The Travels of Harry: International Marketing and the Translation of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter Books

Abstract

The Travels of Harry:International Marketing and the Translation of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Books Gillian Lathey (bio) How does a children's book become an international bestseller? Viewed historically, there are as many answers to that question as there are children's classics. All that can be said with certainty is that recently there has been a dramatic change in the trajectory of a children's book destined for world fame. The travels of Cinderella, Aladdin, Alice, Pinocchio, Emil, Pippi Longstocking, Babar, or Winnie-the-Pooh have been halting and uneven—sometimes with delays of several years between publication of the original and translation and positive reception in other countries. As Emer O'Sullivan points out in Kinderliterarische Komparatistik, Alice in Wonderland only achieved real popularity in Germany in the 1970s, thanks to a new translation. Conversely, Erich Kästner's modern classic Emil and the Detectives enjoyed two separate waves of popularity in Britain: the first in the 1930s, and the second after the publication of a new translation in 1959, when Emil Tischbein became, on a smaller scale, the Harry Potter of his day. Economic, ideological, political, and cultural factors have all played their part in the international success or otherwise of children's books, as has the fact that children's literature is a visual as well as a literary medium: E. H. Shepard's Winnie-the-Pooh or Jean de Brunhoff's Babar are recognized everywhere. But there is no doubt that since the advent of Harry Potter, the concept of an international bestseller for children has taken on a new meaning as well as a new epithet: "phenomenon." Rapid distribution and the effectiveness of global marketing have guaranteed the international success of each Harry Potter title. From booksellers dressing up as witches in Germany to a publicity stunt involving a steam train at London's King's Cross Station, the publication of a new Harry Potter [End Page 141] title is an orchestrated event, staged successively across the world with minimal time delay for translation. As the 2003 CLISS summer school took place, translators were working to demanding schedules on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and delegates at the Harry Potter seminar devoted a moment's silent tribute to them all. Never has the role of translators been so essential to publishers and keen readers alike. According to the Publishers Weekly NewsLine website of 2 July 2003 (just over a week after the publication of Potter no. 5), the Chinese translator was a frontrunner in the race to produce the first translation, with plans for an 800,000-copy first printing in place for 1 October 2003. The Japanese translation of the book, on the other hand, was not expected until mid-2004, with Germany (November 2003), Finland, and Spain (both early 2004) in between. Time patterns of translation still vary across the world, but gaps are decreasing as the international Potter effect gains momentum with the publication of each volume. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was not published in China until October 2000, a delay of three years from first publication in the UK; for volume five the planned time lapse between publication of the original and the translation was barely four months. One thing is certain: if Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone had been translated into forty-seven languages in two hundred countries and sold circa 195 million copies by June 2003 (bloomsbury.com), then no. 5 is sure, eventually, to be published in a similar, if not greater, number of languages. The publication of a new Harry Potter title is an economic bonanza for all interested parties. Beyond the book lie the forces of global merchandising and branding that rule the world of children's publishing, as Dan Hade argues in his article "Storyselling." Once the nonbook rights to Harry Potter were sold in 1998, Time Warner exercised control of world distribution with an iron hand. There are many instances of legal action, for example against several German publishers for producing pedagogical materials based on the Harry Potter books. Similarly, publishers who have bought translation rights have sought to retain control...