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davem · 07-31-2006, 03:45 AM

I find myself wondering if Pullman's fans take from the novel what he wants them to take? How many of them read it fro its 'undermining' of Fantasy, & how many for the same reason as they read Tolkien – for 'Escape'. It strikes me now that Pullman sees the ending of HDM as 'positive', even upbeat – people are liberated from an oppressive religious order, & can now make the world in their own image. Pullman wants his readers to close the book with positive feelings, but I suspect most of them don't. They end, perhaps, feeling exactly the way readers of LotR do – sad at the loss of Magic, in the knowledge that all there is now is the 'ordinary'. They long for what has been taken from them when what Pullman actually wants is for them to feel liberated.

I suspect that as many readers of Pullman as of Tolkien 'desire Dragons with a profound desire', & do not wish them only to 'serve reality'. One of the cruellest things Pullman does in HDM is have Lyra attacked by the Harpies for 'lying' in the world of the Dead. This is an attack on the human capacity for creative fantasy. Pullman is actually attempting to terrify his readers – particularly his child readers – into rejecting fantasy. In short he is telling them 'Always tell the absolute truth, state only the FACTS, or you'll go to hell & stay there. Fantasy is WRONG because it is not 'true' (ie it does not depict the world as being the way 'science' says it is).

What I find fascinating is that he sees Fantasy/the Imagination as an enemy, something that has to be controlled, beaten into submission, made to serve REALITY. Tolkien's philosophy seems much more about creating something beautiful simply for the sake of it (or as he would probably have put it as an act of 'worship'). One creates because one is created but also one creates for sheer joy of creating. Pullman's approach is much more puritanical – what we create must serve a practical purpose. Pullman offers us 'liberation' from an oppressive Church merely so that we can forget all that 'mumbo-jumbo' & get some bloody work done!.

07-31-2006, 03:45 AM	#43
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	I find myself wondering if Pullman's fans take from the novel what he wants them to take? How many of them read it fro its 'undermining' of Fantasy, & how many for the same reason as they read Tolkien – for 'Escape'. It strikes me now that Pullman sees the ending of HDM as 'positive', even upbeat – people are liberated from an oppressive religious order, & can now make the world in their own image. Pullman wants his readers to close the book with positive feelings, but I suspect most of them don't. They end, perhaps, feeling exactly the way readers of LotR do – sad at the loss of Magic, in the knowledge that all there is now is the 'ordinary'. They long for what has been taken from them when what Pullman actually wants is for them to feel liberated. I suspect that as many readers of Pullman as of Tolkien 'desire Dragons with a profound desire', & do not wish them only to 'serve reality'. One of the cruellest things Pullman does in HDM is have Lyra attacked by the Harpies for 'lying' in the world of the Dead. This is an attack on the human capacity for creative fantasy. Pullman is actually attempting to terrify his readers – particularly his child readers – into rejecting fantasy. In short he is telling them 'Always tell the absolute truth, state only the FACTS, or you'll go to hell & stay there. Fantasy is WRONG because it is not 'true' (ie it does not depict the world as being the way 'science' says it is). What I find fascinating is that he sees Fantasy/the Imagination as an enemy, something that has to be controlled, beaten into submission, made to serve REALITY. Tolkien's philosophy seems much more about creating something beautiful simply for the sake of it (or as he would probably have put it as an act of 'worship'). One creates because one is created but also one creates for sheer joy of creating. Pullman's approach is much more puritanical – what we create must serve a practical purpose. Pullman offers us 'liberation' from an oppressive Church merely so that we can forget all that 'mumbo-jumbo' & get some bloody work done!. __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."