In The News
J. K. Rowling Discusses Inspiration for Minister of Magic and More in New Interview
JKR InterviewsHarry Potter author J. K. Rowling is the subject of an interview which ran this past weekend in a number of Spanish language publications as part of the XLSemanal section. This interview first took place a number of months ago and features Jo speaking of her inspirations for events and characters which played heavily in the Harry Potter series, a little about her past, and candidly about her husband, Dr. Neil Murray. We are still awaiting the entire interview and will provide more here when we can. In the meantime, here are some rough excerpts from the interview which appeared over the weekend:
About the relationship between September 11, 2001 and Harry Potter, Rowling denied any influence and recognizes the true inspiration for Minister Cornelius Fudge: “My model of the world after Voldemort’s return was, directly, the government of Neville Chamberlain in Great Britain during the Second World War, when he tried to minimize the menace of the Nazi regime for political convenience.”
She also spoke about her two marriages, saying: “I had decided not to marry again. In seven years I hadn’t met anyone who liked me so much. And I remember that I thought: I have a daughter who I adore, I have success, and deep down, I am happy. My sister introduced us and I thought he was a very solid person. He’s an excellent doctor in his profession, and he works in a world that is far away from mine. What I most adore about him is that, everyday, Neil knows more people that want to know if he can help them, without having to ask who he is married to.”
She didn’t avoid talking about her first husband, Jorge Arantes, who Jo was married to for nearly two years: “None of the characters of my books are based on my ex. Whatever happened in our marriage, the truth is that my ex-husband contributed fifty percent to one of the most beautiful things that has happened in my life, which is my eldest daughter. So, I’d never used him in a fairy tale. He’s her father.”
Readers able to get their hands on a copy, and can translate the interview, please do send them in!
Thanks to Alejandro and Harry Latino for mailing.
rate this article
Interested in JKR Interviews?
Sign up for free Email Alerts
That was a nice thing to say about her Ex. Awesome Lady!
With all of the money and acolades, it is so gratifying to know that she is “grounded” and above all modest. I would be so easy for someone in similar circumstances to get to full of themselves. The fact that she is still a kind, compassionate, and considerate person makes me admire her even more!
“My model of the world after Voldemort’s return was, directly, the government of Neville Chamberlain in Great Britain during the Second World War, when he tried to minimize the menace of the Nazi regime for political convenience.” Tthe girl knows her history too. If only country leaders and their administration could also take a keen interest in learning lesson from history. Alas.
didnt she say in the past that part of her idea of Voldemort was from Hitler and the Death Eaters were an inspiration from KKK? I could almost swear I have heard that from her more than once. she doesnt say it here but she has said it before.
I think you’d find that both were possibly based on Hitler.
A lot of Voldemort’s policies and actions that he takes through the ministry were very similar to Hiltler’s policies and the actions of the Nazi party
Classy, graceful, and a historian! More than that, modest and forthright! My kind of “hero”...someone not only I and my children, but my children’s children and their children, can really look up to and emulate!
Well said confederate Lady! this series like critics have said for along time now will indeed go up on the classic shelf with LOTR, Wizard of Oz, Narnia, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer and on and on…., I was right in saying that the Death Eaters were inspired by the KKK, if not the 4th movie really hyped that assumuption up by their costumes! And how can she have said that Gellert was inspired by Hitler, I agree with Slayer they both probably were but we dont even read hardly anything about Grindlewald.
well in DH they said that Grindlewald showed remorse in later years ( not saying that what he did in the first place wasn’t terrible and he deserved having to live in his own prison) and Voldemort showed no remorse AT ALL for what he did and from what I’ve heard Hitler didnt show even a teensy little bit of remorse either so I’m guessing that Voldemort was mainly based on Hitler. he’s “purebloods first” and “magic is might” and “prune to keep your family ‘healthy’” resembles Hitlers beliefs
but this is getting so off topic, i love you Jo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ur so amazing we all love u =]
Yay, Jo! I so love how she is so considerate about her ex because of her daughter. That Hitler thing is interesting. I’m a writer, myself (no books published yet), and her books are my absolute BEST reference point. I love Jo!
i always thought the HP series and especially Deathly Hallows reflected the gradual Nazi occupation and eventual horrors that followed. The whole atmosphere of Deathly hallows was actually terrifying, reminiscent of reading memoirs of people in hiding during the rise of Nazi and the diary of Anne Frank also spring to mind. JK has of seasoned her wonderful series with a lot of mirroring of real world history, prejudism, politics, religion which makes the books so much richer.
Jo is an avid reader of all things Mitford and over the past few years has written a forward for the recent edited diaries of the six sisters and is also featured on the blurb for the recently published letters. The strangest of the six (and of course Jessica and Deborah were/are wonderfully normal) wa, of course, Unity who literally fell in love with Hitler just before WW2. I have no doubt that the character “Bellatrix” who is also obsessed with Voldemort, was based on the mad Unity.
yeah, I know I posted two seconds ago, but, just if J.K. Rowling is cool enough to read these, WE LOVE YOU. Your books are my absolute favorite and have helped me through a lot of hard times. Thank you for your inspiration and imagination. And I’m speaking for a lot of other people here, too.
“My model of the world after Voldemort’s return was, directly, the government of Neville Chamberlain in Great Britain during the Second World War, when he tried to minimize the menace of the Nazi regime for political convenience.” Joanne
Which means you indirectly criticize all governments especially those in the EU which are not in the “Coalition against Terrorism. And you think Iran, Iraq and North Korea belong to the “Axis of Evil”. Marianne
Nice words about her ex, there…I must say, though, that it remains a source of great and pleasant surprise to me that we’ve never actually heard anything from this Jorge Arantes guy. I can just imagine that a lot of people, when faced with the unusual situation of an ex-spouse suddenly becoming one of the world’s biggest celebrities, would go running straight to the tabloids to dish dirty “insider” secrets and pocket a huge wodge of cash for the trouble; Jo would seem a textbook target for that kind of rubbish, so that’s why I’m surprised and very relieved that it hasn’t happened to her. I guess common decency does prevail sometimes, after all… :)
@Marianne: What in the world are you talking about? Crazy nutter.
Sorry, comments are closed for this article.
Leaky Poll
Since DH was published, your interest in Potter fandom has:
- Increased! I'm more involved now than I ever was!796 (22%)
- It's stayed at the same level of fun it always has!1339 (38%)
- Decreased slightly: I only check sites a few times a week now.891 (25%)
- Severely lowered. Without new canon, I'm bored.358 (10%)
- It's gone. In fact, I can't even answer this poll because I'm not really visting a Potter site.113 (3%)
oh, that’s so nice to talk this way about exhusband, she is so great!