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English Learning for Curious Minds, Episode 262: The Battle to Publish Harry Potter [1]

Episode 262: The Battle to Publish Harry Potter [1]

Hello, hello hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English.

The show where you can listen to fascinating stories, and learn weird and

wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English.

I'm Alastair Budge, and today we are going to be talking

about JK Rowling & The Battle To Publish Harry Potter.

It's a story of magic and mystery, misery and hope, a story of loss, of perseverance,

and ultimately, how fairytale endings aren't always what you might think.

And I'm not talking about the Harry Potter books, but rather the story of what it

took to publish these books, the story of the creator of Harry Potter, JK Rowling.

OK then, JK Rowling & The Battle To Publish Harry Potter

On June the 26th of 1997, if you were to walk into a bookshop in the UK and head to the

children's section, if you looked carefully you might see a book with a dark red cover.

There was a drawing on the front of a train with the words “Hogwarts

Express”, and a confused looking boy with large round glasses and floppy hair.

The title of the book was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Although you wouldn't have known it, this book would go on to change the world

and turn its writer, JK Rowling, into the best selling author in history.

The journey getting there, however, was far from simple.

Joanne Rowling, or JK as she is known in the books, was born on July 31st

of 1965, the same day of the year as her most famous creation, Harry Potter.

She was the first born child, and her parents were far from happy that they had had a daughter.

They had hoped for a son, and proceeded to treat young Joanne like a young boy,

dressing her up in boy's clothes and keeping her hair short, even after the

birth of her younger sister.

She grew up in a village in south west England, she

lived a middle class life, not completely unlike Harry's.

From an early age she was obsessed with books, and had even

written her first short story when she was six years old.

Tragedy struck the young Joanne when her mother was diagnosed with multiple

sclerosis, a devastating disease of the spinal cord and nervous system.

Joanne was only 15 years old.

Like many teenagers, she sought escapism in everything from fantasy to music, but was by no means

a badly behaved teenager - indeed, she was head girl at her school, and went on to study French

& Classics at Exeter University, a prestigious university on the south west coast of England.

After graduating, as she spoke French, she used her language skills to pick up a job as

a bilingual secretary, but her true passion, her real dream, was to become an author.

She had written some stories, but by her own admission, they weren't very good.

It was to be in the summer of 1990, on a delayed train from King's Cross

Station in London to Manchester that she was hit by a flash of light, a

flash of inspiration, for the story that would change her life forever.

All of a sudden this vision came to her in incredible

detail about this boy and the magical world he lives in.

Now, if you've read Harry Potter or seen the films, you'll know what I'm talking about.

But even if you haven't, you probably have some kind of idea.

Rowling started developing this idea of Harry and the world he lived in, imagining his friends,

teachers, enemies, the magical spells, everything that would later become part of the books.

The only problem was that Rowling had brought nothing with her

on the train - not a pen, nor a piece of paper to write with.

Once she returned to her flat in Clapham Junction in London, where she was

living at the time, she began writing everything down as quickly as she

could, a process which would continue pretty much for the next 17 years.

During all this time, however, her mother's condition

was getting worse and she died at the end of 1990.

Rowling had never told her mother about what she was working on.

Filled with grief and at a loss for what to do, she moved

to Porto, in Portugal, and took a job as an English teacher.

Now, an English teacher is of course an incredibly valuable profession,

and no doubt Rowling was able to help people improve their English.

But it wasn't her calling, it wasn't what she felt she was destined to do.

All the time, she had this burning idea for Harry building inside her.

On a personal level, she met and married a Portuguese

journalist, and they had a child together, Jessica.

But it was not a happy marriage.

Her husband was abusive, and the relationship ended with

Rowling fleeing back to the UK with her infant daughter in tow.

She moved to Scotland, to Edinburgh, to be precise, where her younger sister was living.

Picture this situation for a minute.

Joanne Rowling is 28 years old with a small child, she has

no job and no income, and is reliant on social support.

Yet deep inside her she knows that she has this magical story that the world needs to hear.

By this time she had already written most of the first Harry Potter book, and indeed

she had also written the last chapter of the very last book of the series as a way to

inspire her to not give up hope, that she had this huge task that needed to be done.

Now, as anyone who has had a young baby knows, finding some quiet time alone to do

anything is pretty tough, so Rowling would push her daughter around in her pram until

she fell asleep, then she would go to a café to continue working on Harry Potter.

By 1995 the first book was complete.

It was unlike other children's literature at the time,

as it was filled with dark, complicated material.

Harry is an orphan, his parents are dead.

He is different, he has near misses with death.

There are people who betray him, his friends even.

There is a huge amount of detail in the books, from the names

and recipes for magic spells through to prices of goods in shops.

It's also pretty long, at 223 pages.

So, when Rowling tried to send it out to publishers, as you may well

know, it was not immediately snapped up, it wasn't an immediate hit.

In fact, the first 12 publishers she sent it to rejected it.

It was too long, it was full of too much detail, it was too dark for children, it was set in

a boarding school, which is a type of school that only a tiny proportion of children go to.

The publishers, who were of course adults, and not the target reader, simply didn't understand.

One publishing house, however, did.

It was called Bloomsbury.

But had it not been for the daughter of one of the publishers, a man

called Nigel Newton, perhaps Bloomsbury too would have rejected the book.

Rowling's agent, a man named Christopher Little, had

taken a sample of the book to Bloomsbury's offices.

The head of Bloomsbury Publishing, Nigel Newton, didn't read the sample,

instead taking it home and giving it to his 8-year-old daughter, Alice.

Alice, so the story goes, took the book upstairs, and returned an

hour later saying “Dad, this is so much better than anything else.”

Newton agreed to publish it, and paid Rowling a £2,500 advance.

£2,500 is about €5,000 in today's money.

Not so bad, perhaps, but a tiny amount compared to how much work had gone into

it and certainly tiny compared to how much of an impact the books would have.

It was enough to pay for rent and nappies for a few months, but

certainly not enough to provide a large financial cushion for Rowling.

Indeed, one of the publishers from Bloomsbury, a man named Barry Cunningham, later

said in an interview that he was worried about Rowling's ability to continue to

support herself, as she was a young mother without a job, living on benefits.

He told her she would never make any money from publishing

children's books, and even encouraged her to get a day job.

It might seem ridiculous now, but at the time it was very rare

for children's authors to make enough money to support themselves.

Obviously, this wouldn't be the case with Joanne Rowling.

As you will know, the book wasn't published under the name Joanne Rowling, as the

publishers thought young boys wouldn't want to read a book written by a female author.

So, Joanne chose the gender-neutral initials, JK, with

K coming from her paternal grandmother's name, Kathleen.

When the book was eventually published, in June of 1997, there

was no great fanfare, no great celebration across the country.

It was a children's book like any other children's book.

But sure enough, as kids across the country began to pick it up and

news began to spread, more and more copies were sold every week.

Without any real marketing behind it, the book was becoming a sensation.

It was simply so good that kids told other kids, parents

told other parents, and everyone wanted to read it.

If you are my sort of age, perhaps you can relate to this.

I was just 10 years old when the first book came out, and I can remember

being completely captivated by it and everyone talking about it.

Of course, I knew nothing about the woman behind the book and the

struggles that she had gone through to publish it, but when you know about

JK Rowling, a lot more of the Harry Potter books start to make sense.

For example, King's Cross Station plays an important role in the

books, as that's where the train leaves from to go to Hogwarts.

It is a real train station in London, and it was the place where Rowling first

had the idea for the books, and it was also the place where her parents first met.

Rowling had a deeply loving relationship with her mother.

She never told her mother about Harry Potter, and has publicly spoken about how much she regretted

not doing this, and how much she wished she had more time with her mother before she died.

If you've read the books, you'll remember that this sense of loss is something that

Harry feels throughout, and he has frequent dreams and visions about his dead parents.

And Rowling had a deeply troubled relationship with her father.

From a young age, Rowling always felt that she had disappointed him, first by being a daughter,

not a son, and it seemed that nothing she could do would get his approval or make him happy.

Furthermore, her father remarried soon after his wife's death, to his secretary no less,

which Rowling found distressing, and she cut out her father completely from her life.

Again, if you remember the story of Harry Potter, there is the

constant theme of a search for a father figure, of someone who will

fill the gap left in Harry's life after the death of his own father.

And especially compared to other children's fiction the Harry Potter stories are dark and bleak.

People die.

There is danger throughout.

A lot of it just isn't very happy.

When you know what JK Rowling went through as she was writing the stories, from

the abusive relationship with her first husband through to the prolonged multiple

sclerosis and death of her adored mother, then struggling to make ends meet with a

young daughter, well it seems perfectly understandable that there is a lot of darkness.

Indeed, she once spoke about the deep depression that she felt when she was

in Edinburgh writing the first book, describing it as being “characterised by

a numbness, a coldness and an inability to believe you will feel happy again.

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Episode 262: The Battle to Publish Harry Potter [1] Эпизод(1)||Битва||опубликовать|| Folge 262: Der Kampf um die Veröffentlichung von Harry Potter [1] Episode 262: The Battle to Publish Harry Potter [1] Episodio 262: La batalla por publicar Harry Potter [1] Épisode 262 : La bataille pour la publication de Harry Potter [1] Episodio 262: La battaglia per pubblicare Harry Potter [1] 第262話ハリー・ポッター出版をめぐる戦い [1] 에피소드 262: 해리 포터 출판을 위한 전투 [1] Odcinek 262: Bitwa o publikację Harry'ego Pottera [1] Episódio 262: A batalha para publicar Harry Potter [1] Эпизод 262: Битва за публикацию Гарри Поттера [1] 262. Bölüm Harry Potter'ı Yayımlama Savaşı [1] Епізод 262: Битва за видання "Гаррі Поттера" [1]. 第262集:哈利·波特出版之战[1] 第262集:出版哈利波特之戰[1]

Hello, hello hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English. Greetings|||and|||||||||| Hallo, hallo, hallo und willkommen bei Englisch lernen für Neugierige, von Leonardo English.

The show where you can listen to fascinating stories, and learn weird and Die Show, in der Sie faszinierende Geschichten hören und seltsame und

wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English. wunderbare Dinge über die Welt zu erfahren und dabei gleichzeitig Ihr Englisch zu verbessern.

I'm Alastair Budge, and today we are going to be talking

about JK Rowling & The Battle To Publish Harry Potter.

It's a story of magic and mystery, misery and hope, a story of loss, of perseverance, |||||||nieszczęście|||||||| Es ist eine Geschichte voller Magie und Geheimnisse, Elend und Hoffnung, eine Geschichte über Verlust und Beharrlichkeit,

and ultimately, how fairytale endings aren't always what you might think. |||fairytale||||||| und schließlich, dass Märchen nicht immer so enden, wie man es sich vielleicht vorstellt. y, en última instancia, cómo los finales de cuento de hadas no siempre son lo que uno cree.

And I'm not talking about the Harry Potter books, but rather the story of what it ||||||||||antes||||| Y no me refiero a los libros de Harry Potter, sino a la historia de lo que

took to publish these books, the story of the creator of Harry Potter, JK Rowling.

OK then, JK Rowling & The Battle To Publish Harry Potter ||JK Rowling|Rowling|||||| JK Rowling y la batalla por publicar Harry Potter

On June the 26th of 1997, if you were to walk into a bookshop in the UK and head to the El 26 de junio de 1997, si entrabas en una librería del Reino Unido y te dirigías al Ak by ste 26. júna 1997 vošli do kníhkupectva vo Veľkej Británii a zamierili do

children's section, if you looked carefully you might see a book with a dark red cover. sección infantil, si miraba con atención podría ver un libro con la cubierta de color rojo oscuro. Ak by ste sa pozorne pozreli, možno by ste uvideli knihu s tmavočerveným obalom.

There was a drawing on the front of a train with the words “Hogwarts Había un dibujo en la parte delantera de un tren con las palabras "Hogwarts Na prednej strane vlaku bola kresba s nápisom "Hogwarts

Express”, and a confused looking boy with large round glasses and floppy hair. |||||||||||floppy| |||||||||||desgrenhado| |||||||||||opadające włosy| Express", y un chico de aspecto confuso con grandes gafas redondas y el pelo alborotado. Express" a zmätený chlapec s veľkými okrúhlymi okuliarmi a strapatými vlasmi. Express" ve büyük yuvarlak gözlüklü ve sarkık saçlı şaşkın görünümlü bir çocuk.

The title of the book was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. ||||||||||Filozofa| Kniha sa volala Harry Potter a Kameň mudrcov.

Although you wouldn't have known it, this book would go on to change the world Aunque no lo hubieras sabido, este libro cambiaría el mundo Hoci by ste to nevedeli, táto kniha neskôr zmenila svet Siz bunu bilmeseniz de, bu kitap dünyayı değiştirmeye devam edecekti

and turn its writer, JK Rowling, into the best selling author in history. y convertir a su escritora, JK Rowling, en la autora más vendida de la historia. a z jej autorky JK Rowlingovej sa stala najpredávanejšia autorka v histórii.

The journey getting there, however, was far from simple. Sin embargo, el camino hasta llegar allí no fue nada sencillo. Путь туда, однако, был далеко не простым. Cesta k nemu však nebola vôbec jednoduchá.

Joanne Rowling, or JK as she is known in the books, was born on July 31st Joanne Rowling urodziła||||||||||||||| Joanne Rowling, o JK como se la conoce en los libros, nació el 31 de julio.

of 1965, the same day of the year as her most famous creation, Harry Potter. de 1965, el mismo día del año que su creación más famosa, Harry Potter.

She was the first born child, and her parents were far from happy that they had had a daughter. Era la primogénita y sus padres no estaban nada contentos de haber tenido una hija. Ela foi a primogênita e seus pais não estavam nem um pouco felizes por terem tido uma filha.

They had hoped for a son, and proceeded to treat young Joanne like a young boy, Esperaban un hijo y trataron a la joven Juana como a un niño,

dressing her up in boy's clothes and keeping her hair short, even after the

birth of her younger sister.

She grew up in a village in south west England, she

lived a middle class life, not completely unlike Harry's. |||||||like| |||||||diferente| vivía una vida de clase media, no muy diferente a la de Harry. ハリーとまったく変わらない中流階級の生活を送っていた。 жил жизнью среднего класса, мало чем отличающейся от жизни Гарри. žil životom strednej triedy, nie úplne odlišným od Harryho.

From an early age she was obsessed with books, and had even Desde muy pequeña estaba obsesionada con los libros, e incluso había 彼女は幼い頃から本に夢中で、その頃から、「本を読むのが好きだった」という。

written her first short story when she was six years old. escribió su primer cuento a los seis años.

Tragedy struck the young Joanne when her mother was diagnosed with multiple |struck|||||||||| Tragédia zasiahla mladú Joanne, keď jej matke diagnostikovali viacnásobnú

sclerosis, a devastating disease of the spinal cord and nervous system. skleróza, zničujúce ochorenie miechy a nervového systému.

Joanne was only 15 years old.

Like many teenagers, she sought escapism in everything from fantasy to music, but was by no means ||||sought|||||||||||| |||||kaçış||||||||||| |||||ucieczki od rzeczywistości||||||||||| ||||buscava|||||||||||| Как и многие подростки, она искала эскапизма во всем, от фэнтези до музыки, но ни в коем случае не Ako mnohí tínedžeri, aj ona hľadala únik vo všetkom od fantázie po hudbu, ale v žiadnom prípade nebola

a badly behaved teenager - indeed, she was head girl at her school, and went on to study French una adolescente maleducada; de hecho, fue directora de su escuela y estudió francés. плохо воспитанный подросток - действительно, она была старостой в своей школе и продолжала изучать французский язык nevychovaná tínedžerka - v skutočnosti bola riaditeľkou školy a pokračovala v štúdiu francúzštiny

& Classics at Exeter University, a prestigious university on the south west coast of England. |||||prestijli|||||||| ||Exeter||||||||||| & Classics na Exeter University, prestížnej univerzite na juhozápadnom pobreží Anglicka.

After graduating, as she spoke French, she used her language skills to pick up a job as

a bilingual secretary, but her true passion, her real dream, was to become an author. dvojjazyčná sekretárka, ale jej skutočnou vášňou, jej skutočným snom bolo stať sa spisovateľkou.

She had written some stories, but by her own admission, they weren't very good. |||||||||kabulü|||| |||||||||przyznanie się|||| Había escrito algunas historias, pero, como ella misma reconoce, no eran muy buenas. Napísala niekoľko poviedok, ale ako sama priznala, neboli veľmi dobré. 她写过一些故事,但她自己也承认,这些故事并不是很好。

It was to be in the summer of 1990, on a delayed train from King's Cross Sería en el verano de 1990, en un tren retrasado desde King's Cross Malo to byť v lete 1990, v meškajúcom vlaku z King's Cross

Station in London to Manchester that she was hit by a flash of light, a Estación de Londres a Manchester que fue golpeada por un destello de luz, un Stanica v Londýne do Manchestru, že bola zasiahnutá zábleskom svetla, a

flash of inspiration, for the story that would change her life forever.

All of a sudden this vision came to her in incredible De repente esta visión vino a ella en increíble

detail about this boy and the magical world he lives in.

Now, if you've read Harry Potter or seen the films, you'll know what I'm talking about.

But even if you haven't, you probably have some kind of idea. Pero incluso si no lo ha hecho, probablemente tenga alguna idea.

Rowling started developing this idea of Harry and the world he lived in, imagining his friends, Rowling empezó a desarrollar esta idea de Harry y del mundo en el que vivía, imaginando a sus amigos,

teachers, enemies, the magical spells, everything that would later become part of the books. ||||spells||||||||| los profesores, los enemigos, los hechizos mágicos, todo lo que luego formaría parte de los libros.

The only problem was that Rowling had brought nothing with her El único problema era que Rowling no había traído nada con ella...

on the train - not a pen, nor a piece of paper to write with.

Once she returned to her flat in Clapham Junction in London, where she was Una vez regresó a su piso de Clapham Junction en Londres, donde estaba

living at the time, she began writing everything down as quickly as she que vivía en ese momento, empezó a escribirlo todo tan rápido como podía.

could, a process which would continue pretty much for the next 17 years. un proceso que continuaría prácticamente durante los 17 años siguientes. このプロセスはその後17年間も続くことになる。

During all this time, however, her mother's condition

was getting worse and she died at the end of 1990. empeoraba y murió a finales de 1990.

Rowling had never told her mother about what she was working on. Rowling||||||||||| Rowling nunca le había contado a su madre en qué estaba trabajando.

Filled with grief and at a loss for what to do, she moved ||grief|||||||||| ||cheia de pesar|||||||||| Llena de dolor y sin saber qué hacer, se trasladó a Наполненная горем и не зная, что делать, она двинулась

to Porto, in Portugal, and took a job as an English teacher.

Now, an English teacher is of course an incredibly valuable profession, Ahora bien, un profesor de inglés es, por supuesto, una profesión increíblemente valiosa,

and no doubt Rowling was able to help people improve their English. y sin duda Rowling pudo ayudar a la gente a mejorar su inglés.

But it wasn't her calling, it wasn't what she felt she was destined to do. Pero no era su vocación, no era a lo que se sentía destinada.

All the time, she had this burning idea for Harry building inside her. Todo el tiempo, ella tenía esta idea ardiente para Harry construyendo dentro de ella. 彼女はずっと、ハリーへの熱い思いを胸に秘めていた。

On a personal level, she met and married a Portuguese En el plano personal, conoció a un portugués y se casó con él.

journalist, and they had a child together, Jessica.

But it was not a happy marriage. Pero no fue un matrimonio feliz.

Her husband was abusive, and the relationship ended with |||abusive|||||

Rowling fleeing back to the UK with her infant daughter in tow. |fleeing||||||||||tow |fugindo|||||||filha recém-nascida|||a reboque Rowling huyendo de vuelta al Reino Unido con su hija pequeña a cuestas. Роулинг возвращается в Великобританию с маленькой дочерью на буксире. Rowling, bebek kızıyla birlikte İngiltere'ye geri kaçıyor.

She moved to Scotland, to Edinburgh, to be precise, where her younger sister was living. Se trasladó a Escocia, concretamente a Edimburgo, donde vivía su hermana menor. Küçük kız kardeşinin yaşadığı İskoçya'nın, tam olarak Edinburgh'a taşındı.

Picture this situation for a minute. Imagem||||| Imagínate esta situación por un minuto. この状況をちょっと思い浮かべてほしい。 Bu durumu bir dakika hayal edin.

Joanne Rowling is 28 years old with a small child, she has

no job and no income, and is reliant on social support. |||||||dependent||| no tiene trabajo ni ingresos, y depende de la ayuda social.

Yet deep inside her she knows that she has this magical story that the world needs to hear. Sin embargo, en su fuero interno sabe que tiene una historia mágica que el mundo necesita escuchar. しかし、彼女の心の奥底には、世界が耳を傾けるべき不思議な物語があることを知っている。

By this time she had already written most of the first Harry Potter book, and indeed |||||||||||||||in fact Para entonces ya había escrito la mayor parte del primer libro de Harry Potter, y de hecho

she had also written the last chapter of the very last book of the series as a way to también había escrito el último capítulo del último libro de la serie como una forma de ela também havia escrito o último capítulo do último livro da série como uma forma de

inspire her to not give up hope, that she had this huge task that needed to be done. inspirarla para que no perdiera la esperanza, que tenía esta enorme tarea por hacer. inspirá-la a não perder a esperança, que ela tinha essa tarefa enorme que precisava ser feita.

Now, as anyone who has had a young baby knows, finding some quiet time alone to do Ahora bien, como sabe cualquiera que haya tenido un bebé pequeño, encontrar un rato tranquilo a solas para hacer

anything is pretty tough, so Rowling would push her daughter around in her pram until |||||||||||||pram| |||||||||||||bebek arabası| |||difícil||||||||||carrinho de bebê| cualquier cosa es bastante dura, así que Rowling empujaba a su hija en su cochecito hasta que все довольно сложно, поэтому Роулинг возила свою дочь в коляске до тех пор, пока

she fell asleep, then she would go to a café to continue working on Harry Potter. se quedaba dormida, luego iba a un café para seguir trabajando en Harry Potter.

By 1995 the first book was complete.

It was unlike other children's literature at the time, ||diferente de|||||| No se parecía a ninguna otra literatura infantil de la época,

as it was filled with dark, complicated material. ya que estaba lleno de material oscuro y complicado.

Harry is an orphan, his parents are dead.

He is different, he has near misses with death. Ele é diferente, tem quase acidentes com a morte. Он не такой, как все, у него случаются близкие встречи со смертью. 他却不同,他曾与死神擦肩而过。

There are people who betray him, his friends even. ||||betray||||

There is a huge amount of detail in the books, from the names

and recipes for magic spells through to prices of goods in shops. |recipes|||||||||| y recetas de hechizos mágicos hasta los precios de los productos en las tiendas. от рецептов магических заклинаний до цен на товары в магазинах.

It's also pretty long, at 223 pages.

So, when Rowling tried to send it out to publishers, as you may well Así que, cuando Rowling trató de enviarlo a las editoriales, como usted bien puede

know, it was not immediately snapped up, it wasn't an immediate hit. |||||snapped|||||| |||||aproveitado|||||| No fue un éxito inmediato. Знайте, його не відразу розхопили, це не був миттєвий хіт.

In fact, the first 12 publishers she sent it to rejected it. De hecho, las 12 primeras editoriales a las que lo envió lo rechazaron.

It was too long, it was full of too much detail, it was too dark for children, it was set in Era demasiado larga, estaba llena de demasiados detalles, era demasiado oscura para los niños, estaba ambientada en 長すぎるし、細かすぎるし、子供向けには暗すぎるし、舞台は

a boarding school, which is a type of school that only a tiny proportion of children go to. un internado, que es un tipo de escuela a la que sólo acude una ínfima proporción de niños. 全寮制の学校は、ごく一部の子供たちだけが通うタイプの学校である。 школа-интернат, которая является типом школы, в которую ходит лишь небольшая часть детей.

The publishers, who were of course adults, and not the target reader, simply didn't understand. Los editores, que por supuesto eran adultos y no el lector objetivo, simplemente no lo entendían.

One publishing house, however, did. Sin embargo, una editorial sí lo hizo.

It was called Bloomsbury. Se llamaba Bloomsbury.

But had it not been for the daughter of one of the publishers, a man Pero si no hubiera sido por la hija de uno de los editores, un hombre しかし、もしある出版社の娘がいなければ、その出版社の社長は、次のように語っている。 Mas se não fosse pela filha de um dos editores, um homem Но если бы не дочь одного из издателей, мужчина Але якби не дочка одного з видавців, чоловік 但如果不是因为一位出版商的女儿,一个男人

called Nigel Newton, perhaps Bloomsbury too would have rejected the book. chamado Nigel Newton, talvez Bloomsbury também tivesse rejeitado o livro. назвав Найджела Ньютона, можливо, Блумсбері теж відкинув би книгу.

Rowling's agent, a man named Christopher Little, had

taken a sample of the book to Bloomsbury's offices. llevó una muestra del libro a las oficinas de Bloomsbury.

The head of Bloomsbury Publishing, Nigel Newton, didn't read the sample,

instead taking it home and giving it to his 8-year-old daughter, Alice. en vez de llevárselo a casa y dárselo a su hija de 8 años, Alice.

Alice, so the story goes, took the book upstairs, and returned an

hour later saying “Dad, this is so much better than anything else.” hora después diciendo "Papá, esto es mucho mejor que cualquier otra cosa".

Newton agreed to publish it, and paid Rowling a £2,500 advance. ニュートンは出版に同意し、ローリングに2500ポンドの前金を支払った。

£2,500 is about €5,000 in today's money. 2,500ポンドは現在のお金で約5,000ユーロだ。

Not so bad, perhaps, but a tiny amount compared to how much work had gone into No está tan mal, tal vez, pero es una cantidad ínfima comparada con el trabajo que ha costado... それほど悪くはないだろうが、そのために費やした労力に比べれば微々たるものだ。

it and certainly tiny compared to how much of an impact the books would have. y ciertamente minúsculo comparado con el impacto que tendrían los libros. 本が与える影響に比べれば微々たるものだ。 это и, конечно, ничтожно мало по сравнению с тем, какое влияние оказали бы книги.

It was enough to pay for rent and nappies for a few months, but ||||||||diapers||||| ||||||||bebek bezi||||| 数カ月分の家賃とおむつ代には十分だった。

certainly not enough to provide a large financial cushion for Rowling. ||||||||colchão|| ciertamente no lo suficiente como para proporcionar un gran colchón financiero a Rowling. 確かに、ローリングに大きな経済的余裕を与えるほどではない。

Indeed, one of the publishers from Bloomsbury, a man named Barry Cunningham, later 実際、ブルームズベリーの出版社の一人であるバリー・カニンガムという人物は、後にこう語っている。

said in an interview that he was worried about Rowling's ability to continue to dijo en una entrevista que le preocupaba la capacidad de Rowling para seguir を続けられるか心配しているとインタビューで語った。

support herself, as she was a young mother without a job, living on benefits. para mantenerse a sí misma, ya que era una madre joven sin trabajo que vivía de subsidios. 彼女は若い母親で仕事もなく、給付金で生活していた。 обеспечивать себя, так как была молодой матерью без работы, живущей на пособие.

He told her she would never make any money from publishing Le dijo que nunca ganaría dinero publicando... 彼は彼女に、出版でお金を稼ぐことはできないと言った。

children's books, and even encouraged her to get a day job. ||||encouraged|||||| libros infantiles, e incluso la animó a buscarse un trabajo. 子供向けの本を書いたり、日雇いの仕事をするように勧めたりもした。 детские книги и даже поощрял ее устроиться на постоянную работу.

It might seem ridiculous now, but at the time it was very rare 今ではばかばかしいと思うかもしれないが、当時はとても珍しいことだった。

for children's authors to make enough money to support themselves. 児童文学作家が自活できるだけの収入を得るために。

Obviously, this wouldn't be the case with Joanne Rowling. |||||||Joanne| 明らかに、ジョアン・ローリングの場合はそうではないだろう。

As you will know, the book wasn't published under the name Joanne Rowling, as the ご存知のように、この本はジョアン・ローリング名義では出版されていない。

publishers thought young boys wouldn't want to read a book written by a female author. 出版社は、若い男の子は女性作家の本を読みたがらないだろうと思っていた。

So, Joanne chose the gender-neutral initials, JK, with そこでジョアンは、性別にとらわれないイニシャル、JKを選んだ。

K coming from her paternal grandmother's name, Kathleen. Kは父方の祖母の名前、キャスリーンに由来する。

When the book was eventually published, in June of 1997, there 最終的にこの本が出版された1997年6月、そこにはこう書かれていた。

was no great fanfare, no great celebration across the country. |||celebration|||||| |||tören|||||| |||não houve grande fanfarra, nenhuma grande celebração em todo o país.|||||| no hubo grandes fanfarrias, ni grandes celebraciones en todo el país. 国中が大騒ぎしたわけでも、盛大に祝ったわけでもない。

It was a children's book like any other children's book. Era un libro infantil como cualquier otro libro infantil. それは他の子供向けの本と同じだった。

But sure enough, as kids across the country began to pick it up and Pero lo cierto es que, a medida que los niños de todo el país comenzaron a recogerlo y しかし案の定、国中の子供たちが手に取り始めた。

news began to spread, more and more copies were sold every week. このニュースは広まり始め、毎週多くの本が売れた。

Without any real marketing behind it, the book was becoming a sensation. Sin un verdadero marketing detrás, el libro se estaba convirtiendo en una sensación. 本格的なマーケティングもないまま、この本はセンセーションを巻き起こした。

It was simply so good that kids told other kids, parents Era tan bueno que los niños se lo contaban a otros niños, a los padres... 子供たちが他の子供たちや親たちに話したほどだ。

told other parents, and everyone wanted to read it. 他の親たちにも話したら、みんな読みたがった。

If you are my sort of age, perhaps you can relate to this. Si tienes mi edad, quizá te sientas identificado. 私と同じような年代の方なら、もしかしたら共感していただけるかもしれない。 Если вы моего возраста, возможно, вы можете относиться к этому.

I was just 10 years old when the first book came out, and I can remember Sólo tenía 10 años cuando salió el primer libro, y puedo recordar 最初の本が出たとき、私はまだ10歳だった。

being completely captivated by it and everyone talking about it. ||captivated||||||| ||büyülenmiş||||||| estar completamente cautivado por ella y que todo el mundo hablara de ella. みんなその話に夢中になっている。

Of course, I knew nothing about the woman behind the book and the もちろん、私はこの本の背後にいる女性について何も知らなかった。

struggles that she had gone through to publish it, but when you know about luchas que había pasado para publicarlo, pero cuando sabes de 彼女がこの本を出版するために苦労したことを知れば、その苦労は報われるはずだ。

JK Rowling, a lot more of the Harry Potter books start to make sense. JK Rowling, muchos más de los libros de Harry Potter empiezan a tener sentido. JKローリング、ハリー・ポッターの本がもっと理解できるようになった。

For example, King's Cross Station plays an important role in the Por ejemplo, la estación de King's Cross desempeña un papel importante en la 例えば、キングス・クロス駅は、この街で重要な役割を果たしている。

books, as that's where the train leaves from to go to Hogwarts. libros, ya que es de donde sale el tren para ir a Hogwarts. ホグワーツに行くための汽車が出発する場所だからだ。

It is a real train station in London, and it was the place where Rowling first この駅はロンドンに実在する駅であり、ローリングが最初に訪れた場所でもある。

had the idea for the books, and it was also the place where her parents first met. その場所は、彼女の両親が初めて出会った場所でもある。

Rowling had a deeply loving relationship with her mother. ローリングは母親と深い愛情関係にあった。

She never told her mother about Harry Potter, and has publicly spoken about how much she regretted ||||||||||||||||regretted 彼女は母親にハリー・ポッターのことを話しておらず、どれほど後悔しているかを公の場で語っている。

not doing this, and how much she wished she had more time with her mother before she died. 母が亡くなる前にもっと一緒にいたかった。

If you've read the books, you'll remember that this sense of loss is something that Si ha leído los libros, recordará que esta sensación de pérdida es algo que 本を読んだことがある人なら、この喪失感が

Harry feels throughout, and he has frequent dreams and visions about his dead parents. Harry se siente en todo momento, y tiene frecuentes sueños y visiones sobre sus padres muertos. ハリーはずっと感じていて、死んだ両親の夢や幻を頻繁に見る。

And Rowling had a deeply troubled relationship with her father. そして、ローリングは父親との関係に深い悩みを抱えていた。

From a young age, Rowling always felt that she had disappointed him, first by being a daughter, Desde muy joven, Rowling siempre sintió que le había decepcionado, primero por ser hija, ローリングは若い頃から、まず娘であることで彼を失望させてしまったと常に感じていた、

not a son, and it seemed that nothing she could do would get his approval or make him happy. no un hijo, y parecía que nada de lo que hiciera conseguiría su aprobación o le haría feliz. 何をやっても息子には認めてもらえず、幸せにもしてもらえないようだった。

Furthermore, her father remarried soon after his wife's death, to his secretary no less, ayrıca|||evlendi|||||||||| Además, su padre volvió a casarse poco después de la muerte de su esposa, nada menos que con su secretaria, しかも父親は妻の死後すぐに再婚し、しかもその相手は秘書だった、

which Rowling found distressing, and she cut out her father completely from her life. |||distressing|||||||||| |||rahatsız edici|||||||||| que Rowling encontró angustiosa, y apartó a su padre completamente de su vida. ローリングはそれを苦痛に感じ、父親を自分の人生から完全に切り離した。

Again, if you remember the story of Harry Potter, there is the ハリー・ポッターの物語を思い出してほしい。

constant theme of a search for a father figure, of someone who will ||||em|||||||| 父親代わりとなる人物を探し求めるという不変のテーマがある。

fill the gap left in Harry's life after the death of his own father. llenar el vacío dejado en la vida de Harry tras la muerte de su propio padre. 実父の死後、ハリーの人生に残された空白を埋めるために。

And especially compared to other children's fiction the Harry Potter stories are dark and bleak. ||||||||||||||bleak ||||||||||||||sombrio Y, especialmente en comparación con otras obras de ficción infantil, las historias de Harry Potter son oscuras y sombrías. 特に他の児童小説と比べると、ハリー・ポッターの物語は暗くて殺伐としている。 И особенно по сравнению с другими произведениями для детей, истории о Гарри Поттере мрачны и мрачны.

People die. 人は死ぬ。

There is danger throughout. Hay peligro en todas partes. 至るところに危険がある。 Во всем есть опасность.

A lot of it just isn't very happy. Muchos de ellos no son muy felices. その多くはあまりハッピーではないんだ。

When you know what JK Rowling went through as she was writing the stories, from Cuando sabes por lo que pasó JK Rowling mientras escribía las historias, de JKローリングが物語を執筆する際に経験したことを知れば、その経験も理解できるだろう。

the abusive relationship with her first husband through to the prolonged multiple |abusive|||||||||| ||||onun||||||| 最初の夫との虐待関係から、長期にわたる複数の夫との関係まで。

sclerosis and death of her adored mother, then struggling to make ends meet with a esclerosis y la muerte de su adorada madre, y luego luchando por llegar a fin de mes con un 硬化症と敬愛する母の死を経験し、その後、家計のやりくりに奔走した。 esclerose e morte de sua adorada mãe, então lutando para sobreviver com uma склероз и смерть ее обожаемой матери, а затем изо всех сил пыталась свести концы с концами с

young daughter, well it seems perfectly understandable that there is a lot of darkness. hija pequeña, pues parece perfectamente comprensible que haya mucha oscuridad. 幼い娘、まあ、闇が多いのはよく理解できる。

Indeed, she once spoke about the deep depression that she felt when she was 実際、彼女はある時、深い憂鬱を感じたと語っている。

in Edinburgh writing the first book, describing it as being “characterised by en Edimburgo escribiendo el primer libro, describiéndolo como "caracterizado por エジンバラで最初の本を書きながら、この本を「次のような特徴がある」と評している。

a numbness, a coldness and an inability to believe you will feel happy again. |hissizlik|||||||||||| un entumecimiento, una frialdad y una incapacidad para creer que volverás a sentirte feliz. しびれ、冷たさ、そして再び幸せを感じられるとは思えない。