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From: Levine, Arthur <ALevine>
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 13:19:26 -0500
I'll try to speak a bit to Lee's question, having been the American editor of THE GOLDEN COMPASS (though only a friend and interested fan on THE SUBTLE KNIFE). Philip started the trilogy called HIS DARK MATERIALS with the entire arc of all three books in his head. He conceived of it, roughly, as his own retelling of PARADISE LOST. From the beginning he had a general idea of what would happen in each book.
The actual writing, however, has been something he's taken on a book by book basis, choosing the forms and techniques that would best help him tell the individual story . Philip started writing THE SUBTLE KNIFE only a few months after he'd finished THE GOLDEN COMPASS, so I can say with a good deal of certainty that his choices had more to do with a sense of how THE SUBTLE KNIFE needed to be told than the distance of time.
Received on Tue 10 Nov 1998 12:19:26 PM CST
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 13:19:26 -0500
I'll try to speak a bit to Lee's question, having been the American editor of THE GOLDEN COMPASS (though only a friend and interested fan on THE SUBTLE KNIFE). Philip started the trilogy called HIS DARK MATERIALS with the entire arc of all three books in his head. He conceived of it, roughly, as his own retelling of PARADISE LOST. From the beginning he had a general idea of what would happen in each book.
The actual writing, however, has been something he's taken on a book by book basis, choosing the forms and techniques that would best help him tell the individual story . Philip started writing THE SUBTLE KNIFE only a few months after he'd finished THE GOLDEN COMPASS, so I can say with a good deal of certainty that his choices had more to do with a sense of how THE SUBTLE KNIFE needed to be told than the distance of time.
Received on Tue 10 Nov 1998 12:19:26 PM CST
