The Pledge drive is over, and now I'm frantically trying to catch up on all the work that piled up over the past weeks.
I have to take a moment to ask, though: Has anyone else seen this? I think Pullman must resent the Christian theme more than he's letting on, because I don't think there's an absence of love in these books. Then again, the only ones I can really remember are The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Magician's Nephew. Is Pullman on to something? Anyone?
11 comments:
sour grapes? If nothing else, it's an entertaining story. I loved the cartoon version when I was a kid.
Welcome back.
Hi Gina and welcome back. I am listening to DUQ via live stream this afternoon and I must say I'm enjoying it. Was hoping to hear you on-air, but if you were, I missed you. (I mean they would have said your name or something, right?)
Quoted below was the most lucid comment I found. I never was able to "get into" the Pullman books, but now I just think the guy is mean and so I don't want to even try.
"Geesh. Relax already, everybody. It's art! The art of CS Lewis, Philip Pullman or whoever. If you don't like it, why work yourself into a lather over it? Find something else to envy.
James E Stephenson, Seattle, WA"
I am so glad to have read these books early enough in my life to have totally missed all the alegory.
I think Pullman is daft.
Glad you're back, Gina. I just don't see what Pullman does in the Narnia books -- haven't read them all though, only LW&W.
I really, really loved the His Dark Materials trilogy, but I don't know that I like Pullman himself. That's disappointing, because I often find myself loving an author whose books move me--and who wants to love someone they don't *like*?
I picked up Pullman's newest, The Scarecrow and His Servant, at the library a few weeks ago, and I didn't finish it. It was cute enough, but it didn't move me--it wasn't in the same league as His Dark Materials. It's written for a younger audience, and I acknowledge that, but it also seems to have been written for a dumber audience.
Peg: The only time you can hear me on the air outside of pledge drives is when I record underwriting credits ("Support for DUQ comes from . . . "). But thanks for listening! :-)
Gina,
I was crushed--crushed, I tell you!--when I found out what a rat bastid A.A. Milne was.
Another writer whom I dislike but whose writings I GENERALLY enjoy is Tony Hendra.
Life is complicated, and I don't care for that.
-J.
i loved the HDM trilogy, but having read several interviews with pullman - he's a jerk.
As for "love" in the Narni a books, the prime example of love demonstrated is Aslan's sacrifice of himself for the children. How do you top that? Pullman's crazy - has he even read them, for god's sake? and it does sound like a bit of sour grapes, like he's afraid that movie will compete with his...?
and don't tell me about aa milne - i adore his cleverness and wordplay, and don't want to think about him being a jerk.
No one can convince me that the first books that made me cry have no love in them. No one.
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