Is J. K. Rowlling better than Charles Dickens?

Question

I don't think so, but I knew she compares herself and her Harry Potter against Dickens's work. She is not bad, but Dickens is better than her, Don't you think?

Answer 1

First of all, when J.K. Rowling mentions Charles Dickens and her work, she's not comparing them. She, like almost every other author with half a brain, knows that you can't compare the two, because it's simply impossible. She may be comparing her writing experience with Dickens, but it's as a fellow author, and has not so much to do with the books.

I won't give an opinion on which is better, because, like I said, there's no way to compare them.

Answer 2

on J.K. Rowlings official site she states.

"Charles Dickens put it better than I ever could:

'It would concern the reader little, perhaps, to know how sorrowfully the pen is laid down at the close of a two-years' imaginative task; or how an Author feels as if he were dismissing some portion of himself into the shadowy world, when a crowd of the creatures of his brain are going from him for ever.'

To which I can only sigh, try seventeen years, Charles..."

I think this is a perfectly reasonable statement. and I can't find any other kind of mention that she compares herself to Charles Dickens, others do, but not her, so why don't you try researching these things before making statements like that.

personally, I think she is better then Dickens, but that is my personal opinion based on having grown up with the Dickens stories.

Answer 3

Not really two authors you can compare. There aren't too many similarities in style or subject matter.
J.K. Rowling writes entertaining stories but certainly don't think she is a great writer. But then again I'm a cynical adult and not a multi-millionaire author who,to her eternal credit has galavanised countless children into actually wanting to read. So, I'm not that fit to criticise her really and anyway, what is better/worse is extremely subjective anyway.
The real test will be time. If people are reading Harry Potter books as part of a curriculum in schools/universities in a 100 years time she will have gone someway to showing that she has the right to be considered on the same level as Dickens.

Answer 4

Dickens was the writing genius of his era, and probably viewed by many "serious" writers of the time as a flippant youth using modern language to sell his work to the masses.

I can't see how Mrs Rowling could compare herself with Dickens, they're so different it's like chalk & cheese.

I quite enjoy the Potter books but they're not in the same league as Dickens for insightful social commentary.

But each to their own

Answer 5

Comparing J.K. Rowling with Dickens is like comparing a Ford Escort with a Rolls Royce or Girls Aloud with The Beatles.

Dickens was a genius and probably the greatest novelist ever to have lived. I doubt people will still be reading Harry Potter 137 years after Rowling's death. But they are still reading Dickens's work 137 years after his.

Answer 6

Quite simply NO. [edit] I mean no Rowling isn't the better writer [edit]

Just like everyone else on the planet, I enjoyed the HP books. But if you think about it, the characters are not actually that great. They're so shallow. The plot is not that strong either - 6 books so far, all about the same thing. So how does she keep us reading? who knows, maybe its the sense of escapism, or maybe we just want to know what happens in the end.

Take Dickens, one of the things he was best at was creating characters, and his plots are pretty good.

JK's career rests on HP. after that do you think anything else she writes will be so popular. Dickens consistently came up with new and popular stories. HE IS THE BETTER AUTHOR.

Answer 7

I don't know that you can compare the two: Dickens captured the lives of the urban poor living in the shadows of the industrial revolution in Britain. Rowlings, on the other hand, provides a modern materialistic world with a sense of fantasy and wonder through the adventures of a boy wizard.

It is too early to assess the Rowlings impact on culture. We'll have to wait for about 20 years or so...

Answer 8

I don't think they can be compared, it's like chalk and cheese. They come from two different eras, Rowlings from an age of technology where people hardly know how to write with a pen and manuscripts can be manipulated at will, to Dickens hand written work. From Rowling's mainly one set of characters in the Harry Potter series (that was milked for everything in the set of books) to Dickens host of works, each different. The question to ask is will Rowlings still be read in two hundred years time?

Answer 9

I suppose I agree, although it's not really possible to compare the two.

Yes, I absolutely LOVE Harry Potter (fanatically), but I would probably say that Charles Dickens is a better writer. I've found him wordy and tedious at times....but that's just generally how they wrote in those days. With patience, you realize just how marvelous the writing is. Dickens has some of the most quoted lines in literature ever, like "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

Now, comparing herself to Dickens does not mean that Rowling was implying that she was in the same league as Dickens. Charles Dickens falls in with the great authors of clasic literature, right up there with Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson. It would be foolish and big-headed of any author today to say that they're equal to any of the classics. However, one is still allowed to compare aspects of one's writing or the experience of doing so to great authors like Dickens. And comparing her work against Dickens works just means that she's using his works as a reference point, not neccesarily saying hers are equal.

Besides....it's tough to compare Harry Potter to, say, Oliver Twist...aside from the fact that the title characters are orphans. They're set and written in two completely different time periods with completely different literary styles. Perhaps, a hundred years from now, if people give equal esteem to a line such as, "It is a far, far better thing that I do..." as they do to, "Give her hell from us, Peeves" then we will know if the two are truly comparable. I don't believe Harry Potter will disappear from the hearts of people as time goes on, but who knows. Outlasting the sands of time is what defines a classic.

Answer 10

She didn't say she was better or in any way compare herself to Charles Dickens. She just used him as an example of a fellow writer.

They wrote completely different books, in different times and for different people.