesn't hold up that well. It's extremely unoriginal and has some pretty nasty stuff lurking in there amongst all the exciting adventures and whatnot. YouTuber Sheep In The Box covered it quite well in a series of video essays. https://www.youtube.com/@SheepInTheBox

[ignoresandra]

Thanks for sharing the post! It's a handy list of works I can recommend to people who "just can't give Harry Potter up". I read Charmed Life growing up. It's a good book.

[pangolin20]

That's certainly interesting and a well-made case, too.

For my part, I'm glad I never became that attached to the series. I got rid of the books years ago and have barely thought on it since. And if I hadn't, this would have decided it for me, even apart from Rowling's behaviour.

[ultimate_cheetah]

Some of the books in this list, like Chrestomanci series and the Dark is Rising series, are very different in feel and theme from Harry Potter and I believe their inclusion in this list is ridiculous. (The Dark is Rising draws heavily on Welsh mythology.) However, there is a very good case for some of the others, especially the Books of Magic series.

I think Rowling didn't intentionally steal ideas, I just think she is being quite derivative, and uses a lot of tropes in her work. For example, the evil blonde nemesis, the mysterious castle, the mysterious scar, the evil fat family that doesn't appreciate the poor, skinny protagonist, etc.

However, ideas are definitely covered under plagiarism, and I do wonder where the line shifts from "derivative" to "illegal".