A small change in the American
edition of the first Harry Potter book – from philosopher’s stone to sorcerer’s
stone – robs the British original of an important connection to the history of
human thought. The magic of Harry Potter was designed by author J.K. Rowling to
exist alongside “muggle” science.
The Harry Potter books are works of
science fantasy. Not simply fantasy but fantasy of a special kind, different
from the works of Tolkien, for example. The Lord of the Rings is
set in another world – a world with natural laws, to be sure, but clearly
another world. The Narniabooks begin in this world, but, once
through the cupboard door, we are elsewhere and elsewhen, in a world of lawful
fantasy.
The Harry Potter books are
significantly different from both of these. What J. K. Rowling has done with
extraordinary skill is to bring fantasy into our actual world, so that the two
sets of laws co-exist on the same planet, or, to put it more precisely, so the
laws of magic (which is entirely lawful in Rowling’s formulation) work certain
specific and limited exceptions to the laws of nature as understood by the
muggles who live on an earth which (a) doesn’t believe in magic and (b) thinks
it is the devil’s work. We need not worry too much about the contradiction
between (a) and (b), since the muggles are both positivistic and superstitious,
which strikes me as a very realistic picture of the world we live in and the
people among whom we find ourselves.
In this connection, it is worth
noting that the British edition of the first Harry Potter novel was called Harry
Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – which some American marketing
genius changed into Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, convinced,
no doubt that sorcerers would sell a lot more books than philosophers. But the
original title makes the important connection between the world of Harry Potter
and the world of the alchemists who were the precursors of modern scientific
thinkers.
Consider, for example, the following
words from the English and American editions of the first Harry Potter volume.
They are quoted from “an enormous old book:”
English: The ancient study
of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher’s Stone, a
legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal
into pure gold. . . .
American: The ancient study
of alchemy is concerned with making the Sorcerer’s Stone, a legendary substance
with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. . .
.
There is only one difference between
the two passages, but that one different word makes the first passage true and
the second one false. Or, to put it more circumspectly, that word
“philosopher,” in the English edition, connects the magic stone to the actual
history of human thought in a way that the word “sorcerer” in the American
edition does not. Before the attempt to gain power over nature fragmented, in
the seventeenth century, into the empirical sciences, on the one hand, and
fruitless magic, on the other, the study of alchemy was a kind of magical
science. It was the ancestor of modern chemistry and the physical sciences in
general, which were called “natural philosophy” for some time before being
given their modern names.
What is important here is the way
that magic in the Harry Potter books exists alongside science. It is as if, in
this universe, when science and magic parted company they did not turn into
true and false natural philosophy, but into two true and different visions of
the world. As a character remarks in the fourth novel, muggle science is a
substitute for magic. My point is that J. K. Rowling is writing not fantasy but science fantasy,
and she knows what she is doing. It is a pity her American publisher betrayed
her in this instance by replacing the concept of the philosopher’s stone, and
all its weight of history and meaning, with the empty expression sorcerer’s
stone.
by: Robert Scholes, a professor emeritus of
modern culture and media at Brown University. His observations about
philosophers and sorcerers are drawn from his recent book, The Crafty
Reader (Yale University Press).
Questions:
1. What is the article all about?
2. What relation do Alchemy and the novel "Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone" have?
3. How long do Alchemy exist?
4. How do J. K. Rowling made the her novel attractive to both young and adult readers?
5. How science and fantasy exists to the novel according to the author?
`Now I've got an answer Ate Argie. I was also confused about the real title of Ms.J.K. Rowling's book. Glad you post something about it. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Janna
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