Mary Norton
Description
Mary Norton is the British author of The Borrowers series of children's fantasy novels, which served as the source material for the Japanese anime film The Secret World of Arrietty. She was not directly involved in the creation of anime or manga as a creator, but her literary work has been adapted into the medium.
Born Kathleen Mary Pearson on December 10, 1903, in London, England, Norton wrote under her married name, Mary Norton. She worked for the British Purchasing Commission in New York City during World War II, where she began her writing career. Her first books were The Magic Bed Knob (1943) and its sequel Bonfires and Broomsticks (1947), which were later combined as Bed-Knob and Broomstick and adapted into the 1971 Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
Norton is best known for The Borrowers, published in 1952, which won the Carnegie Medal, a prestigious British award for children's literature. The novel introduces the Clock family, six-inch-tall miniature people who live secretly beneath the floorboards of an English country house and survive by "borrowing" everyday items from the human beings, or "human beans," living above them. The book was followed by four sequels: The Borrowers Afield (1955), The Borrowers Afloat (1959), The Borrowers Aloft (1961), and The Borrowers Avenged (1982).
The most notable anime adaptation of Norton's work is The Secret World of Arrietty, a 2010 Japanese animated film produced by Studio Ghibli. The film was directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, with planning and screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa. It adapts the first Borrowers novel, following the teenage borrower Arrietty and her family. The film received international acclaim and introduced Norton's characters to a new global audience. A manga-style film comic adaptation of The Secret World of Arrietty was also published by VIZ Media.
Recurring themes in Norton's work include the struggle for survival and independence against overwhelming forces, the importance of home and the displacement from it, and the relationship between the small and the large, the weak and the powerful. Her depiction of the Borrowers has been interpreted as a metaphor for childhood itself, capturing the experience of being small and powerless in a world of adults. Norton also frequently employed a frame story narrative structure, with one character telling the tale to another, adding layers of memory and storytelling to her work.
Mary Norton's significance in literature lies in her creation of a complete and believable miniature world. She is considered one of the foremost representatives of postwar British fantasy, with comparisons to J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Lewis Carroll. Her work has been adapted numerous times for television, film, and theatre across several decades. While she was not an anime or manga creator herself, her novel The Borrowers provided the foundational story for a major Studio Ghibli production, demonstrating the international reach and enduring appeal of her work. Norton died on August 29, 1992, in Devon, England.
Born Kathleen Mary Pearson on December 10, 1903, in London, England, Norton wrote under her married name, Mary Norton. She worked for the British Purchasing Commission in New York City during World War II, where she began her writing career. Her first books were The Magic Bed Knob (1943) and its sequel Bonfires and Broomsticks (1947), which were later combined as Bed-Knob and Broomstick and adapted into the 1971 Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
Norton is best known for The Borrowers, published in 1952, which won the Carnegie Medal, a prestigious British award for children's literature. The novel introduces the Clock family, six-inch-tall miniature people who live secretly beneath the floorboards of an English country house and survive by "borrowing" everyday items from the human beings, or "human beans," living above them. The book was followed by four sequels: The Borrowers Afield (1955), The Borrowers Afloat (1959), The Borrowers Aloft (1961), and The Borrowers Avenged (1982).
The most notable anime adaptation of Norton's work is The Secret World of Arrietty, a 2010 Japanese animated film produced by Studio Ghibli. The film was directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, with planning and screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa. It adapts the first Borrowers novel, following the teenage borrower Arrietty and her family. The film received international acclaim and introduced Norton's characters to a new global audience. A manga-style film comic adaptation of The Secret World of Arrietty was also published by VIZ Media.
Recurring themes in Norton's work include the struggle for survival and independence against overwhelming forces, the importance of home and the displacement from it, and the relationship between the small and the large, the weak and the powerful. Her depiction of the Borrowers has been interpreted as a metaphor for childhood itself, capturing the experience of being small and powerless in a world of adults. Norton also frequently employed a frame story narrative structure, with one character telling the tale to another, adding layers of memory and storytelling to her work.
Mary Norton's significance in literature lies in her creation of a complete and believable miniature world. She is considered one of the foremost representatives of postwar British fantasy, with comparisons to J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Lewis Carroll. Her work has been adapted numerous times for television, film, and theatre across several decades. While she was not an anime or manga creator herself, her novel The Borrowers provided the foundational story for a major Studio Ghibli production, demonstrating the international reach and enduring appeal of her work. Norton died on August 29, 1992, in Devon, England.
Works
- Topics: Anime overview