In The News
Stephen King on the Importance of J.K.Rowling
J.K. RowlingIn a new and lengthy piece, author Stephen King has written a column for Entertainment Weekly, reflecting on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and in particular what J.K. Rowling has brought to children and reading. This article, which does contain spoilers for the final Harry Potter novel, first starts with a discussion of the spoilers and the early reviews which caused such a fury, with Mr. King noting:
The reviewers themselves were often great — Ms. Kakutani ain’t exactly chopped liver — but the very popularity of the books has often undone even the best intentions of the best critical writers. In their hurry to churn out column inches, and thus remain members of good standing in the Church of What’s Happening Now, very few of the Potter reviewers have said anything worth remembering.
He then goes on to focus on how he feels part of the secret of the success of the novels should be attributed to both the growth and growing up of the characters, and the development of Jo as a writer herself.
Rowling has been far more successful, critically as well as financially, because the Potter books grew as they went along. That, I think, is their great secret (and not so secret at that; to understand the point visually, buy a ticket to Order of the Phoenix and check out former cutie Ron Weasley towering over Harry and Hermione). R.L. Stine’s kids are kids forever, and the kids who enjoyed their adventures grew out of them, as inevitably as they outgrew their childhood Nikes. Jo Rowling’s kids grew up…and the audience grew up with them.While some of the blogs and the mainstream media have mentioned that Rowling’s ambition kept pace with the skyrocketing popularity of her books, they have largely overlooked the fact that her talent also grew. Talent is never static, it’s always growing or dying, and the short form on Rowling is this: She was far better than R.L. Stine (an adequate but flavorless writer) when she started, but by the time she penned the final line of Deathly Hallows (’’All was well.’‘), she had become one of the finer stylists in her native country — not as good as Ian McEwan or Ruth Rendell (at least not yet), but easily the peer of Beryl Bainbridge or Martin Amis.
This very good column then concludes with Stephen King giving his thoughts on why writers like J.K. Rowling are important to children and reading.
I began by quoting Shakespeare; I’ll close with the Who: The kids are alright. Just how long they stay that way sort of depends on writers like J.K. Rowling, who know how to tell a good story (important) and do it without talking down (more important) or resorting to a lot of high-flown gibberish (vital). Because if the field is left to a bunch of intellectual Muggles who believe the traditional novel is dead, they’ll kill the damn thing.It’s good make-believe I’m talking about. Known in more formal circles as the Ministry of Magic. J.K. Rowling has set the standard: It’s a high one, and God bless her for it.
This issue of Entertainment Weekly will be on newsstands starting today.
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I completely agree Kimberly! As a fan of Stephen as well, it’s nice to see the support he puts forth for Jo!
Thank you. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this article.
His past two articles on Potter have given me goose bumps. Cheers for Stephen King!
Wow! The best article I ever read! I totally agree with King!
“J.K. Rowling has set the standard: It’s a high one, and God bless her for it.”
Here Here.
SK is a gifted writer. His words about HP and Jo ring true.
Isn’t he amazing???!? To just sit down with him and get into that head of his…He wrote everything I felt about Deathly Hallows.
Thanks Stephen!
I’ve never been a huge Stephen King fan – his work is in general too grueseome for me. But ever since I’ve been aware of his stance on Harry Potter, I’ve read his columns and such very carefully, and I’ve come to appreciate his imagination, and his spirit, very much. Reading his thoughts on Jo, now and previously, certainly has earned him a lot of respect.
I also recommend Tina Jordan’s thoughts on DH on the EW site – very well put and I wholeheartedly agree with her. And then, in today’s NYT, there are very brief excerpts/summaries of that plethora of fake Harry Potter’s that are circulating in China. When I first heard of all those blatant copyright violations, I was very angry; now I realize they are so pathetically, unbelievably bad that nobody really should take them seriously. The summaries are worth a look, though: I burst out laughing at some points at the staggering absurdity of it all … :)
Stephen King is a true Harry fan. He’s critical, but gives credit where credit is due. He’s one of the fans that share that level of obsession that JK talked about. I think that is a huge compliment from one critically acclaimed author to another.
I am not much of a Stephen King fan, although The Stand remains one of my favorites (albeit one of the most TERRIFYING books I have ever read). His recent stuff lacks the ooomph of his earlier work, but I greatly appreciate his friendship with, and his respect for, Jo. Thank you Mr. King. Long live Harry.
Although I haven’t read his books (a lot of them seem too dark and gruesome, as someone above me put it, for me), but I really agree with that article. Reading will never be dead, folks!
i’ve read and also loved some of Stephen King’s works (Pet Sematary as the most)—i have high regard for his creative style as well. his thoughts on Jo’s writing has been very articulate and emotional. i could only concur. =) kudos to these wonderful authors!
Wow. That made me cry! Thanks Stephen for voicing out what I, too, exactly feel about Deathly Hallows and JK Rowling. I salute you!
I haven’t read any of his books but I loved this article he wrote. I completely agree with what he said about those reviewers. They just write reviews for the sake of writing them and few really take the time to enjoy the magic of Jo’s books. ha and you just can’t compare Jo to Stine; I mean Goosebumps and Fear Street were ok but they aren’t works of literature like the HP books. I also grew out of them but grew up with Harry.
Completely brilliant article as usual, Mr. King. Best line: ”...if he had been an adult, the cops would have taken him away either to the drunk tank or to our local Dreamboat Manor…” BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
I agree what he’s saying about adult books today – they have 100 pages of so of *crap; pointless details that have nothing to do with the story and just bore the hell out of you. They’re not all that way, mind you, But I’d rather take my chance reading a children’s book.
(Class adult books rule though)
Ironically, too, Christopher Hitchens’ official review came out today in the NYT book review. Hitchens is somebody who I respect a lot, normally, but who simply does not get Jo’s magic, and comes across in this review – unfortunately, because I do not think he normally is – a pompous, over-intellectual academic who’s trying way too hard (he points out some interesting tidbits, but for the most part entirely missed the point). It’s almost as if he tried to demonstrate King’s thoughts about reviewers.
I love Uncle Stevie. From Shakespeare to the Who. Both he and JKR are on my list of if-I-could-host-a-dinner guests. I think I’d find them in a quiet corner of my fantasy mansion, comparing publishing and book-signing experiences, and giggling like school kids.
For those who are easily spooked, and haven’t tried SK, check out his 7-book series of “The Dark Tower.” There are fewer things that go bump in the night, and the tone is both heroic and tragic. And there’s no waiting. He took 24 years(!) to complete this series, but it is All Done now. And it’s his second magnum opus, next to “The Stand,” IMO. Maybe better.
Stephen King is amazing. I love him. He doesn’t let jealously get to him, like some other authors I could mention…, but he still criticises JK constructively with no malice and a love for the books. I have tremendous respect for him.
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Leaky Poll
Since DH was published, your interest in Potter fandom has:
- Increased! I'm more involved now than I ever was!2774 (23%)
- It's stayed at the same level of fun it always has!4123 (35%)
- Decreased slightly: I only check sites a few times a week now.3083 (26%)
- Severely lowered. Without new canon, I'm bored.1260 (10%)
- It's gone. In fact, I can't even answer this poll because I'm not really visting a Potter site.396 (3%)
Gah, the ability this man has to make me cry when he speaks so eloquently about Jo is unbelievable.