Literary Lineage

The lineage of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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

  1. 1872

    The Princess and the Goblin

    George MacDonald

    Victorian. Scotland/England. written in English.

    Fairy tale in which Princess Irene, guided by a mysterious great-great-grandmother who spins thread from moonlight, and the miner boy Curdie defeat goblins under the mountain.

    What it handed down

    To The Little White Horse (1946)

    Disputed link, conjectural.

    Both books centre on a girl heroine in an old house haunted by moon imagery and guided by a protective older woman. Readers have linked Goudge's Moon Princess to MacDonald's moonlight-spinning grandmother, but Goudge did not record such a debt.

    Where it came from

    Find “The Princess and the Goblin” on Amazon

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