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I didn’t want to vote because I thought for sure JKR would surpass Dickens because of her rather large online fan base, and I do quite like Dickens, but seeing that he’s 30% above her right now, I went ahead and voted. Surprising results!

Hmm, it is not really fair to compare JKR to Dickens.

I love them both but only time will tell if her works are true classics and valued by future generations as well.

oh man some snobby english majors’ heads are going to explode when i send them this link :D

oh no! JKR is only 40%?

and i would have a hard time comparing them but actually it’s a pretty interesting choice for a bbc debate cause dickens was ridiculously popular in his day and also not considered “high” literature by many. there was a bbc readers’ poll of the top 100 books, and i think jk was fourth after tolkein and jane austen and someone else. there are a LOT of people that are angry that she’s popular, so i wouldn’t necessary consider her an easy win.

That’s far too difficult a decision to make. I love both Dickens and JK Rowling.

They are both acute social commentators who have a talent for creating wonderful characters, from the ridiculous to the downright nasty. Both usually base their stories around a stout-hearted, pure central character.And both have a fabulous flair for wit!

I might lean towards JK Rowling slightly more because of the voracious literary appetite she stirs up in me, but I would probably attribute that to her more accesible language and less digressive storylines.

Vote vote vote we can make Jo win XD

Whyyy are they putting it on effing BBC World? Put it on BBC1 people! I don’t know whether we get BBC World or not =S

oh sweet i get bbcworld, but doesn’t bbc make pretty much all their shows streamable anyways? i’m sure you’ll be able to find it on youtube the next day.

Yeah, but watching Jo on TV is more special than seeing it on YouTube ;) Plus I record all HP stuff that I can so I want to put that on my video!

Does “visionary” have a different meaning in the UK? Here in the US it implies seeing (or trying to) into the future. A Jules Verne type of thing.

I’m afraid I haven’t read Dickens, so I can’t vote (what a shame!). But Jo is a visionary herself, I am sure :) maybe borth are visionaries.

@ GVC yeah…. i have the same doubt… quite confusing…

one of the definitions of “visionary” refers to imagination, not just seeing into the future.

At the mo’ Dickens and Rowling are 50-50! That’s pretty much amazing. You know what’s not so much amazing? Madonna beating Mozart 90-10% right now. That’s just sickening.

Pitting JK Rowling against Charles Dickens is way way pre-mature if not unecessary altogether. JK Rowling is my hero. Full stop. But just becasue she is my hero does not mean she is the greatest writer that ever lived. And you can bet that many of us fans will be voting on the BBC without having read any Dickens. Dickens is by far the most accomplished to date. I have read oliver Twist and I have to say it is a great read but not as enjoyable because of the difference in language period. It doesnt make sense to compare the two on a voting system. I will watch the program with much glee but I will not give a dam about who wins because who ever wins won becasue they have the bigger fan base or bigger anti Rowling/Dickens. neither will win on who is actually the greatest.

Umm, you need to give this about 200 years before anybody will be able to fairly compare these two authors. :/

guys one of the other polls pitts mozart against madonna, don’t take it so seriously.

I do feel that there is something wrong with a rowling vs dickens vote.the term “visionary” can really have several meanings, the Idea of using that expression in this case means I believe to “see” beyond “life” as we see it. I cannot vote for one above the other as each have their own place in literacy .

Definitely voted Rowling, but perhaps it’s because I spent far too long studying Dickens at school and it got a bit too formalised for me, though I do still enjoy it a little. I suppose in some ways it may be premature to compare the two writers, but I can see where there might be similarities to look at. Their popularity and their slightly contentious ‘literary’ value in the eyes of their academic contemporaries has to be taken into account. They are also both acute social commentators, and there are even parallels in the way that they characterise in their work. I would perhaps rank Rowling higher because her work is a little more nuanced. There’s never usually anything subtle about Dickens, and the style suits him well, but it does make Rowling more palatable.

Dickens was in my belief a great social comentator of the disgusting and appauling conditions that were “life” for most people in the country. Jo writes about a different view of life dealing with good vs evil. There can be no comparison ! For the rest of the poll it would not be possible to have the latter without the contribution that the former had made to their field of life.