Editing J. K. Rowling (section)

== Influences ==
{{See also|Harry Potter influences and analogues{{!}}''Harry Potter'' influences and analogues}}
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|image1=Jessica Mitford, by William Acton.jpg
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|caption1=Rowling describes [[Jessica Mitford]] (pictured in 1937) as her greatest influence.
|image2=Jane Austen, from A Memoir of Jane Austen (1870).jpg
|alt2=Jane Austen is Rowling's favourite author.
|caption2=[[Jane Austen]] is Rowling's favourite writer.
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Rowling has named [[Jessica Mitford]] as her greatest influence. She said Mitford had "been my heroine since I was 14 years old, when I overheard my formidable great-aunt discussing how Mitford had run away at the age of 19 to fight with the Reds in the [[Spanish Civil War]]", and that what inspired her about Mitford was that she was "incurably and instinctively rebellious, brave, adventurous, funny and irreverent, she liked nothing better than a good fight, preferably against a pompous and hypocritical target".<ref name=Telegraph20061126>{{cite news|title=The first It girl|last1=Rowling|first1=J. K.|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3656769/The-first-It-Girl.html|date=26 November 2006|access-date=13 June 2020|url-status=live|url-access=registration|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019073539/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3656769/The-first-It-Girl.html|archive-date=19 October 2016}}</ref> As a child, Rowling read [[C. S. Lewis]]'s ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', [[Elizabeth Goudge]]'s ''[[The Little White Horse]]'', ''[[Manxmouse]]'' by [[Paul Gallico]], and books by [[E. Nesbit]] and [[Noel Streatfeild]].{{sfn|Nel|2001|p=9}} Rowling describes Jane Austen as her "favourite author of all time".{{Sfn|Hopkins|2016|p=55}}

Rowling acknowledges [[Homer]], [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], and [[William Shakespeare]] as literary influences.{{Sfn|Groves|2017|p=xiii}} Scholars agree that ''Harry Potter'' is heavily influenced by the [[children's fantasy]] of writers such as Lewis, Goudge, Nesbit, [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], [[Ursula K. Le Guin]], and [[Diana Wynne Jones]].{{Sfn|Groves|2017|p=xii}} According to the critic Beatrice Groves, ''Harry Potter'' is also "rooted in the [[Western canon|Western literary tradition]]", including the classics.{{Sfn|Groves|2017|pp=x, xii}} Commentators also note similarities to the children's stories of [[Enid Blyton]] and [[Roald Dahl]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Groves|2017|p=xii}}; {{Harvnb|Berberich|2015|pp=151–154}}; {{Harvnb|Pinsent|2002|p=28}}.</ref> Rowling expresses admiration for Lewis, in whose writing battles between good and evil are also prominent, but rejects any connection with Dahl.{{sfn|Pinsent|2002|p=28}}

Earlier works prominently featuring characters who learn to use magic include Le Guin's ''[[Earthsea]]'' series, in which a school of wizardry also appears, and the ''[[Chrestomanci]]'' books by Jones.{{sfn|Pinsent|2002|pp=27–30}}{{sfn|Nikolajeva|2008|pp=229–233}} Rowling's setting of a "school of witchcraft and wizardry" departs from the still older tradition of protagonists as apprentices to magicians, exemplified by ''[[The Sorcerer's Apprentice]]'': yet this trope does appear in ''Harry Potter'', when Harry receives individual instruction from [[Remus Lupin]] and other teachers.{{sfn|Pinsent|2002|pp=27–30}} Rowling also draws on the tradition of [[School story|stories set in boarding schools]], a major example of which is [[Thomas Hughes]]'s 1857 volume ''[[Tom Brown's School Days]]''.{{sfn|Pinsent|2002|p=27}}{{Sfn|Alton|2008|pp=211–214}}