J.K. Rowling has become such a guarded woman through the years that when she speaks publicly about her books, it's a big deal. As I'm sure is the case with most celebrities harassed by the press, Rowling has a cynical view of journalists.

The character Rita Skeeter (blood-sucking mosquito?) is probably a composite of all the bad reporters, particularly tabloid journalists, she's had to deal with over the years, especially the ones lying in wait outside her home in Scotland to catch a glimpse of her and family.

Rowling was recently interviewed on BBC radio by Stephen Fry, who provides the voice for the United Kingdom version of the Harry Potter audio books. Download the MP3 here, or you can also read the transcript at the Leaky Cauldron.

(By the way, I haven't read the transcript. Notes are based on the interview.)

• Fry talked about the world Rowling has created in the books and people who claim this make-believe world is dangerous. She responded by stressing the need for a place to escape to in literature and referenced C.S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew, in which the children in the book ventured into different worlds through pools of water. She said she's always thought of it (and different worlds) as a metaphor for a library. Great image and good response.
• The world in Harry Potter is frightening, and Fry says he likes that Rowling hasn't held back the bad stuff. Rowling feels there is a move to sanitize literature and protect kids from their own imaginations. The reason writers create these stories is that we all need to feel fear and confront it, and confrontation in Harry Potter takes place in a controlled environment.
  
  I think the "controlled environment" in Harry Potter or any children's book is important for learning purposes. The chaos is contained and structured, so to speak, so that issues like fear can be addressed in a logical manner that kids can understand.
• She next discusses British folklore, which reminded me of one of John Granger's many articles that reference her classic education and Christian themes and symbols in her books. People have wondered if J.K. Rowling is a Christian. She's a member of the Church of Scotland, but it doesn't answer the question as to whether she's saved or not, and I'm certainly not privy to that information.
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• She and Fry briefly discussed differences between "boy" and "girl" stories, writers, and readers. Rowling talks about the differences she's noticed in the letters of male and female (children) fans. The two make up roughly 50 percent each, but she theorizes this is because parents prompted boys into writing more often because they were so thrilled they were reading. (She's probably implying that boys in general would otherwise write fewer letters than girls.)
  
  Rowling said it was touching to get letters from boys who obviously had a tough time writing but wanted to tell her how much they enjoyed the books.
• Rowling confirmed that she has Book 7 already planned out, although she always leaves herself a little latitude. She has a new children's book in mind, but will write it under a pseudonym to avoid Harry Potter-like hype.

(Image source)

1. The secret of Harry Potter, i.e., that it is Christian fiction, however, is evident in what we know of Ms. Rowling without a formal statement of her spiritual creed. She has a superior formal education in Classics and French in addition to a working familiarity with ancient and medieval philosophy and literature. This intellectual backdrop is evident in the Harry Potter books' language, mythological references, and philosophical underpinnings.
   
   She has also said that she is a great admirer of the Inklings, especially Lewis. When compared with him, she says that Lewis is a genius and she is not, which response suggests that she sees him as something of a mentor. She admits to being physically incapable of being in the same room with a Narnia book and not sitting down to read it.
   
   If she had not said these things, the many allusions to Narnia and Lewis's books on education and literature would have brought us to the same conclusion. The professor hero in the Narnia books, for example, is named 'Digory Kirke' and is Lewis's self-portrait; Dumbledore's forceful admonition to us in Goblet to 'Remember Cedric Diggory' is a flashing neon road sign directing critical traffic to her role model. [back]