Literary Lineage

The lineage of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

33 works across 28 centuries, back to Iliad and Odyssey.

  1. 1802

    Heinrich von Ofterdingen

    Novalis

    German Romanticism. Germany. written in German.

    Unfinished novel about a medieval poet's quest for the blue flower, mixing dream, embedded fairy tale and allegory. Published after Novalis's death.

    What it handed down

    To Phantastes (1858)

    Direct source, well documented.

    MacDonald opens Phantastes with an epigraph from Novalis on the nature of the fairy tale and quotes Novalis again in his chapter headings. The dreamlike wandering through a symbolic landscape follows Novalis's romance and its embedded tales.

    Where it came from

    Find “Heinrich von Ofterdingen” on Amazon

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Preview card: the tree of influence behind Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone