I have to say I fundamentally disagree with Pullman's cosmology, and cannot understand why everyone say's it's a response to Paradise Lost. Where is Lucifer when you really need him? (That being said, I enjoyed Book 2: The Subtle Knife.)
Pullman has lots of other books, which have also been marketed to children. My feeling about him as an author is that he writes books about children for adults. His Sally Lockhart series, about a Victorian, female, photographer, sleuth, is really wonderful. He explores all sorts of fascinating 19C issues like The Opium Wars and the evolution of automatic artillery.
Lloyd Alexander also has a 19C adventuress called Vesper Holly. She's more like a female Indiana Jones. Much lighter. Both are really good, though, and I have been irritated for a long time that neither has been adapted for television/movies.
I started off liking the books, and liked them less the closer they got to the end. There were a lot of details of the cosmology that I liked, but the big picture was very bleah. And they got really preachy.
I think the obvious comparison is C.S. Lewis, and while the Narnia books are filled with obvious Christian allegory, it didn't bug me the way that Pullman's did. (The Last Battle was a little heavy-handed, I suppose, but that's only 1/7th of the whole series.)
I too liked them less towards the end. Mostly because they are specifically a response to Narnia and did get more preachy at the end (the pertinhttp://clawoftheconciliator.blogspot.com/2006/04/pullman-on-lewis.htmlent part of his wikipedia entry and also what seems to be a reasonable blog article). Personally I don't care either way. I just wish (a) I could get my hands on Neil Gaiman's "The Problem of Susan" and (b) authors would stop hijacking their own good works to further their own ideology.
When Wardrobe came out, Pullman was all over the press with his criticism of Lewis. I think a great deal of his criticism is valid, but it also really bothered me because it didn't seem to acknowledge Pullman's own heavy-handed cosmology. Despite his attempt to defend his cosmology as a pro-rationalist, there is a spiritual message about the separation of children from their souls, and the evil forces released upon the split of the atom.
Of course, I'm biased. Lewis was a shaping force in my own sensualist universalism. (I bet my parents would be horrified to know that's where I picked it up.) I'd rather live in the illusion of a benevolent force in the universe than with certain knowledge of a drooling, insane, deity. (Puddleglum says as much in The Silver Chair.)
I still say that the key to Paradise Lost is sympathy for the devil. I didn't see that reflected so much in these books as a criticism of an inept and unjust god. It will be interesting to see what's changed in the film, particularly as they approach the end of the trilogy.
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Date: 2007-04-27 02:32 am (UTC)P.S. Have you read the books?
Date: 2007-04-27 02:38 am (UTC)Pullman has lots of other books, which have also been marketed to children. My feeling about him as an author is that he writes books about children for adults. His Sally Lockhart series, about a Victorian, female, photographer, sleuth, is really wonderful. He explores all sorts of fascinating 19C issues like The Opium Wars and the evolution of automatic artillery.
Lloyd Alexander also has a 19C adventuress called Vesper Holly. She's more like a female Indiana Jones. Much lighter. Both are really good, though, and I have been irritated for a long time that neither has been adapted for television/movies.
Re: P.S. Have you read the books?
Date: 2007-04-27 04:39 am (UTC)I think the obvious comparison is C.S. Lewis, and while the Narnia books are filled with obvious Christian allegory, it didn't bug me the way that Pullman's did. (The Last Battle was a little heavy-handed, I suppose, but that's only 1/7th of the whole series.)
Re: P.S. Have you read the books?
Date: 2007-04-27 06:25 am (UTC)Re: P.S. Have you read the books?
Date: 2007-04-27 06:30 am (UTC)Pullman's cosmology
Date: 2007-04-27 03:01 pm (UTC)Of course, I'm biased. Lewis was a shaping force in my own sensualist universalism. (I bet my parents would be horrified to know that's where I picked it up.) I'd rather live in the illusion of a benevolent force in the universe than with certain knowledge of a drooling, insane, deity. (Puddleglum says as much in The Silver Chair.)
I still say that the key to Paradise Lost is sympathy for the devil. I didn't see that reflected so much in these books as a criticism of an inept and unjust god. It will be interesting to see what's changed in the film, particularly as they approach the end of the trilogy.
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Date: 2007-04-27 05:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-27 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-27 03:32 pm (UTC)