In praise of...J.K.Rowling
The sad death of Alaistair Cook some years ago deprived Britain of a fine diplomat, the world of a fine communicator and the BBC of not just a fine broadcaster but the presenter of a programme that was as much a fixture of Radio 4’s Friday night schedule as the Shipping Forecast – ‘letter from America’.
Cook’s distinctive style and voice have been replaced with the same sort of opinion pieces from others – last night it was the turn of Clive James, the amiable Aussie semi-professional fattie to talk to the nation. I only heard the last five minutes of his show but it was gripping – a discussion about how the deserved success of J.K. Rowling was a slap in the face to any aspiring writer who complained that they did not have success. The point, I think, was that inspiration and talent and hard work will out – so stop winging about the perceived success of what are considered to be pot-boiler authors and get writing, or stop moaning.
He was, of course, right.
Spoilers – go no further if you have not read the Harry Potter books and want to one day.
I’ve just finished ‘Deathly Hallows’ and thought it was a great book – it gave the fans what they wanted and it gave this fan EXACTLY what he wanted – Snape redeemed, Hogwarts finally used as a castle in the true sense and, best of all, Neville Longbottom revealed as the truly kick-arse superpowerful magician that he was hinted to be in the earlier books. And the epilogue is a fine touch.
Spoilers end
I thought the writing was great. I know that the cycle of books is finished, but think that there are still stories to be told about Harry Potter at Hogwarts – for me, the magic of the early books especially was the introduction of the wizarding world. It would be good to see some short stories from J.K., dipping into different years at Hogwarts, with Harry as the central or even tangential character – a stylistic trick pulled off with some panache by Terry Practchett in the books where Sam Vimes of Ahnk-Morpork city watch is not the main protagonist as in the early books but is seen through the eyes of others.
I’ve seen J.K. interviewed a couple of times and she always struck me as a serious woman. I guess that creative people are serious, and defensive about their art – their creations, as others are about their children.
Artists, writers and some musicians have this approach – those that are inspired and conjure something from nothing. Few actors do I think, relying as they do on everyone from the writer to tell them what to say to sound good, through the director to tell them how to feel so that can appear normal and finally, possibly most importantly, the lighting guy so they can look ten years younger and not quite so addicted to crack, fags and late nights shagging groupies in dingy night-clubs.
The latest Harry Potter book was, to understate, much anticipated – I think fans are already starting to anticipate J.K.s next book. I think the question is not will she write one, I think the question is, when?
Cook’s distinctive style and voice have been replaced with the same sort of opinion pieces from others – last night it was the turn of Clive James, the amiable Aussie semi-professional fattie to talk to the nation. I only heard the last five minutes of his show but it was gripping – a discussion about how the deserved success of J.K. Rowling was a slap in the face to any aspiring writer who complained that they did not have success. The point, I think, was that inspiration and talent and hard work will out – so stop winging about the perceived success of what are considered to be pot-boiler authors and get writing, or stop moaning.
He was, of course, right.
Spoilers – go no further if you have not read the Harry Potter books and want to one day.
I’ve just finished ‘Deathly Hallows’ and thought it was a great book – it gave the fans what they wanted and it gave this fan EXACTLY what he wanted – Snape redeemed, Hogwarts finally used as a castle in the true sense and, best of all, Neville Longbottom revealed as the truly kick-arse superpowerful magician that he was hinted to be in the earlier books. And the epilogue is a fine touch.
Spoilers end
I thought the writing was great. I know that the cycle of books is finished, but think that there are still stories to be told about Harry Potter at Hogwarts – for me, the magic of the early books especially was the introduction of the wizarding world. It would be good to see some short stories from J.K., dipping into different years at Hogwarts, with Harry as the central or even tangential character – a stylistic trick pulled off with some panache by Terry Practchett in the books where Sam Vimes of Ahnk-Morpork city watch is not the main protagonist as in the early books but is seen through the eyes of others.
I’ve seen J.K. interviewed a couple of times and she always struck me as a serious woman. I guess that creative people are serious, and defensive about their art – their creations, as others are about their children.
Artists, writers and some musicians have this approach – those that are inspired and conjure something from nothing. Few actors do I think, relying as they do on everyone from the writer to tell them what to say to sound good, through the director to tell them how to feel so that can appear normal and finally, possibly most importantly, the lighting guy so they can look ten years younger and not quite so addicted to crack, fags and late nights shagging groupies in dingy night-clubs.
The latest Harry Potter book was, to understate, much anticipated – I think fans are already starting to anticipate J.K.s next book. I think the question is not will she write one, I think the question is, when?
Labels: Alaistair Cook, Creativity, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Radio, Writing
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home