J.K. ROWLING: a theorist of magic?

Article by Sébastien Thill

It is undeniable that the Harry Potter series has revitalized the world of Magic for an entire generation of parents, children, readers, moviegoers, and collectors.

But I believe that its creator, J.K. Rowling herself, has much to teach us about the magician that lies dormant within each of us.

If we start from the premise that Magic is a means of expression, rather than demonstration, it seems essential to search for what we are trying to express, or what we cannot express otherwise.

What are we trying to express, and perhaps repair through it?

Is it about changing how others see us?

How we see ourselves?

1. Magic as a way to fill a void, an absence, a loss.

It is worth noting that J.K. Rowling went through several very difficult periods before the success of Harry Potter. 

She herself spoke about this, notably in her 2008 Harvard commencement speech (a speech that was published and which I strongly encourage you to read, for the value of the experience she shares with us).

The death of her mother: her mother, Anne, died in 1990 when Rowling was 25 years old. She explained that this loss had profoundly affected her life and her writing.

Her entry into adulthood was marked by a failed marriage: after leaving for Portugal, where she taught English, she got married. The marriage ended quickly, and she returned to the United Kingdom with her daughter, Jessica. 

It was in Edinburgh that she raised her daughter alone while simultaneously trying to finish Harry Potter, notably writing in cafés while Jessica slept in her pram. 

2. Our Magic as a means of earning a living? 

This period was also marked by severe financial difficulties: without steady employment and, in her own words, extremely poor, though not homeless. She described this period as being marked by fear, stress, and sometimes depression.

Rowling told Harvard that at around 28 years old, she felt she had "failed" by traditional social standards: her marriage was over, she was unemployed, a single mother, and poor. 

Rejections from publishers: once the manuscript was finished, her agent had to search for about a year before finding a publisher. Several publishing houses had rejected the book. Bloomsbury finally made an offer in 1996, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in June 1997. 

Is our Magic aimed at "earning a living"? At becoming famous? At getting revenge on personal, social, or economic difficulties? 

On the contrary, can financial, economic, or social constraints hinder the development of our magic?

3. Magic as a means of liberation?

Her early career did not align with her parents' ambitions. They wanted her to choose a more secure career path, while she wanted to write novels. 

She eventually studied modern languages and then classics at university, while writing stories. 

What is interesting is that Rowling does not present her journey as a simple story of "going from poverty to wealth". In her Harvard speech, she rather emphasizes that this difficult period forced her to abandon what did not matter to her and devote her energy to writing. 

We find this form of radicalism in Rainer Maria Rilke, in his Letters to a Young Poet, which presents writing as a vital act, the deprivation of which would lead to a kind of death.

4. Magic as a refuge.

The magical world, by embodying an entry into the world of the marvelous, poetry, and enchantment, is undoubtedly a refuge, a protection against a reality that is too difficult, too violent, like a way to return to a kind of golden age (an ideal or idealized childhood) or to create a golden age we have not known and imagine in others?

These few questions allow us to find a foundation stone for our desire to practice the magical Art, to answer the question of "Why?"

5. The identity of our Magician.

It now remains to find an answer to the question of "How?" I believe that J.K. Rowling's work can also allow us to answer this question.

Indeed, when the Wizards arrive at Hogwarts, it is the "Sorting Hat", a kind of magical hat, capable of probing the souls of the arriving wizards, in order to find the "House" that best suits their personality.

The Sorting Hat is a kind of artifact endowed with a "soul" that magically determines which of the four houses of Hogwarts each new student must be sent to. 

As a reminder, these four houses are named: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, each having their own codes, traditions, and crest.

Thus, it is the hidden personality of each wizard that will determine their future magic.

By doing so, the first question that arises for us as magicians is to know who we are and how Magic can become our means of expression?

To help you find the magician within you, I suggest you define the character of your magician by circling 4 personality traits from the following list of adjectives : classic, original, shy, extroverted, imaginative, scientific, logical, emotional, impatient, calm, quick, nervous, clumsy, skillful, friendly, empathetic, authoritative, courageous, dreamy, funny, nostalgic, or any other traits of your character.

Do you have one or more interests that could nourish your Magic? (music, cinema, reading, technology, sports, DIY, board games, singing, mimicry, ventriloquism, drawing, improvisation  etc.)

Using drawings (pictograms, words…), fill in this crest to illustrate the personality traits you have selected.

You can also use it as inspiration to find a stage name, a logo, a title for your show, etc.

But above all, keeping this crest in mind allows us to select the tricks, effects, and props that "suit us" and those that, on the contrary, "do not suit us".

Becoming aware of these different elements will inhabit our Magic with a particular soul, an atmosphere, a universe, a singularity, and that is precisely what will touch our audience, according to the principle that the intimate touches the universal.

But that is another subject, a very broad one, which can be the subject of a future article!