Rowling and Dianna Wynne Jones

[flying_ford_anglia]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C5579
From: flying_ford_anglia
Subject: Re: Rowling and Dianna Wynne Jones
Reply To: [Yahoo! #5577] Rowling and Dianna Wynne Jones
Date: 8/2/00 5:39 am  (ET)

<<Ultimately they attack Rowling as a plaigarizing the works of Dianna
Wynne Jones. I am not familiar
 with her work but a quick search of the internet confirms the existence
 of the author and the books cited.>>

I can't comment on "Eight Days of Luke", but I can tell you a bit about
DWJ in general. I 'discovered' her books when I was looking for stuff
to read between (and because of) HP and I'm equally hooked now.

I've said before that she is regarded as Britain's leading writer
of fantasy for older children. She has written 'magical/witchcraft'
fantasy, some sword and sorcery stuff (I believe?) and some science
fiction (particularly relating to time).

All the books I've read so far feature children in the leading roles
and they are invariably downtrodden or outcast types, either from broken
homes or placed in constrained circumstances. They often have undiscovered
magical powers and some of them end up becoming very powerful or pivotal
to the destruction of evil.

The books make very good reading, I might add :)

There are vague similarities between DWJ's work and JKR's. "Witch Week",
for example, is set in a school for witches; "Charmed Life" and "The
Lives of Christopher Chant" describe boys who are found to be nine-lived
enchanters, far more powerful than regular witches/warlocks - everyone
looks to them to solve their problems.

My feeling is that the two writers are often in the same territory,
drawing upon common 'witch-related' lore, so coincidences are bound to
happen. The idea of a 'gifted' child living with evil relatives who keep
them in poverty is nothing new, and goes back further than either of them.

As far as I can tell, "Eight Days of Luke" is one of DWJ's better known
books, and we're talking about a writer who is famous in her own right in
this genre. JKR would have been taking a huge risk if she'd plagiarised
one her stories!

Neil

PS - I'll pose this question in the DWJ e-mail list I'm on... see what
they say.