NPR Interview

[Rita Winston]

No: HPFGUIDX 4818

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Vivienne O'Regan wrote:

> 
> Rowling has struck me as somewhat touchy or dismissive on the
> subject of magic and witchcraft in the real world, though I can't 
> imagine she wasn't aware of Margot's background. Did the subject 
> come up or was just not an issue? (My computer doesn't seem to want
> to play audio).

The part of the interview that was broadcast (I didn't bother to 
listen to the extra part on the Web) sounded so generic that my 
thought while listening to it was that they could have taken tape 
from any other JKR interview and just replaced the other 
interviewer's words with Margot reading the same questions.

Why do you think that JKR must have known of Margot's background when 
being interviewed by Margot? Surely she doesn't check up on all the 
journalists sent to interview her! You might be implying that JKR 
encountered Margot's book (first edition copyrght 1979, long enough 
ago) while researching magic and occultism -- but I haven't seen 
anything in HP or in JKR interviews to make me think that JKR 
RESEARCHED magic or occultism. Wands, pointy hats, broomsticks, 
cauldrons and the like are known from Halloween decorations! Her 
display of knowledge of mythical monsters and the meaning of names 
suggests to me, not deliberate research, but having spent part of her 
childhood reading around in folklore and mythology books. I don't 
think the monsters require more research than reading THE BOOK OF 
WEIRD (which was published as THE GLASS HARMONICA when I was in 
college -- probably 1976). So, it could be that all her research 
was done before Margot's first book came out.