JK Rowling new book — chronic illness references

Lou B Lou said:
The character Inigo has ME. He is a thoroughly dislikeable character who bullies his wife and teenage children. An overbearing domestic tyrant. Readers are not supposed to like Inigo, or have any sympathy for/with him. In novel writing terms Inigo is not 'a sympathetic character'

Strike is the book's hero. He is a disabled war hero and the private detective investigating the murder of Edie. JKR repeatedly unfavorably compares the words and behaviors of the two characters with ME (one has POTS and Fibro too) with Strike's uncomplaining stoicism about living with his disability. Strike gets on with his life and works at his own detective agency. The two characters with ME do not work, and they talk about their disease and disabilities, unlike Strike.


Here Inigo talks about some of the painful and devastating losses ME sufferers experience. Remember, readers are not supposed to feel sympathy for Inigo, as illustrated by Strikes responses in his internal reflections.




'The Ink Black Heart' Page 759

“I happen to know exactly how it feels to be cut off in one's prime” Inigo continued, “to know that one could have excelled, only to see others succeed while one's own word shrinks around one and all one's hopes for the future are dashed. I was pushed out of my bloody job when this bastard illness hit me.

I had my music, but the band, my so-called friends, made it clear they weren't prepared to accommodate my physical limitations, in spite of the fact that I was the best bloody musician of the lot of them. I could have done what Gus has done, gone the scholarship route, Oh yes. And I had lots of artistic talent too, but this bloody illness means I've been unable to pursue it in any meaningful ...”


...But if Inigo was expecting sympathy from Strike he was disappointed. He who'd once lay on a dusty road in Afghanistan, his own leg blasted off, with the severed torso of a man who'd previously been bantering about a drunken stag night in Newcastle lying beside him, had no pity to spare for Inigo Upcott's crushed dreams.

If [Inigo] Upcott's work colleagues and bandmates hadn't been inclined to generosity, Strike was ready to bet it had been due to the bullying, self-aggrandising nature of the man sitting opposite him, rather than any lack of compassion.


The older Strike got, the more he'd come to believe that in a prosperous country, in peacetime – notwithstanding those heavy blows of fate to which nobody was immune, and those strokes of unearned luck of which Inigo, the inheritor of wealth, had clearly benefited – character was the most powerful determinant of life's course.'
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If Strike is JKR's mouthpiece, it seems clear developing ME doesn't fall into the category of "heavy blows of fate" or is seen as the reason Inigo had to give up work, so not really of significance in anyone's life. The last paragraph seems very economically conservative. It's well-known that JKR was a single mum living on benefits when she returned to the UK. This doesn't suggest much empathy for her younger self or anyone forced by their health to depend on the state. Convenient too to make this character independently wealthy.
 
JKR chose "sickness in all its forms, including anomie" as "the overarching theme of the book", in the Ink Black Heart novel.
(Including 'anomie': .... "a kind of malaise, a kind of societal sickness where people feel very disconnected, isolated and don’t feel connected to social norms or ethical norms".)

WHY ????? In this Q&A session with JKR she doesn't address WHY she made sickness the overarching theme - specially as she so obviously knows so little about the diseases/illnesses she has given her characters.

https://robert-galbraith.com/the-ink-black-heart-q-and-a/
(Robert Galbraith is JKRs name when writing her Strike novels (the detective agency novels).




Q&A:

Themes in the novel
Q: The Ink Black Heart is mainly set in 2015. What was the online world like then and how much has it changed?

A JKR: "Well, I – I found it really interesting to look at where – where various social media platforms were in 2015 compared to where they are now......

..... And one online culture, Tumblr online culture – there is an aspect of Tumblr culture that is very much in this book. Tumblr for those who don’t know is a microblogging site, so you are just posting short pieces or reposting short pieces or screenshots that other people have posted. And spoony culture was something I really became familiar with on Tumblr. Which is about sickness, which of course is one of the overarching themes of the book.




Q What role does sickness play in the novel?

JKR A: "So, I think sickness is probably the overarching theme of the whole book. In many different ways. Sickness in lots of different senses. On the most prosaic level Strike in this book really does reach a kind of reckoning with his own – with his own body, you know; he is a disabled man. He’s an amputee. And he hasn’t been looking after himself and he’s – he eats fast food and he is overweight, and he knows this. And he makes vague resolutions and we have seen this throughout the series.

And he never keeps any of them. And in this book, he really does sort of hit a brick wall. I cannot continue doing this job unless I make some changes. So, that is very important to the book, and it is important to the plot that Strike at times is incapacitated. But there is sickness in lots of other different senses. Spoonie culture which is almost a – where people’s identity really becomes enmeshed with their illnesses, mental or physical.

And then there’s anomie which in itself is a kind of malaise, a kind of societal sickness where people feel very disconnected, isolated and don’t feel connected to social norms or ethical norms. Which we would see on – in the internet. I mean, the – not all of the internet, of course. Because people can make beautiful friendships online and it can be a very, I think, positive space. But I think it is also undeniable that in the virtual world you do see the consequences of people feeling alienated and isolated. And finding less healthy ways of dealing with that."

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A writing process where just a few main characters are three-dimensional humans and the rest are cartoon comic figures or monsters can work nicely in children's fiction but doesn't really transfer to the adult world, at least not if you want to feel that you're tackling Deep and Important Social Themes.
 
JKR was the majority shareholder in the TV production company which produces the Strike series. The company is 'Brontë Film and TV'. Her literary agent Neil Blair is still the director of the TV production company.



The Independent March 2023

'JK Rowling production company reports 74 per cent drop in profit'

'The company was established in 2012, and focuses largely on adaptations of Rowling’s work.'

'Rowling founded Brontë with her literary agent Neil Blair. She is the majority shareholder.'

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...owling-bronte-film-tv-net-worth-b2311861.html



Though JKR seems to no longer be an officer/Director of the TV production company Brontë Film and TV.

Now there is one director, Neil Lyndon Marc Blair, JKR's Literary Agent who is also an officer of the company 'Ink Black Heart'.


Companies House info:
BRONTE FILM AND TELEVISION LIMITED
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08309584/officers


THE INK BLACK HEART LIMITED
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14398101/officers

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Trish said:
I doubt she dis the casting.
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I think she was executive producer or similar?

If someone in that role really wanted to challenge the casting they could, especially when it's their work that's being adapted. The talent on which the whole industry depends is sometimes given more sway than it's due, not less—that same power structure is how a few manage to get away with years of sexual improprieties or abuse.

I'm not suggesting J K Rowling is associated with any kind of abuse, of course, just that she is/was in a privileged position.
 
Just discovered this thread. Quite shocked and disappointed to hear about JKR caricaturing pwME basically as an ableist stereotype of lazy malingerers.

To think listening to her Harry Potter audiobooks on repeat is what got me through my first “phase” of severe ME (before I lost ability to tolerate sound) now makes me feel nauseous.
 
JKR used to be a patron of the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/apr/10/jkrowling-mutiple-sclerosis-scotland

JK Rowling abandons Multiple Sclerosis Society charity amid in-fighting
Author no longer patron of Multiple Sclerosis Society
Conflict between Scottish and London arms blamed


https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/aug/31/jk-rowling-donation-multiple-sclerosis

JK Rowling gives £10m to set up multiple sclerosis research clinic


https://www.annerowlingclinic.org/about/news/jk-rowling-further-donation

"The author J.K. Rowling has donated £15.3m to the University of Edinburgh to help improve the lives of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and similar conditions."
 
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Lou B Lou said:
JKR A: "So, I think sickness is probably the overarching theme of the whole book. In many different ways. Sickness in lots of different senses. On the most prosaic level Strike in this book really does reach a kind of reckoning with his own – with his own body, you know; he is a disabled man. He’s an amputee. And he hasn’t been looking after himself and he’s – he eats fast food and he is overweight, and he knows this. And he makes vague resolutions and we have seen this throughout the series.
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Lou B Lou said:
And he never keeps any of them. And in this book, he really does sort of hit a brick wall. I cannot continue doing this job unless I make some changes. So, that is very important to the book, and it is important to the plot that Strike at times is incapacitated. But there is sickness in lots of other different senses. Spoonie culture which is almost a – where people’s identity really becomes enmeshed with their illnesses, mental or physical.
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Although an amputee is allowed to reach a reckoning with his body when chronically ill people should not do that, it is only in specific ways. Eating healthily and watching one's weight is a good thing, but could apply to anyone. It's not going to grow his leg back. He doesn't seem to be recognising he needs adaptations - a blue badge, an accessible office. I don't think being fitted with a prosthetic is a one and done thing either and a realistic portrayal of that in fiction/prime time tv would be an advance in disability visibility.
 
Kitty said:
What in the name of all the saints is Spoonie culture supposed to be? And with due respect to her talent as a writer of fiction, who is J K Rowling to make statements and presumptions about it?
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From the book (I have not watched the TV series yet)

JKR did her 'research' on invisible illnesses - ME, Fibromyalgia, PoTS etc on Tumblr. JKR pits 2 characters who have recognised 'legitimate' disabilities - Strike, amputee war hero, uncomplaining, an achiever, together with another character Vikas, a very high intelligence, Cambridge Post Doc astrophysics student who has Cerebral Palsy has limited hand function, a motorised wheelchair, and has to use communication methods other than speech. Both of these characters are achievers, their disabilities visible, they don't complain or 'let their disabilities stop them from getting on with their lives.

Those 2 characters are compared (favourably) with other sick/disabled people who have invisible illnesses/disabilities, delegitimized illnesses/disabilities (who are compared unfavorably with the legitimized illness/disability characters) -
Inigo and Kea, who are portrayed as either a bully and self pitying complainer (Inigo who has ME) or as histrionic, self obsessed, 'identifying with their illness' and likely faking her illness, or her symptoms/severity, as demonstrated by running through the house shouting and slamming doors when she is supposed to be having a (CFS presumably) relapse (Kea who has 'CFS' Fibro and PoTS). Though in the series Kea is described as having ME.


JKR invalidates and trashes 2 of the most painful experiences of people with ME -

Illness relapse, and abandonment by friends after becoming sick.


I cannot fathom why JKR would choose sickness as the 'overarching theme' of her novel (which is largely about how online groups can become dysfunctional and even dangerous).

What is wrong with her to exploit disabling diseases by creating characters with invisible illnesses who are gross negative caricatures.

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Kitty said:
What in the name of all the saints is Spoonie culture supposed to be? And with due respect to her talent as a writer of fiction, who is J K Rowling to make statements and presumptions about it?
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'Spoonie' as in 'spoon theory' (metaphor for fluctuating energy-limitations) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory

There's plenty of fellow-feeling and overlap between disability communities and trans communities online (both having experience of being socially marginalised and having to fight against uninformed assumptions) so some of the pushback against JKR's anti-trans rhetoric came from people with 'spoonie' and suchlike in their social media profiles. This book seems like a rather unsubtle piece of retaliation.
 
Lou B Lou said:
JKR did her 'research' on invisible illnesses - ME, Fibromyalgia, PoTS etc on Tumblr
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That explains a lot.

Jaysus. I'm just sorry you had to read it.

Lou B Lou said:
I cannot fathom why JKR would choose sickness as the 'overarching theme' of her novel (which is largely about how online groups can become dysfunctional and even dangerous).
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These groups exist, but the decision to portray peer support communities as such is staggering. Almost as if the stories of people like Gisèle Pelicot never happened.
 
Eleanor said:
'Spoonie' as in 'spoon theory' (metaphor for fluctuating energy-limitations)
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I know, but it's not a culture, it's just an attempt to explain activity limiting conditions to people who struggle to understand them.

Eleanor said:
This book seems like a rather unsubtle piece of retaliation.
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Yeah, maybe. I'm aware of those debates, but I didn't follow them closely because I don't know enough about the issues. It'd need reading capacity I don't have, specially as my social circle has shrunk and now only includes one transgender person. Who rarely shows interest in anything that doesn't involve history or cooking. :D
 
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