I've heard the rumor for years that the first HP book's title was changed essentially because publishers thought American kids were too dumb to know what a philosopher was.
But back in 1998, most of us that young (8-12ish) reading books that big would have had no problem with the word "Philosopher." And it wasn't as if "sorcerer" was really a big part of our standard lexicon either.
So was it really the reason? If so, it seems like that they didn't really know their target audience. But that doesn't surprise me since most people (especially in the (US) don't give kids enough credit.
(PS…For the record: JKR)
by TattooedWithAQuill
8 Comments
The HP novels began coming out when I was a young adult. By the time I had kids and they were old enough to read, I hunted down British copies because I didn’t want them to read the dumbed-down American editions. I figured out what “o-levels” and “revising” meant from Adrian Mole, among other sources, and I wanted them to have that same kind of experience.
Also a lot of super religious people didn’t want kids to read books about magic and philosopher would have been a lot more low key about it than sorcerer.
American publishers weren’t concerned about familiarity with “Philosopher”, but rather with “Philosopher’s stone”. If you’re unfamiliar with the specific term, the use of “Philosopher” is confusing. “Sorcerer’s stone” describes the object better if you don’t know obscure alchemic terms.
I assumed it was because someone owned the rights to calling it that. That’s why most shit gets changed.
There was a Scrooge McDuck comic from 1955 with the philosopher’s stone in 1955. I thought it made an appearance in one of the 1980s cartoons as well, but apparently not DuckTales! In any case, I (an American) definitely knew what the philosopher’s stone was when the first HP came out.
Most North American kids wouldn’t know philosopher as an alternate word for alchemist. that is a British definition, not an American one.
If you asked kids if they thought Gandalf was a philosopher or sorcerer… only the astute would have said “both.”
Mickey Mouse in The Philosopher’s Apprentice wouldn’t have done so well in America.
Cultural differences.