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His Dark Materials controversy


KEV67

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWr1WP3ACqQ

I watch this bloke's video on the Philip Pullman controversy regarding the His Dark Materials trilogy. I was interested because I read the first book, Northern Lights, and I hated it. I was unwell with a cold at the time, which may have coloured my opinion, but I saw it as an attack on Christianity disguised as a children's book. I am fairly agnostic myself, but I did not think he should be doing that. Anyway, it seems I was not alone in suspecting that. In fact he admits it himself. Philip Pullman supposedly said he hated the Narnia Christian allegory novels and wrote his trilogy as some sort of anti-Narnia series.

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I too tried and failed, to be 'gripped' by the enthusiasm shown by its legions of fans for the first book, I actually got all three, expecting to be immersed in a fantastical world for many hours. I found it failed to interest me for a number of reasons, I have read the Narnia series, and as a non-christian myself, did not find them either offensive to non-believers, or particularly tub thumping on behalf of Christian believers; just a collection of stories that held my interest long enough to finish them. The Pullman trilogy, alas, went the way of most of my 'failed' reads, to the Charity shop, where maybe someone more open to  being persuaded this was excellent reading, took them home and enjoyed them? Each to their own, and sadly, these were just 'not for me'!

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9 hours ago, KEV67 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWr1WP3ACqQ

I watch this bloke's video on the Philip Pullman controversy regarding the His Dark Materials trilogy. I was interested because I read the first book, Northern Lights, and I hated it. I was unwell with a cold at the time, which may have coloured my opinion, but I saw it as an attack on Christianity disguised as a children's book. I am fairly agnostic myself, but I did not think he should be doing that. Anyway, it seems I was not alone in suspecting that. In fact he admits it himself. Philip Pullman supposedly said he hated the Narnia Christian allegory novels and wrote his trilogy as some sort of anti-Narnia series.

Very interesting indeed. I have not read either C S Lewis or Pullman but I have read Harry Potter and the Potter books are nowhere near Satanism (and yes, I do know enough about Satanism to say that). I sometimes wonder about the people who come out with that kind of thing.  When The Da Vinci Code came out key places that were visited in the book and the film were visited in real life by American tourists who claimed to the people who worked there that The Da Vinci Code was real. I wasn't going to read The Da Vinci Code but it was recommended by my father who had a copy in the house so I did read it and thoroughly enjoyed it.  How anyone could think that it was real is beyond me.  Since I haven't read either Narnia or His Dark Materials I can't comment but neither of them have been banned - banning guaranteeing a big readership - and they are classed as children's fiction so I, personally, wouldn't read that much into it. As for Pullman himself saying what he said: he's an author who has a vested interest in getting his books sold one way or another so if he gets adults to buy/read them as well as children he's winning then isn't he? Controversy is good publicity.

Edited by lunababymoonchild
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I've read interviews with Pullman where' he's said he's actually attacking the hypocrisy of some people who use religious ideology to commit crimes (if you read a bit further than the first book you would come to this), rather than religion itself.  I did enjoy the first 2 books but found them very derivative - after all raising an army of the dead had been done years ago in Lord of the Rings.  And when I first read Northern Lights (it's original title) i thought that the experiments on the children were more reminiscent of experiments carried out by the Nazis.

 

These books are certainly divisive!

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I read the first book, many years ago, but for some reason never went further. 

 

I think most people that have problems with the books have problems with the third one, where

 

Spoiler

God puts in an appearance and, let's just say he isn't painted in a very positive light!

 

I have been tempted to pick them up again, however, having watched the BBC adaptation, which is a superb piece of television (very much looking forward to series 3!)

 

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