The Phenomenon Harry Potter - The Secret of its success

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature grade: 2 (B) University of Bamberg (Centre for British Studies) course: Introdution to british media and communication science language: English abstract: At the age of six Joanne Kathleen Rowling2 wrote her first short story about arabbit named Rabbit who had the measles and was visited by his friends. Amongstthem was a little bee called Miss Bee.However she never told anyone about her burning ambition3 to become awriter not even Ms Shephard her English teacher at Wyedean Comprehensive School.Ms Shephard was a great influence on young Joanne as she inspired trust4.Shephard's comments on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone meant more to[Joanne Rowling] than any newspaper reviews5.After finishing secondary school and her studies in French and Classics at ExeterUniversity Joanne Rowling started to work as a research asssistant at AmnestyInternational which was a very very interesting place to work6 but at the same time ahuge mistake because Joanne Rowling admits that as a secretary she would beanybody's worst nightmare7.It was during a delayed train journey from Manchester to King's Cross Station inLondon when she was obviously hit by magic. The story about a little orphan namedHarry Potter who has to live with his old-fashioned relatives and finds out that he is awizard came to her mind. And because she had no pen or notebook with her she had tothink it. So Hogwarts - School of Witchcraft and Wizardry came to life in herimagination and as she invented it it felt like research8. It was a question ofdiscovery why Harry was where he was why his parents were dead9. At the end of thejourney she knew it was going to be a seven-book series10. The next five years while she moved to Portugal got married had a baby gotdivorced and moved back to Britain she continued writing the first book of the seriesHarry P