tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21959228.post5828164576869856436..comments2024-03-28T09:14:52.110+00:00Comments on Sinclair's Musings: His Dark MaterialsMatthew Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05948452770723874618noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21959228.post-4252054656465729772007-12-20T19:22:00.000+00:002007-12-20T19:22:00.000+00:00I don't think anyone's going to get any satisfacti...I don't think anyone's going to get any satisfaction from reading Pulman if they go in earnestly scrabbling for the ultimate 'meaning', the philosophy behind it, especially if they do so purely out of a desperate eagerness to 'disprove' its logic or dismiss its power. To get to the meaning in a book - in any art - you have to actually engage with it and enjoy it for what it is (in this case a fantasy story) and let it come to you through the experiences of the characters.<BR/><BR/>I've just finished Northern Lights. It's a good book, and it's foolish to suggest that Tolkien's monovoiced characters and heavy-handed symbolism are more nuanced.<BR/><BR/>Personally, I've resisted reading it because I'm not that interested in a genre whose father figure and guiding light never rose above leaden prose, and I consider the debate about God to be closed - I don't think I've ever seen a pro-religious argument advanced that has ever amounted to more than clutching at straws and trying to bolster cripplingly weak logic with an aggressive attitude.<BR/><BR/>But I was finally convinced to give it a go, and it's clear to me that anyone who isn't desperate to prove a point and who has any sense of literary judgment can hardly deny it's a very well written book that shows a lot of daring, imagination and contains a lot of truth, as well as food for thought.<BR/><BR/>I'm not going to go round enthusiastically recommending everyone read them to everyone I know, but neither am I going to stand for agenda-laden fools offering baseless and stupid criticism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21959228.post-82942144380692778832007-12-12T12:40:00.000+00:002007-12-12T12:40:00.000+00:00Agreed. Thanks for the link to the great Children ...Agreed. Thanks for the link to the great Children of Hurin review.<BR/><BR/>I did not find Pullman nuanced at all.Wolfiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05820269114208456064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21959228.post-12391584511855416612007-12-07T17:00:00.000+00:002007-12-07T17:00:00.000+00:00It's a great pity that these wonderful, subtle, an...It's a great pity that these wonderful, subtle, and beautiful books have been reduced to this level of sarcastic argument. It would be a shame if you chose not to read them. Pullman's "message" is considerably less preachy and more nuanced than you might think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21959228.post-38150321600514946482007-12-07T11:34:00.000+00:002007-12-07T11:34:00.000+00:00*SPOILERS*The universe of 'His Dark Materials' is ...*SPOILERS*<BR/><BR/>The universe of 'His Dark Materials' is deist rather than atheist - God (in the traditional sense) set things in motion, then retired for some unknown purpose (though I suspect it has something to do with giving us free will). The "Authority", whom Asrael sets out to destroy, is an angel (self-formed from "dust") who has set himself up (through lies and manipulation) as overlord of the universes. <BR/><BR/>Given the existence of a creating God, the supernatural and non-material souls (plus afterlife), it takes an incredibly distorted reading of the books to see them as in any way "atheist". <BR/><BR/>The trilogy is anti-dogma and anti-authoritarianism, not anti-religious. The fact that so many commentators seem to confuse the two is quite telling.Matt Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08062352280843955046noreply@blogger.com