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His Dark Materials: Let's Begin!
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From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Wed, 02 May 2001 16:20:23 -0500
We're ready to begin our discussion of Philip Pullman books this month, beginning with the HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy which I know people are very anxious to discuss.
For those of you who have not yet taken the opportunity to read the books, they are: "The Golden Compass" (entitled "Northern Lights" in the U.K.); "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass." I encourage you to rush right out and read them - you won't be sorry! In the meantime, you might want to tune out the discussion for now so there won't be spoilers.
And for those who have read the books, I hope you've also had a chance to read Kathleen Odean's excellent interview with Philip Pullman in the October 2000 issue of School Library Journal, available in a web version at: http://www.slj.com/articles/articles/20001001_9064.asp
I found Kathleen's question about how Philip Pullman views fantasy vs. realism to be especially compelling. Pullman says: "...when I found myself writing this book, what I wanted to do was to use the apparatus of fantasy in order to do what writers of realism are more typically interested in doing, namely, to explore this business about being a human being--what it feels like and what it's like, what it means for us to grow up, to pass away from our childhood, to suffer, to learn, to grow, to develop, to die, and so on. ..."
With this in mind, I found the tension between childhood and adulthood, as seen most clearly in the concept of daemons, to be an especially provocative part of his exploration throughout the books.
Please feel free to join the discussion with any general comments you have about the trilogy as a whole.
Kathleen T. Horning (horning at education.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 608&3930 FAX: 608&2I33
Received on Wed 02 May 2001 04:20:23 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 02 May 2001 16:20:23 -0500
We're ready to begin our discussion of Philip Pullman books this month, beginning with the HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy which I know people are very anxious to discuss.
For those of you who have not yet taken the opportunity to read the books, they are: "The Golden Compass" (entitled "Northern Lights" in the U.K.); "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass." I encourage you to rush right out and read them - you won't be sorry! In the meantime, you might want to tune out the discussion for now so there won't be spoilers.
And for those who have read the books, I hope you've also had a chance to read Kathleen Odean's excellent interview with Philip Pullman in the October 2000 issue of School Library Journal, available in a web version at: http://www.slj.com/articles/articles/20001001_9064.asp
I found Kathleen's question about how Philip Pullman views fantasy vs. realism to be especially compelling. Pullman says: "...when I found myself writing this book, what I wanted to do was to use the apparatus of fantasy in order to do what writers of realism are more typically interested in doing, namely, to explore this business about being a human being--what it feels like and what it's like, what it means for us to grow up, to pass away from our childhood, to suffer, to learn, to grow, to develop, to die, and so on. ..."
With this in mind, I found the tension between childhood and adulthood, as seen most clearly in the concept of daemons, to be an especially provocative part of his exploration throughout the books.
Please feel free to join the discussion with any general comments you have about the trilogy as a whole.
Kathleen T. Horning (horning at education.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 608&3930 FAX: 608&2I33
Received on Wed 02 May 2001 04:20:23 PM CDT
