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His Dark Materials

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File:Hisdarkm.jpg
The trilogy (non-North American versions), in order of succession from left to right.

His Dark Materials is a trilogy of novels by the fantasy fiction author Philip Pullman, comprising Northern Lights (released as The Golden Compass in North America and published in 1995), The Subtle Knife (published in 1997) and The Amber Spyglass (published in 2000). The trilogy has also been published as a single-volume omnibus in the United Kingdom, titled simply "His Dark Materials".

The trilogy follows the coming of age of two main characters, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they wander through a multiverse and a backdrop of epic events. The story begins in Northern Lights with fantasy elements such as gypsies, witches, and armoured bears. As the trilogy progresses, it acquires allegorical layers of meaning, introducing a broad range of ideas from fields such as metaphysics, quantum physics, philosophy (especially religious philosophy and, arguably, a certain position on the origin of consciousness), and Biblical symbolism.

Although the series is marketed to children, the audience includes many young adults and adult readers. Pullman has specifically denied targeting the books at any particular age group[1].


My mind is like a fog. I don't care. That's how it is.

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Influences and criticism

The three major literary influences on His Dark Materials acknowledged by Pullman himself are the essay On the Marionette Theatre by Heinrich von Kleist (which can be found here), the works of William Blake, and, most importantly, John Milton's Paradise Lost, from which the trilogy derives its title as well as many of its basic ideas. Pullman's stated intention was to invert Milton's story of a war between heaven and hell. In his introduction, he adapts Blake's line to quip that he (Pullman) "is of the Devil's party and does know it." The novels also draw heavily on gnostic ideas, and His Dark Materials has been a subject of controversy, especially with certain Christian groups. The verse from Paradise Lost in which the phrase "his dark materials" is used follows:

Into this wilde Abyss,
The Womb of nature and perhaps her Grave,
Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire,
But all these in thir pregnant causes mix't
Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight,
Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain
His dark materials to create more Worlds,
Into this wilde Abyss the warie fiend
Stood on the brink of Hell and look'd a while,
Pondering his Voyage...

Christianity and the Church are often criticized by the characters. For example, Ruta Skadi, a minor character calling for war against the Magisterium in Lyra's world, says that "For all of [the Church's] history...it's tried to suppress and control every natural impulse. And when it can't control them, it cuts them out." (see intercision). She extends her criticism to all organized religion: "That's what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling." In another passage Mary Malone, one of Pullman's main characters, states that "the Christian religion…is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all.".

Pullman has, however, also found support from other Christians, most notably Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who argues that Pullman's attacks are focused on the constraints and dangers of dogmatism and the use of religion to oppress, not on Christianity itself. Pullman himself has said in interviews and appearances[2][3] that his argument can be extended to all religions.

Some have called His Dark Materials the antithesis of The Chronicles of Narnia, the seven-book fantasy series by C. S. Lewis, although Pullman denies any conscious connection[3]. This image has been reinforced by Pullman making public statements accusing Lewis of being "blatantly racist" and "monumentally disparaging of women" in his novels[4]

In terms of popularity, the trilogy is sometimes compared with fantasy books like A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane and the Narnia books themselves. [5]

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On the other hand, critics feel that within the books the Christian God is described as a false god, and the afterlife turns out to be a terrible place where people are tormented by "harpies" (only somewhat similar to the Greek harpies); the false god drifts apart after being released near the end of the story. Moreover, some claim there is no distinction between "bad" and "good" Christian practice: nearly all the Christian characters are portrayed as bad individuals, or are portrayed in a more positive light only after they give up their previous affiliation with the Church (although there are, in fact, many 'good' Christian characters - but most of them are unimportant in the story as a whole). Cynthia Grenier, in the Catholic Culture, interprets this way: "In the world of Pullman, God Himself (the Authority) is a merciless tyrant, His Church is an instrument of oppression, and true heroism consists of overthrowing both."[6]

Awards

The Amber Spyglass won the 2001 Whitbread Book of the Year award, a prestigious British literature award. This is the first time that such an award has been bestowed on a book from their "children's literature" category.

The first volume, Northern Lights, won the Carnegie Medal for children's fiction in the UK in 1995.

On May 19, 2005, Pullman was invited to the British Library in London to be formally congratulated for his work by culture secretary Tessa Jowell "on behalf of the government"; he is to receive the Swedish government's Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for children's and youth literature. The prize, second only to the Nobel Prize in Literature, is worth £385,000.

The trilogy came third in the 2003 BBC's Big Read, a national poll of viewers' favourite books, after Lord of the Rings and Pride and Prejudice. It was one of only two books in the top five not to have had a screen adaptation at that time (the film version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which came fifth, was not released until 2005), and those two books were the only entries in the top ten to have been written in the last twenty-five years.

Adaptations

As of September 2006, the film is to be directed by Chris Weitz, who also acts as screenwriter. Weitz felt himself unable to deal with the "technical challenges" of the film, and so was replaced for a time by Anand Tucker, but Tucker ultimately left the project due to creative differences and Weitz returned. Prior to his initial departure from the project Weitz suggested that its film treatment might minimize the explicitly religious character of The Authority so as to avoid offending some viewers, and sparked a fan backlash that some believe was the real reason for Weitz's leaving. Pullman has now stated that "All the important scenes are there and will have their full value."

As of 2006, the film is in pre-production. On March 14, 2006, open auditions for the role of Lyra were announced [7]. The production hopes to cast unknown British actors for the roles of Lyra and Will, and to stay as true to the book as possible. Dakota Blue Richards has been cast as Lyra. Nicole Kidman has been cast as Mrs. Coulter, Daniel Craig has signed to play Lord Asriel, and Eva Green will play Serafina Pekkalla throughout the trilogy. It is not known how the most recent reversal of directors will alter the course of the auditions that have already taken place.

Terminology

Esoteric renaming

To enhance the feeling of being in a parallel universe, Pullman renames various common objects of our world with historic terms or new words of his own, often reflecting the power of the Church in Lyra's world. The alternative names he chooses often follow alternate etymologies, while making it possible to guess what everyday object or person he is referring to. Below are some of the significant renamings.

  • Anbaric: Electric. From amber, which the ancient Greeks in our world thought was the source of electricity. The English word "electric" is based on the Greek "ηλέκτρινος", meaning "amber".
  • Atomcraft: Research into particle physics, specifically using uranium.
  • Brytain: A phonetically identical respelling of the country Britain.
  • Cauchuc: Rubber and possibly also plastic, from the Native American word cauchuc or caoutchouc meaning the sap of the rubber tree.
  • Celestial Geography: Celestial navigation.
  • Chapel: A scientific laboratory.
  • Chaplain: The head of a scientific laboratory.
  • Chocolatl: Sometimes hot chocolate, sometimes "a bar of chocolatl" (a chocolate bar). From the nahuatl (Aztec) word for chocolate.
  • Chthonic Railway Station: A tube-station (subway station). "Chthonic" is from Greek χθονιος, meaning pertaining to the earth; earthy.
  • Coal-silk: Carbon-fibre (coal as in carbon, silk as in soft, like carbon-fibre coats). An artificial fibre similar to rayon, which was once known as art-silk in our world.
  • Corea: A phonetically identical respelling of the country Korea, which was formerly used.
  • Eireland: Ireland, as referred to in the Cittàgazze universe. Presumably a mixture of Ireland's Irish-language (Éire) and English-language names.
  • Electrum: An occasionally used latin word for Amber; see "anbaric" above.
  • (Experimental) Theologian: A physicist. From "Natural Theology" meaning science.
  • Gyropter: a helicopter.
  • Gyptians: Boat-dwelling "Gypsies". In reality, the word "Gypsy" is derived from "Egypt". Gypsies were once thought by "native" Britons to have come from Egypt due to their darker skin. Pullman is clearly referencing this etymological heritage.
  • Lascar: An East Indian. This is a real, though archaic, English word.
  • Marchpane: Marzipan. In reality, "Marchpane" is an archaic word for "marzipan".
  • Muscovite: A Russian, a reference to the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
  • Naphtha: Oil (as in oil-lamp, rather than naphtha-lamp), named after a petrochemical like kerosene.
  • Nipponese: Japanese. From Nippon, the Japanese-language name for Japan.
  • Oratory: An individual church.
  • Philosophical: Having to do with the study of physics. In our own world, physics was once a part of philosophy.
  • Roman: Specifically, the Latin language.
  • Skraeling: A Native American/First Nations (Inuit) person, particularly one from Greenland. Natives of Greenland were once named similarly by the Vikings of our world (see Skræling).
  • Tartar: A Mongol.

Pronunciation

The pronunciations given in italics below are, for the most part, drawn from BridgetotheStars.net. The pronunciations in both the radio plays and the audio book readings of the trilogy (by Pullman himself) are those given, some of which are technically incorrect under standard pronunciation rules. The transcriptions surrounded by square brackets are in the International Phonetic Alphabet, as spoken in Received Pronunciation.

  • Alethiometer: al-eth-ee-OM-et-er [əˌliːθɪˈɒmɪtə]
  • Æsahættr: ASS-at-ter [ˈæshætə]
  • Aurora Borealis: uh-ROR-uh bor-ee-AH-lis [əˈɹɔːɹə ˌbɔːɹɪˈɑːlɪs]
  • Chthonic (see above): kuh-THON-ick orTHON-ick [k(ə)ˈθɒnɪk] or [ˈθɒnɪk]. See chthonic for details.
  • Cittàgazze: chee-tuh-GAHT-s(z)ay (as Italian) [ˌtʃiːtəˈgætse]
  • Dæmon: DEE-mon [ˈdiːmən]
  • Iorek: YOR-ick [ˈjɔːɹɪk]
  • Iofur: YO-fur [ˈjəʊfʊə]
  • Kirjava: KEER-yah-vuh [ˌkiːrˈjɑːvə]
  • Lyra: LIE-ruh [ˈlaɪɹə]
  • Mulefa: m(y)ool-EFF-uh [ˌmuːˈlɛfə]
  • Panserbjørne: PAN-ser-byorn-eh [ˈpænsəbjɜːnə] (early UK editions had "Panserbørne")
  • Pantalaimon: pan-tuh-LIE-mon [ˌpæntəˈlaɪmən]
  • Quantum: KWON-tuhm [ˈkwɒntəm]
  • Salmakia: sal-MACK-ee-uh [ˌsælˈmækɪə]
  • Serafina Pekkala: seh-ra-FEE-nuh pek-KAH-luh [sɛɹəˈfiːnə pɛˈkɑːlə]
  • Tialys: tee-AH-lis [tɪˈɑːlɪs]
  • Torre degli Angeli: TOR-ay DAI-(y)-lee A(H)N-juhl-ee (as Italian) [ˈtɔːre ˈdɛlɪ ˈændʒɛlɪ]
  • Xaphania: zaf-AY-nee-uh [zəˈfeɪnɪə]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Man Behind the Magic: An Interview with Philip Pullman". Retrieved 29 March. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ The BBC's Belief
  3. ^ a b Heat and Dust (interview)
  4. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,726739,00.html
  5. ^ http://www.sd68.k12.il.us/schools/orchard/LMC/fantasy.htm
  6. ^ Catholic Culture Philip Pullman's Dark Materials
  7. ^ http://www.hisdarkmaterials.org/article-715.html

Further reading

  • Gribbin, John and Mary (2005). The Science of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. Knopf Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0-375-83144-4.
  • Lenz, Millicent (2005). His Dark Materials Illuminated: Critical Essays on Phillip Pullman's Trilogy. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3207-2.
  • Squires, Claire (2003). Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy: A Reader's Guide. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1479-6.
  • Yeffeth, Glenn (2005). Navigating the Golden Compass: Religion, Science and Daemonology in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. Benbella Books. ISBN 1-932100-52-0.
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