Meaning of Rowlingesque | Babel Free

Definitions

Characteristic of J. K. Rowling (born 1965), British author, philanthropist, film producer, and screenwriter.

Examples

“Part of the fun of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books are the names she comes up with; the author said in a recent online chat that she’s amassed dozens of notebooks where she jotted down unusual names she saw or thought up. Here are the Rowlingesque meanings behind a few:[…]”

“[…]Scamander’s account is clearly rooted in the ancient descriptions, with some Rowlingesque revisions in the role of Herpo the Foul (“a Greek dark wizard and Parselmouth” who create the first Basilisk (3), among other things[…]”

“Mr. Larsen’s Hairy Pothead learns to play Qannabbi instead of Quidditch, meets Delirious Bake instead of Sirius Black — and on it goes with other Rowlingesque characters such as Master Head Alwaze Duinthadope.”

“The book contains such typically Rowlingesque characters as tree stumps with eyes and hairy hearts, and includes a frontispiece noting that the stories were “translated from the original runes.””

“Strong sales (a combined 143 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list) and some serious online obsession from teen girl fans have vaulted Meyer to Rowlingesque heights of popularity;”

“Why, then, are we so wedded to the romantic illusion of authors as poor, tortured, hungry souls, labouring in unheated garrets until the day they are discovered and rewarded with fairy[-]tale fortunes of Rowlingesque proportions?”

“The emphasis in the script by Steve Kloves (a credited contributor to all but one of the Potter screenplays) is on intensity, as Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint — a Rowlingesque name in its own right) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) make their way back to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in hopes of destroying the last of the magical “horcruxes” that contain the divided pieces of Voldemort’s soul.”

“2010’s “The Lightning Thief” was way too Rowlingesque, a fantasy-adventure set in a magical boarding school directed by “Potter” vet Chris Columbus.”

“The classroom had been transformed to look like one from Hogwarts, with cobwebs and ‘traditional desks’ and one student teacher was performing the role of a ‘Rowlingesque’ potions teacher quite beautifully.”

“And more intimately, the Rowlingesque celebration of discovering kinship in the unlikeliest places, and being who you are without apology.”

“My sixth novel didn’t do so well with the critics, though the sales were Rowlingesque.”

“Another retooled technique is that of fantasy or fairy tale, now used not for the purposes of magic realism but by a novelist like Hamid in Exit West (2017), as his characters commute between war zones and other places, through magic doors reminiscent of Rowlingesque portals.”

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