J.K. Rowling: Friend of Jane (and Miss Woodhouse)
The Leaky Cauldron reports that Bloomsbury has published a special edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone that includes two pages of J.K. Rowling discussing her favorite classic, children’s, and contemporary books, as well as her Top 10 list, which include Emma.
Classic
“Emma” by Jane Austen, for the incomparable characterisation, the humour of so much self-delusion and the Churchill/ Fairfax twist.Top 10
“Emma” by Jane Austen
“Chéri” by Colette
“The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield
“Middlemarch” by George Elliot
“Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov
“David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens
“I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith
“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
“The Van” by Roddy Doyle
“Tender is the Night” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
And now we shall discuss two of the Editrix’s pet Harry-meets-Jane theories: one, that Lily and James Potter are Lizzy and Darcy; and two, that Hermione and Ron are Emma and Mr. Knightley with the genders reversed. Discuss. 
January 11th, 2007 at 12:13 am
Oh, I have always thought that James and Lily Potter were Darcy/Elizabeth(in Harry Potter form)…It’s hard to convince others of it though. If you think of it though…Lily hates James at first, James is rather rich, James does something to make Lily marry him, etc etc. Just my thoughts.
January 11th, 2007 at 12:18 am
James does something to make Lily marry him
Yes, and I want to know what it is!!!
(And does that make Snape Wickham? Hmm.)
January 11th, 2007 at 1:02 am
Quite an interesting list. “I Capture the Castle” is one of my favorite books.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:58 am
There’s a story out there which is a re-write of Pride & Prejudice in which Hermione is Elizabeth and Draco is Darcy. It was written before the fifth book, I think…
January 11th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Ron as Emma? I love it! Think of him in the 6th book, snogging Lavender Brown (aka Frank Churchill) all over Hogwarts, and then finally realizing it’s Hermione he loves. And think of Hermione going out with Cormac McLaggen (aka Jane Fairfax) when she’s really in love with Ron.
But if Ron is Emma, then with genders reversed Mrs Weasley is Mr. Woodhouse, hmmmm …. Actually, I kinda like that.
(My Christmas treat to myself was to re-read all 6 HP books, so this is pretty fresh in my mind, sorry.)
January 11th, 2007 at 9:07 am
Bobbie, I think of the very accomplished Viktor Krum as being more of a Jane Fairfax!
January 11th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Yes! Ron and Hermione are Emma/Knightley with switched genders! It’s incredibly obvious. There’s a fanfic in there. If I had the time.
(Of course, don’t tell that to the Harry/Hermione shippers, who have insisted for years that Emma/Knightley are Harry/Hermione–respectively– and that the “big twist” at the end was not the Jane Fairfax/Frank Churchill relationship, but the Emma/Knightley one! Oh, the delusion! Thank you, JKR, for stating the obvious.)
January 11th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
No way Harry will get together with Hermione. They are both too serious. Opposites attract.
Emma and Knightley were not a twist to those who have even the slightest depth or insight.
So does that mean Lizzy and Darcy have a son who saves the world from evil and marries Mr. Knightley’s sister? Oh wait, Mr. Knightley doesn’t have a sister. What’s a character to do? Oh, I know, he can marry a Tilney, or a Brandon.
I’ve never thought of Snape as Wickham, but I’ve got my own theories about him.
January 11th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
does that make Snape Wickham?
Please, God, no! I can’t imagine Lilly having a sort of crush on Snape, even if she is nicer to him than anyone else is.
I’ve also heard the Leia/Han Solo=Hermione/Ron comparisons. The Jane ones are fairly interesting to think about. I would agree that Krum makes a very good Jane Fairfax equivalent, esp. since he’s so quiet.
January 11th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
‘But if Ron is Emma, then with genders reversed Mrs Weasley is Mr. Woodhouse, hmmmm …. Actually, I kinda like that.’
That entire thing makes so much sense! So if Emma and P&P are somehow twisted into Harry Potter, then…hmmm…You cant kill Harry! That’s all Im saying about that.
The Lily-liking-Snape-in-that-way situation just sounds gross. *shudder* He’s so greasy…
January 11th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Lizzy and Darcy’s son marries…Anne Elliot; she who never gave up loving him, even when hope or existence was gone.
*runs from wrathful Harmonians*
January 11th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Well, I have to say this is my favorite thread EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My two favorite obsessions have collided here on AustenBlog. *sigh* Oh yes, that James/Lily = Darcy/Lizzy was immediately obvious to me after OotP - “I wouldn’t go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid . . .” = ” . . . I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.” Snape = Wickham??????? hahahhahahahahahahaha (Although I will bet 10 galleons that Snape was in (unrequited) love with Lily).
Now, Ron=Emma? Hmmmm. That one, I confess, had never occurred to me (I don’t see Ron as the self-satisfied, meddlesome type), but since “Emma” is Jo’s favorite Austen novel, there might be something to the theory.
January 11th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
*ahem*
“I cannot make speeches, Ron:” she soon resumed; and in a tone of such sincere, decided, intelligible tenderness as was tolerably convincing.–”If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am.–You hear nothing but truth from me.–I have blamed you, and lectured you, and you have borne it as no other wizard in England would have borne it.–Bear with the truths I would tell you now, dearest Ron, as well as you have borne with them. The manner, perhaps, may have as little to recommend them. God knows, I have been a very indifferent lover.–But you understand me.–Yes, you see, you understand my feelings–and will return them if you can. At present, I ask only to hear, once to hear your voice.”
Just sayin’.
January 12th, 2007 at 1:07 am
I’ve never read HP. I’ve watched Prisoner of Azkaban. Some of my friends really love HP, and I’ve heard them discuss it, but Ron likes Hermione, and Hermione likes Ron!? Really? That’s great! But who’s there for Harry, if Hermione’s not for him (I’ve sort of imagined they would be good together, but the HP fan[atics] know best)?
January 12th, 2007 at 1:47 am
Oh, yes — Lizzy = Lily and James = Darcy, absolutely. I hadn’t thought about the Emma/Knightley connection, but I can see that too.
Let’s see. Lily dresses James down, he examines his character, finds it lacking, and then what? Befriends Snape? Never. Saves Petunia from ruin? So that means Mr. Dursley is actually Wickham. I’m thinking she didn’t carry it out this far.
Jo’s Austen love is why I pegged a Ginny/Harry pairing from way back. Jo will find a way to get Harry a real family, with Ron as his true brother.
I also think her Jane love will prevent her from killing off Harry in the end, as has been speculated. It seems to me everyone always ends up a little happier than they deserve in Jane’s books.
Snape absolutely loved Lily, IMO. But that doesn’t make him a Wickham, as Wickham only loved, well, Wickham.
Maybe a Col. Fitzwilliam? Nah.
So who are Harry and Ginny? Edmund and Fanny? Harry, as her brother’s best friend, does function as sort of a cousin, and Cho could be his Miss Crawford. Ginny and Fanny hardly seem to be two peas in a pod, though. I suppose Knightley and Emma are taken, Wentworth and Anne don’t really fit, Elizabeth and Darcy are another no go. Elinor and Edward? Marianne and Col. Brandon?
I’m coming up empty here.
January 12th, 2007 at 10:23 am
I think Harry and Ginny and just . . . Harry and Ginny.
(Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!)
And Jo has definitely shut down the Harry/Hermione shippers. It’s Hermione and Ron all the way.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Ew, Snape as the Col? I think, if anything, Snape had a bit of Wickham in him. Oh, and perhaps a bit of Mr.Collins(JKR always described him as greasy!). Though I think Snape is a bit…erm…smarter than Collins.
I hope she doesnt kill Harry. That would depress me for awhile.
January 12th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Here’s a REALLY nit-picky question — if Bloomsbury is the publisher, won’t the title be “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”?
January 12th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Ron and Hermione are Darcy/Lizzy! Gotta love the sparring.
January 12th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
I’ve been saying for a long time that Snape loved Lily. Maybe he’s like a mix between Collins and Wickham?
I know who Harry and Ginny are in Austenland. Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland. Henry did allow Catherine out of an embarrasing situation. Harry did save Ginny from Voldemort. Rather similar don’t you think?
January 13th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Since I have not read any HPs, I am writing to express my very great pleasure in knowing that ‘Emma’ is her top choice
Except that now I want to read and find out if Emma was portrayed correctly as a man - otherwise %&ç*”+.
January 14th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I like the Lily/James Lizzie/Darcy comparision. Very insightful, you can almost answer the question of what James did to change Lily’s mind by thinking about the conversation between Harry, Sirius and Remus in the kitchen in Order of the Phoenix, where they tell him that they had been dumb kids who had grown up. Then all you have to picture James making changes to his life like Darcey did and you have your answer. My own personal theory is that Fanny Price who lived with Mrs. Norris, lived with the family but clearly was not part of the family, lived in an atic (cupboard under the stairs) and a few other simalarities was Grandmother to Harry and that the two story parsonage in Mansfield Park is in fact the Potter’s two story house in Godrick’s Hollow. What do you make of that?
January 14th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
JKR has alway stated that Jane Austen was one of her favourite authors so I can see her puting a little bit of JA in Harry Potter. I love all the theories. I can totally see James/Lily as Darcy/Lizzy. Because Lily disliked James in the beginning and thought of him as arrogant jerk, and he changes and they marry. I dont think Snape is Wickham, I do think Snape cared a great deal for Lily but am not sure wether it was romantic love or not. I see a lot of people here dislike Snape, who is in fact my favourite character (and not because Alan Rickman plays him)I find him fascinating and I think the only interesting character to me because he is such a dark “gray” character, that you never know what he will do. I love his character.I cant really pick a JA character for him. I still belive that Snape is on the good side.
January 15th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Me too Sanela. He’s certainly not handsome or personable enough to be Wicky.
January 27th, 2007 at 8:24 am
I think that Snape is somewhat like the father in MP who attempts to counter his wife’s indulgence with sternness but finds in the end that he needs to love and know his children. Maybe not the romantic angle you have been looking for ?
January 27th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Now, that’s interesting.
I should add (since I’ve been defending Jane Austen on basically the same thing) that I don’t think JKR is consciously copying Jane Austen or even inadvertently doing so. I just see some echoes, and it’s fun to compare and contrast. I don’t mean to say “If Ginny is Anne Elliot that makes Harry Captain Wentworth.” Just that Ginny has some of the same characteristics as Anne.
I also think Snape is the most interesting character in the entire story arc after reading Half-Blood Prince.
January 27th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Am I crazy or does anyone else see a connection between
Churchill/Fairfax and Tonks/Lupin (the genders reversed).