Back home; Philip Pullman

[pegkerr]

Got back late last night from Chicago. I haven't seen many of my cousins and their families for six years. It was great to see the kids who are growing up, although it made me sad that I don't have the opportunity to see them more often. The people who planned the weekend had worked out an enjoyable schedule of events, including a photo road rally, a picnic and a ride on a paddleboat.

I'm thankful that I didn't miss the memorial service for Shawn and Lyda's daughter; that was today. It was a very simple yet beautiful service, and Ella was laid to rest with honor and love.

I have finished Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass. (I note that angiej just finished it, too, and you can find her comments on it here.) Well, I can certainly understand all the positive press this series has received (although it's been years since I've read Paradise Lost and my appreciation of the allusions would probably be sharpened if that work was more fresh in my mind). I was forcibly reminded, however, of the scene movie Kiss of the Spider Woman, when Valentin Arregui suddenly realizes the nature of the movie plot that Luis Molina is so lovingly recounting to him: "You've fallen in love with a Nazi propaganda film!" I'm not certain how much of the attitude in the series is truly Pullman's own opinion, to wit, that deism is dreadful, that God (the "Authority") is either a cheating lie or a tyrant (Pullman doesn't seem too consistent on that), that Christianity is only dreary oppressiveness. Pullman comes down totally on the side of the angels who rebelled. If I set that philosophy aside without examining it too closely and look at the books only as fantasies, I can agree that Pullman has written a tightly organized, thoughtful and absorbing yarn, and Will and Lyra's story in the last book is genuinely moving. But if I consider that I'm being led to cheer for the downfall of a "great evil" which is, in fact, what I've always been taught to believe is good and true, I'll have to admit that it's a very peculiar sensation, rather like finding that I'm admiring the virtues like love, honor, and patriotism in a Nazi propaganda film. A rather disorienting fun-house black-is-white and white-is-black experience. Hmm.

In other news, I belatedly report that the Bulwer-Lytton 2002 results are up.


Cheers,
Peg

Comments

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

Re: Amber Spyglass

My husband calls His Dark Materials the Anti-Narnia.

I admired HDM because, hero or villain, the characters were all pretty three-dimensional. (Mrs. Coulter's role in the final book really amazed me.) But I also felt that the books weren't taking potshots at religion in general, but in what humans can make of it (or any other shared system of belief, for that matter, such as a democracy or a fandom) -- stifling bureaucracy, fear of change and resistance to learning. The books never do answer the question of who the Creator is, only the Authority -- I find that pretty telling, as one can assume (or have granted) the mantle of authority without having actually done anything.

I did get carried away by the story, though, and let my critical-reader take a break because I was having too good a time finding out what happened next. But I really feel that I need to reread Milton and then sit down and read HDM again.

- Darice

Mrs. Coulter . . .

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Mrs. Coulter is an intriguing villainess. I just realized who she reminds me of: Lady Susan in Jane Austen's novel of the same name: a woman who at first seems very sweet but is always in command of the situation, and totally ruthless, using sex to further her ends, and willing to sacrifice her daughter for her own ends without the slightest qualm.

Hmm. Wonder what Jane Austen would have thought of Pullman's trilogy.

Anyone else ever read Lady Susan? Do you see the resemblance, too?

Peg

Re: Mrs. Coulter . . .

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Wonder what Jane Austen would have thought of Pullman's trilogy.

Well, Jane wasn't above poking fun at over-unctuous or officious clergy (Mr. Collins). And she liked Gothic novels, and I think she would have liked the collection of assorted characters and their motives, whether good or ill... Good question.

I have not read Lady Susan (is that the unfinished novel?). Now must go search it out.

- Darice

Re: Mrs. Coulter . . .

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

The unfinished novel is Sanditon. Lady Susan actually is finished, but people tend to forget it--because she wrote it when she was quite young (seventeen, I think) it is dismissed as "juvenalia," when it is remembered at all, although it is quite good.

If you read it, let me know what you think.

[serendipoz.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're back on line, and I'm very glad you made it back for Ella's service.

I think I need to reread HDM - I read them as they were published and the time between each book made my expectations for the next book lead me to expect something I didn't get.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

Pullman says in interviews that God (or possibly it's the belief in God) is a great evil. Whatever one believes, HDM puts one face-to-face with some of the great theological questions. I am forever astonished by what is considered children's lit in England -- they don't pull their punches, do they?

[sharpest_rose.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think that the concept of 'God' is divided into two parts in the HDM books - there's The Authority, who is an oppressive force on conscious peoples and who causes terrible acts. And then there's Dust, which is the universe itself made conscious and wants to help beings involve and learn and think.