Inkworld is a
series of threeA trilogy is a set of three works of art - usually literature, film, or video games, less commonly visual art like paintings or musical works - that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works....
fantasy novels written by
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
author
Cornelia FunkeCornelia Caroline Funke was born on December 10, 1958, in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia. She is a multiple award-winning German author of children's fiction. Funke is best known for her Inkworld trilogy, with the English translation of the third book, Inkdeath, released on October 6, 2008....
, comprising
Inkheart (2004),
Inkspell (2006), and
Inkdeath (2008). The books chronicle the adventures of teenager Meggie Folchart whose life changes dramatically when she realizes that she and her father, a bookbinder named Mo, have the unusual ability to bring characters from books into the
real worldReal World may refer to:* "Real World" , by D-Side* "Real World", song by Matchbox Twenty* Real World * "Real World" * Real World Records, a record label* The Real World, a television show...
when reading aloud. Mostly set in
Northern ItalyNorthern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative worth, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian nation...
and the
parallel worldParallel universe or alternative reality is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a multiverse, although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute physical reality...
of the fictional
Inkheart book, the central story arc concerns the magic of books, their characters and creatures, and the art of
readingReading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of deriving meaning and/or constructing meaning...
.
Originally released in
German-speaking EuropeThe German language is spoken in a number of countries and territories in West and Central Europe...
, the
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
translation of the third book, entitled
Inkdeath, by
Anthea BellAnthea Bell is a British translator who has translated numerous literary works, especially children's literature, from French, German, Danish and Polish to English. She is, however, best known for her translations of the French Asterix comics along with co-translator Derek...
was released in October 2008. In
2004The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...
, Funke sold the film rights to all three books to
New Line CinemaNew Line Cinema, often simply known as New Line, was founded in 1967, is one of the major American film studios. In 1996, though it initially began as an independent film studio, it became a subsidiary of Time Warner and is now a division of Warner Bros...
; thus far, the first book has been made into a
motion pictureInkheart is a 2008 fantasy film, directed by Iain Softley and stars Brendan Fraser, Eliza Bennett, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Andy Serkis and Jim Broadbent. It is based on the novel with the same name by Cornelia Funke...
, which was released in
January 2009January 2009 was the 1st month of the current year. It began on a Thursday and ended after 31 days on a Saturday.-International holidays:* January 1 - New Year's Day* January 7 - Christmas * January 14 - Old New Year...
.
Inkheart
In
Inkheart, the twelve-year-old ,
MeggieMeggie Folchart is a character in the Inkworld trilogy, by Cornelia Funke. She is the only daughter to Mo and his wife Teresa . Meggie serves as one of the protagonists of the series.- Description :...
, discovers that her father
MortimerMortimer "Mo" Folchart is a fictional character in Cornelia Funke's Inkheart trilogy. He is a bookbinder and has the ability to bring fictional characters to life in the "real world" by reading aloud from books. He has a daughter named Meggie who also has the talent to bring characters out of...
, a professional bookbinder, has the unusual ability to transfer characters from books into the real world when he reads aloud. Scared by his own talents, Mo once brought four characters of a book entitled
Inkheart to life while reading from the novel, including Dustfinger,his pet
martenThe Martens constitute the genus Martes within the subfamily Mustelinae, in family Mustelidae.-Description:Martens are slender, agile animals, adapted to living in taigas, and are found in coniferous and northern deciduous forests across the northern hemisphere. They have bushy tails, and large...
Gwin; Capricorn, the book's villain; and
BastaBasta is a village on Mainland, Shetland, Scotland. It is on the shores of Basta Voe....
, Capricorn's right-hand man — in bitter exchange of his wife Teresa, who disappeared tracelessly into the so-called Inkworld of the book. After many years Dustfinger returns to pay Meggie and her father a visit, advising them to flee the country to escape Capricorn and his following who are in search of Mo and his
Inkheart copy. The three of them eventually leave to hide at Meggie's great-aunt Elinor's house in Northern Italy but end up being dragged off by Basta and his companions to the near village of Capricorn where Mo is forced to read both treasure and an evil creature, The Shadow, out of the book, using Meggie as his hostage. Soon Meggie discovers she has the same talent as her father, and with the help of
Inkheart author Fenoglio, her re-read mother, and
One Thousand and One Nights character Farid she helps kill Capricorn and his entourage with the power of her reading talent.
Release history
This second part of the trilogy,
Inkspell, published October 1, 2005. Its German title, 'Tintenblut', literally translates: 'Inkblood'.
Plot summary
A year has passed, but not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of
Inkheart, a book that has characters that come to life. Resa is back, but she can't talk. then there is a fire~eater Dustfinger, who has to go back into the story. When he finds a crazy storyteller, Orpheus, that can read him back into the book, he abandons Farid, and just goes into the pages. Orpheus doesn't read Farid back into the book like he was supposed to, he leaves the name "boy" out. Soon Farid convinces Meggie to read him into the book so he can warn Dustfinger of Basta, and then become his apprentice once more. But this time, Meggie has figured out how to read herself and Farid into the book
Inkheart. Suddenly, Mortola, Basta, Orpheus, and a "man built like a wardrobe" barge into Elinor's house, and take Mo, Resa, Elinor, and Darius prisoner, while Meggie and Farid have no idea what is happening in the other world. Orpheus reads Basta, Mortola, Mo, and Resa into
Inkheart. Mortola gets a modern rifle, and shoots Mo, thinking that she has killed him and just leaves. However, Mo survived the shot. Resa discovers that her voice has come back to her because of her love for Mo. Resa and Mo are hiding with the strolling players, but now they have discovered that the injured Mo is the mysterious gentleman-robber, the "Blue jay", created by Fenoglio's words. Fenoglio is now living within his own story and he makes Meggie read Cosimo the Fair back into the story since he died. Now the Adderhead is out to get him, and he is just waiting to hang him, or kill his family in front of him. Mo and Resa are captured, and Mo is unable to escape because of his fatal wound. Meggie, Resa, and Mo all end up in the Adderhead's castle (the castle of night), while Meggie has made a bargain with the Adderhead that she will bind him a book of immortality if he lets Meggie, Resa, Mo, and the other strolling players he has captured go. What dosen't tell the prince is that if these three words are written in the book, heart, spell, death the Adderhead will die instantly. This is a reference to the titles of the books. In the meanwhile, Farid and Dustfinger have snuck into the castle using soot that causes invisibility, created by a communion of fire and water! Meggie and Farid fall in love after events in the Inkworld. Farid is later killed by Basta an evil man, and then Mo kills him. Later, Dustfinger summons the White Women to bring Farid to life, sacrificing himself. Farid comes back to life, but Dustfinger dies instead of him. Meggie reads Orpheus into the story using Fenoglio's words, although Orpheus refuses to tell everybody that she reads him into the book. Farid agrees to work for Orpheus as a servant if he writes something to bring Dustfinger back to life. But Farid wonders, will he live up to the agreement and will Dustfinger ever come back?
written over by alyssa.
Awards
The first volume,
Inkheart, won the
Phantastik-Preis der Stadt WetzlarWetzlar is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of the Lahn-Dill district. Located at 8° 30′ E, 50° 34′ N, there are approximately 54,000 inhabitants...
for children's fiction in Germany in 2004, and was selected as the best novel of the year in
children's literatureChildren's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve and is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes exclude young-adult fiction, comic books, or other genres. Books specifically for children existed by the 17th century...
by the Jury der jungen Leser in June of the same year. It was also awarded the
Kalbacher KlapperschlangeKalbach is a municipality in the district of Fulda, in Hesse, Germany. Kalbach is about 20 km south of the city of Fulda and 90 km east-northeast of Frankfurt. Kalbach encompasses the communities of Eichenried, Heubach, Mittelkalbach, Niederkalbach, Oberkalbach, Uttrichshausen and Veitsteinbach....
and the Silberner Griffel, receiving nominations for the
Deutscher JugendliteraturpreisThe Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's literature. It is Germany's only state-funded literary award. In the past, authors from many countries...
and the Rattenfänger-Literaturpreis. In June 2007
Inkheart was voted, in a composite online and phone poll-show named
Unsere BestenUnsere Besten was a television series shown in German public television in November 2003, similar to the BBC series 100 Greatest Britons....
, organized by the
ZDFZweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television channel based in Mainz. It is run as an independent non-profit agency established by joint contract between the German federal states...
networkA television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of broadcast networks. Many early...
, as the eleventh best book of all time by the general public.
Follow-up
Inkspell won the
Book Sense Book of the Year AwardBook Sense was a marketing and branding program of the American Booksellers Association, in which many independent bookstores across North America participated in order to better compete with the large book chains. Bookstores participating in the Book Sense program were expected to display the Book...
in the category "Children's Literature."
Adaptions
In
October 2004October 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
See also: October 2004 in sports-Events:...
, a series of various theatrical version of the first two books started with the world premiere of
Inkheart at the Schauspielhaus Hannover. It has since been staged in several cities in Germany, notably at the
Staatstheater StuttgartThe Staatstheater Stuttgart ' is an opera house in Stuttgart, Germany. It is also known locally as the Grosses Haus, having been the larger of two theatres of the former Königliche Hoftheater....
, and the
Wuppertal||-||}Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the Wupper river south of the Ruhr area. Population 361,333 ....
er Kinder- und Jugendtheater. In
September 2006September 2006 was marked by a controversy surrounding statements made by Pope Benedict XVI regarding Islam, during the same week as the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Steve Irwin, star of The Crocodile Hunter, died early in the month due to a stingray attack...
a
musical versionMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
premiered at the
Junges Theater BonnBonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 20 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990...
, involving over twenty actors and actresses and a live band.
In 2004,
New Line CinemaNew Line Cinema, often simply known as New Line, was founded in 1967, is one of the major American film studios. In 1996, though it initially began as an independent film studio, it became a subsidiary of Time Warner and is now a division of Warner Bros...
bought the film rights to all three books for a cinema adaptation, beginning with the production of the first novel,
InkheartInkheart is a 2008 fantasy film, directed by Iain Softley and stars Brendan Fraser, Eliza Bennett, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Andy Serkis and Jim Broadbent. It is based on the novel with the same name by Cornelia Funke...
. Funke moved to
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
in May 2005 after she had accepted the offer to participate as the film's
producerA film producer or movie producer is someone who creates the scenes and conditions for making movies. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors...
alongside
Barry MendelBarry Mendel is a 2-time Oscar-nominated film producer. The first film he produced was Rushmore, directed by Wes Anderson which won IFP Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director Anderson and Best Supporting Actor Bill Murray. This was followed by The Sixth Sense, directed by M. Night Shyamalan,...
. Principal photography on
Inkheart began on location in
LiguriaLiguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and food.- Geography :...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
on November 8, 2006, before moving to
Shepperton StudiosShepperton Studios is a film studio in Shepperton, Surrey, England with a history dating back to 1931. A part of the Pinewood Group along with Pinewood and Teddington Studios, it has produced many notable films.-History:...
in Surrey, England. Directed by
Iain SoftleyIain Softley is an English film director. He was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing, where he played the part of Thomas Becket in its 1975 production of T. S...
, the film is based on a
screenplayA screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A play for television is known as a teleplay.- Format and style :...
by
David Lindsay-AbaireDavid Lindsay-Abaire is an American playwright and lyricist. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 for his play, Rabbit Hole.-Early years:...
and involving an
ensemble castAn ensemble cast is a cast in which the principal performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on different characters in different episodes...
, that includes
Brendan FraserBrendan James Fraser is a Canadian-American actor of stage and screen. He has starred in many major Hollywood films, including The Mummy film series, Crash, Dudley Do-Right, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, George of the Jungle and Journey to the Center of the Earth.-Early life:Fraser was born in...
,
Helen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes and four Emmy Awards during her career.-Family:...
,
Paul BettanyPaul Bettany is an English actor who has starred as a wide range of characters in several diverse film genres. He has been nominated for BAFTA- and Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as numerous critics and film circle awards.-Early life:...
,
Jim BroadbentJames "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, and Bridget Jones' Diary...
,
Rafi GavronRaphael Pichey "Rafi" Gavron is a British actor, known for the Anthony Minghella romantic-drama film Breaking and Entering and 2008's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.-Life and career:...
,
Andy SerkisAndrew C. G. "Andy" Serkis is an English actor, director and author.-Early life:Serkis was born and brought up in Ruislip Manor, Middlesex. His mother was English and his father was an Iraqi-born gynaecologist of Armenian descent...
and newcomer
Eliza BennettEliza Hope Bennett is an English child actress and singer.Bennett was born in Reading, Berkshire, England. She started acting at a young age when she appeared in stage productions at school, and even appeared professionally in the film Nanny McPhee , which also starred Colin Firth and Emma Thompson...
, among others.
External links