How many words are there in total in all 7 Harry Potter novels? Are they together longer than Proust?

Question

Prousts's great novel cycle, "A la Receherche du Temps Perdu (Remembrance of things past)" is generally considered the longest serious novel in western literature. It is estimated at 1.5 million words. There are longer ones, but nobody reads them.

The only statistic I have on Harry Potter is that "Order of the Phoenix" is about 257,000 words. Its fascinating to speculate that 12 to 14 year olds, by wading through all 7 Potter novels, may have got close to, or even exceeded, the effort required to attack "A la Recherche ... " (although Harry Potter is much easier to read).

Will J K Rowling produce a new generation of really serious readers?

Answer 1

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Sorcerer's Stones: 76,944

Chamber of Secrets: 85,141

Prisoner of Azkaban: 107,253

Goblet of Fire: 190,637

Order of the Phoenix: 257,045

Half-Blood Prince: 168,923

Deathly Hallows: 198,227

Total: 1,084,170

So there you go, that's a lot of words. Hope this helps you.

Source(s): http://www.hp-lexicon.org

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Answer 2

Well, the first 3 novels were significantly shorter however if you consider that the last 4 averaged approximately the same number of words so, in total you are certainly looking at 1.25 million words or more. Maybe not quite as long but close. Of course there is hopefully one more book coming a "Harry Potter Encyclopedia" (I have also heard it called a Hogwarts Encyclopedia but in checking JK's comments recently, Harry Potter appears to be correct) so if you include that it will probably surpass 1.5 million words. I hope that she does end up encouraging a new generation of readers as, to me, reading opens the mind to wonders like nothing else (entertainment wise that is) can.

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Answer 3

Sahih Muslim

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Answer 4

257,000

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