Myth and Childhood in Philip Pullman

Roundtable Discussion
Myth and Childhood in Philip Pullman

Myth Reading Group
Wednesday 12 February 2020
1.15 – 2.45 pm
Room NTC.2.07

Leonardo da Vinci, Lady with an Ermine (1489–90). [Public Domain]

In this roundtable session we will discuss the use of myth in Philip Pullman’s acclaimed trilogy His Dark Materials (1995-2000) and we will consider some of the literary influences behind it, from the biblical story of the Fall and Milton’s Paradise Lost to William Blake. The books focus on Lyra’s childhood adventures and her battle with the Magisterium.

Pullman’s recent trilogy, The Book of Dust (2017- ) also derives inspiration from myth and religion while it delves deeper into the existence of daemons in Pullman’s universe. In La Belle Sauvage (2017) infant Lyra travels inside a canoe during a biblical flood while in The Secret Commonwealth (2019) adult Lyra makes an epic journey from Oxford to the East.

You are welcome to bring your lunch to the session.

Primary Reading:

• The Amber Spyglass, Chapter 21: The Harpies, pp. 820-33. In this chapter Lyra descends to the Land of the Dead.

Secondary reading:

• “The Sound and the Story: Exploring the World of Paradise Lost”, essay by Philip Pullman in The Public Domain Review
• La Belle Sauvage, Chapter 23: Ancientry, pp. 508-15. In this chapter infant Lyra, Malcolm, and Alice meet a river god during the flood.
• The Secret Commonwealth, Chapter 32: Hospitality, pp. 673-77. In this chapter Lyra is separated from her daemon and seeks the Blue Hotel, a place whose residents are people without daemons.

Additional sources:

• “Before His Dark Materials: Philip Pullman’s new novel – exclusive extract” (The Guardian, 2017)
• “What Lyra did next: an exclusive extract from Philip Pullman’s new novel The Secret Commonwealth” (The Guardian, 2019)
• His Dark Materials: Season 1, Official Trailer, HBO: