The Bookshelf on JKR's Website and a Request for Help

[ebennet68]

No: HPFGUIDX 127648


> tinglinger:
> I also request for comments from anyone who has read the
> Jane Austen or Dorothy Sayers books to post their comments 
> as to how plot elements from these books parallel the 
> Potter series. 
 

I have read the Austen canon several times over. I'd have to put some 
thought into a more thorough answer but here are a few things:

1. JKR got the name for Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, from the book 
Mansfield Park. She was the aunt to the heroine of the novel, Fanny 
Price, and was terrible to her. Fanny's parents were poor and Mrs. 
Norris persuaded her more wealthy sister and her husband, the 
Bertrams, to take her in. Mrs. Norris didn't exactly die but she 
didn't exactly find a happy ending for herself.

2. Jane Austen is a masterful storyteller, creating phenomenal 
characters and weaving plotlines so effortlessly. Jane only wrote 6 
completed novels in her lifetime. They are still debated and 
discussed at length some 200 years after her death. JKR's style 
mirrors Austen's and I think these novels will follow suit in being 
debated and studied as well.

3. Austen couldn't help but poke fun at society's flaws and 
shortcomings. JKR has done the same thing I believe in her 
presentation of the wizarding world.

4. One last thing for now, all of the heroines had happy endings. 
Could that be the same thing for Harry? We shall see.

Just some random thoughts,
ebennet68 (who gets her yahoo name from Elizabeth Bennet from Pride 
and Prejudice by Jane Austen)