His Dark Materials - d1wf8hd6ovssje.cloudfront.netd1wf8hd6ovssje.cloudfront.net/documents/His-Dark-Materials.pdf · His Dark Materials based on the novels by Philip Pullman adapted

His Dark Materialsbased on the novels by Philip Pullmanadapted by Nicholas Wright

Further production details:www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

DirectorNicholas Hytner

DesignerGiles Cadie

NT Education National TheatreSouth Bank London SE1 9PX

T 020 7452 3388F 020 7452 3380E educationenquiries@

nationaltheatre.org.uk

Workpack written byNikki Gamble, Pat Pinsentand Kimberley Reynolds

Editors Kimberley Reynolds andEmma Thirlwell

Design Alexis BaileyPatrick Eley

His Dark Materials Workpack

ContentsThe Play 2

Exercises 14

Further research 23

Notes 24

Education

HisDarkMaterials

Philip Pullman’s

national theatre education workpack 2

Please note: complementary material, includingimages, audio diaries, interviews, andrecordings from rehearsals and performancescan be found at the companion website,www.stagework.org.uk. The site will grow overthe weeks of performance so it is worth visitingit more than once.

Philip Pullman’s novels, Northern Lights (1995),The Subtle Knife (1997) and The AmberSpyglass (2000) make up the hugely popular HisDark Materials trilogy. Appealing to both adultsand children, the books have sold in theirmillions, been translated into more than thirtylanguages, and from December 2003, are beingperformed at the National Theatre as two three-hour plays, adapted by Nicholas Wright anddirected by Nicholas Hytner. The success of thetrilogy lies not only in its ability to engagereaders in an extraordinary and powerfulimaginary journey, but also in itsacknowledgement of deeply-felt cultural needs:the need to interrogate ethical issues,encompassing scientific research and the placeof religion in contemporary society; the need torethink adult-child relationships when childhooditself seems to be under threat: some adults arereluctant to leave childhood behind – creatingthe new phenomenon of the ‘kiddult’ – andpaedophiles are feared to be lurking in thelargely un-patrolled dimension of cyberspace;the need to question traditional institutions and

crucially, the possibility for effective action byindividuals.

In many ways, the belief these texts register inthe possibility of taking action and the necessityto assume responsibility for creating the self arethe most original, most encouraging and mostPullmanesque themes developed in the courseof His Dark Materials. Where many of the mostfamous children’s books, including Alice inWonderland, Peter Pan and The Chronicles ofNarnia (all, incidentally, regularly performed toChristmas audiences) depict growing up as theloss of innocence and the end of the golden ageof childhood and so trap their protagonists in aperpetual state of childhood, His Dark Materialshas quite a different attitude to growing up. Tosurvive and become a moral, responsible adult,capable of functioning in the world is the goal itsets Lyra and Will, who are role models for itsreaders. Growing up is the ultimate adventure inPullman’s books. It isn’t easy; indeed, in theircase it will include loss, separation and betrayalas well as love and friendship and the manypleasures that come with experience. LikeWilliam Blake before him, Pullman showsreaders that life can’t tolerate perpetualinnocence; experience isn’t diminution, thoughit is change. These books encourage readers toembrace the challenges that lie ahead and to beexcited by the opportunities they have to makean impact on the world around them, while inthe process constructing identities of whichthey can be proud. In what are uncertain times,this is surely a valuable lesson for the young,and one that promotes the skills being fosteredthrough the new Citizenship curriculum. It is notaccidental that this message is conveyedthrough the medium of fantasy.

Rosemary Jackson has described fantasy as‘the literature of subversion’ for the way it givesexpression to ‘the unsaid and the unseen ofculture: that which has been silenced, madeinvisible, covered over, and made “absent”.’1 Itmight be more accurate to term it a literature ofsubstitution, since fantasy works bysubstituting something acceptable to anindividual or her/his society for something thatis forbidden, transgressive, feared, or otherwiseproblematic. It is important to keep both thesubversive and the substitutive dimensions of

The play

Anna Maxwell Martin (as Lyra) and Armoured Bears

photo Ivan Kyncl


fantasy in mind when thinking about it as agenre and when reading or watching His DarkMaterials. What is being articulated in thesetexts that cannot be expressed so effectivelyelsewhere in culture, and what forms ofsubstitution take place in the narrative? Shouldwe be surprised that a work of fantasy is givensuch stature and discussed across the agerange?

Fantasy’s appeal to all age groupsOne of the strengths of fantasy is its strongappeal to all age groups. It is surely significantthat among the twenty-one most popular booksselected by the public during 2003 in the BBC’s‘The Big Read’, the six which can mostaccurately be described as being written for ayoung audience include five fantasy novels.Among these is Philip Pullman’s His DarkMaterials trilogy. Also in this list, and still verynear the margins of ‘children’s literature’ in theirappeal to ‘young adults,’ are other fantasies, byJ.R.R. Tolkien, Terry Pratchett and DouglasAdams. From parents reading Winnie-the-Poohto pre-school children and enjoying thesimilarities between the book’s characters andtheir own grown-up friends, to the teenage ‘discworld’ fanatic sharing his/her enthusiasm withparents or older siblings, the audience for anyfantasy story has the potential to be broaderthan that for realism.

Why does fantasy seem to appeal to a widerrange of readers than realism? One reason issurely the fact that most fantasy books allowreaders to make their own interpretations ofplot, events and characters. Readers maysimply enjoy an exciting story and getting toknow interesting characters from the inside, butthey can also read the books as metaphors forother aspects of life. Most of Pullman’s youngerreaders are likely to be attracted by thepersonalities of Lyra and Will, recognising, inthe development of their characters andrelationship, issues which are relevant toadolescents. They will relish the travel todifferent worlds, Lyra’s search for Roger, herconversations with Pantalaimon, and the detailsof Will’s use of the subtle knife. Adult readers,especially those with a literary background,while not rejecting these elements, may befascinated by the differences between Lyra’sOxford and the one we know, enjoy recognisingPullman’s echoes of Milton and Blake, and beinterested by his views about religion, whetherthey share his unbelief or not. The fantasy genreallows these and other readings to coexist,where a realistic novel might be over-stretchedif it attempted to offer the same range ofpossibilities.

Departure from everyday reality has alwaysproved an effective background for theexploration of religious and philosophical ideas;Dante’s Divine Comedy and Milton’s ParadiseLost explore theological ideas in a cosmicsetting, while the largely down-to-earthCanterbury Tales by Chaucer are primarilyconcerned with abuses in the medieval churchand sexual relationships between thecharacters in the stories. This period of ‘timeout’ from everyday reality, and especially theelement of disguise in fantasy makes it aparticularly effective vehicle for commenting oncontemporary issues without being overlydidactic; it also makes it possible to explorewhat, if dealt with realistically, could be toopainful. Like dreams, fantasy distances difficultmaterial, but this does not mean that it isescapist. As the National Theatre’s rehearsalprocesses make clear, His Dark Materials, likenearly all fantasy, doesn’t escape but is closelylinked to reality. For example, the audio diary2

The play

Niamh Cusack (as Serafina Pekkala) with her

dæmon Kaisa

photo Ivan Kyncl


kept by the actor Russell Tovey, who plays thecharacter Roger, explains how research intotopical issues and real-life stories was used tohelp the actors understand the emotions of thechildren who were kidnapped by the Gobblers:‘We sat and talked about comparing how thechildren feel, with the film The MagdaleneSisters where the girls get picked up and putinto a convent for the rest of their lives… [and]how kids during the war (cockney kids) weresent to Australia to live and how they weresending letters to their parents and their parentswere sending letters to them, but neither everreceived any of the letters.’ They also readpolice reports on Iraqi children who had beentaken, beaten and mentally tortured.Preparatory work of this kind reveals muchabout the impact of His Dark Materials, andshows Nicholas Hytner’s decision to adapt thework for the National Theatre, made well beforePullman was awarded the Whitbread Prize forLiterature and before the current war in Iraq, tohave been prophetic.

It is not necessary to rehearse the frequentattempts to categorise different varieties offantasy (a list of further reading about fantasy isprovided in the bibliography if you wish to seehow others have done this), but it is worthnoting some of the types of fantasy that HisDark Materials is not. Unlike some of Pullman’sother work, such as Count Karlstein andClockwork, and also unlike J.K. Rowling’s

‘Harry Potter’ books, His Dark Materials haslittle place for magic, at least in the sense of itsbeing in the hands of powerful magicians.Despite the importance of dæmons, it can’treally be called animal fantasy, like KennethGrahame’s The Wind in the Willows and A.A.Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. Though there is muchtravel between universes, it is not time-travel,unlike Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s MidnightGarden. Instead, His Dark Materials involvesalternative universes, a sub-genre which in thehands of writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien andUrsula Le Guin, may exclude ‘our’ world, whileothers, such as C.S. Lewis, include a version ofthis earth among the possible locations foraction. The idea of having a nearly infinitenumber of possible worlds is particularlycharacteristic of the novels of Diana WynneJones, a highly regarded fantasy writer whosework, like Pullman’s, is often considered verychallenging for young readers. Although none ofthe His Dark Materials books includes maps,there is no doubt that the excitement ofexperiencing worlds that differ from ours inoriginal ways features high among the elementsattracting readers – an aspect implicitlyrecognised in the recent publication of Lyra’sOxford. The street plan provided in this book(probably particularly for the amusement of anadult reader familiar with the location) revealshow similar the shape of Lyra’s Oxford is to theuniversity city that readers can visit, thoughplaces such as Jordan College will not be foundthere.

Philip Pullman’s life and work3

Like many writers, Philip Pullman has madeconsiderable use in his writing of his ownexperience. His time as a teacher of pupils agedbetween 9 and 13 seems to have beenparticularly significant for him, not so much inproviding themes for his novels, as in fosteringhis enthusiasm for drama – he wrote severalplays for his pupils – and giving him a livelyawareness of the reading interests of hispotential audience. His continuing interest ineducation is displayed in the contribution hemade recently to a small collection of reflectionson the National Literacy Strategy (Meetings withthe Minister, 2003) in which he deplores the

The play

Lyra's dæmon (Pantalaimon),Anna Maxwell Martin

(as Lyra) Timothy Dalton (asLord Asriel), Lord Asriel's

dæmon (Stelmaria)

photo Ivan Kyncl


pressures imposed on teachers by theprevalence of testing, which makes it difficultfor them to allow their pupils to develop theirabilities freely, or to enjoy reading for its ownsake.

When he was a child, Philip Pullman’simagination was nurtured by the stories (Biblicaland otherwise) told to him and his brother by hisAnglican clergyman grandfather, as well as byan eclectic range of tales from other sources.His university career, at Exeter College, Oxford,was undistinguished, but it had the merit ofacquainting him with the roofs of the colleges(very important to Lyra’s childhood) andcultivating his interest in drama and music.

Although his first book was for adult readers,Pullman’s writing career was given aconsiderable boost by his experience in theclassroom, as his first children’s novel, CountKarlstein, or The Ride of the Demon Huntsman,developed from a play he wrote for the childrenhe taught. While not all his novels couldcategorically be classed as fantasies, fewinvolve what might be termed everyday reality.The Sally Lockhart quartet, his best-knownwork before he embarked on the His DarkMaterials saga, is set in late-Victorian London,and is notably influenced by the style and theplots of Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘SherlockHolmes’ stories, as well as the Dickensian worldof coincidence and villainy. Like his later andbetter-known trilogy, this quartet involves a

strong heroine, whose parents have beenabsent from her childhood (in this case throughdeath), and who ventures into hazardoussituations in the pursuit of truth.

His Dark Materials: The plot in briefThe three volumes of his trilogy – which,Pullman claims with some justice, form a single(rather lengthy!) novel – follow the adventuresand the growing love between Lyra, a girl from aworld which, as Pullman says in NorthernLights, is ‘like ours but different in many ways,’and, from volume II, Will, who is a fugitive fromjustice in ‘our’ world, since he has accidentallykilled a man. The Church, depicted here as acorrupt institution, is seeking to prevent Lyrafrom becoming ‘the new Eve’, because her‘Fall’, unlike that in Genesis, will be a means offreeing the world from the arbitrary and life-denying strictures of ‘The Authority’ (a termused to correspond to God, arrogated tohimself by an elderly angel) and the Churchitself. Lyra succeeds in fulfilling her prophesiedrole, but at the end of the saga, learns that forthe enduring happiness of the living and thepreservation of the dead from a prolongedempty existence, she and Will must forever beapart.

The two National Theatre plays, while in manyways faithful to the original text, inevitably omitsome incidents and characters, and make adivision in the middle of the second volume.Even after such omissions and necessarycondensing of the plot, as Dominic Leclerc(Assistant Director) explains in his audio diary2,the sheer scale and complexity of the plotrequired adaptor, director and actors to focuson ‘clear, precise storytelling, because as weknow, in His Dark Materials there is a labyrinthof different stories, crosscurrents, differentcharacters, different groups of beings… and it’simportant not to get lost in the spectacle, not toget lost in the story…’

‘Read like a butterfly, write like a bee’(Acknowledgements, The Amber Spyglass)‘I have stolen ideas from every book I have everread’, says Philip Pullman in theAcknowledgements pages for The AmberSpyglass. His use of existing literary sources

The play

The Golden Monkey (MrsCoulter’s dæmon), Patricia

Hodge (as Mrs Coulter) Timothy Dalton (as LordAsriel), Stelamaria (Lord

Asriel’s dæmon)

photo Ivan Kyncl


means that it is helpful to think of Pullman’swriting as intertextual. Intertextuality refers tothe whole network of ways in which one text isread in relation to all the others that both readerand writer have and will read. All texts dependon other texts for their meanings; this dynamicis particularly relevant to the use and function ofintertextuality in children’s literature since youngreaders are necessarily at the start of theirliterary/reading histories and so have a smallerreservoir of literary texts available to them incomparison to adults – though they are likely tohave a larger body of non-literary texts such astelevision programmes, commercials, popularmusic, illustrations, films and cartoons on whichto draw. Moreover, with the increasing numbersof books in circulation, including those whichare deliberately intertextual, the order in whichtexts are encountered by the reader may not beas intended by the writer. For instance, manychildren today encounter Jon Scieszka’s TheTrue Story of the 3 Little Pigs (1989) before theyknow the original tale, just as Pullman acquaintsthem (whether or not they are aware of this fact)with the work of Blake, Milton and othersignificant writers from the past.

Pullman’s intertextuality is characteristicallyoptimistic; his writing uses earlier works asbuilding blocks for making something entirelyfresh and new. At the same time, he happilyacknowledges that each generation owes adebt to the thinkers and writers who have gone

before and who have prepared the way for newideas, ideas suited to current needs andcircumstances. In the case of His DarkMaterials, Pullman points to ‘three debts thatneed acknowledgement above all the rest’.These are to an eighteenth-century Germanwriter, unlikely to be familiar to most readers,and to two great English poets, Milton andBlake.

Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1812), On the Marionette Theatre4

This short piece, written in 1810 and first readby Pullman in 1978, tells of an encounterbetween the narrator and an old friend who isan expert dancer and also possesses a gooddeal of knowledge about puppets. Thediscussion begins by considering the potentialfor dancing by figures whose centres of gravityare placed in such a way that their movements,unlike those of human dancers, are controlledsolely by the law of gravity. Thus puppets canmove with a fluidity of which human beings areincapable once their natural childish grace islost, as they develop consciousness ofthemselves. The dancer also recounts a storyabout a bear which can defeat any humanfencer because it is able to detect the falsity ofany thrusts which are intended to deceive. Hisconclusion is that ‘Grace appears most purelyin that human form which either has noconsciousness or an infinite consciousness.’The narrator enquires whether this implies that‘we must eat again of the tree of knowledge inorder to return to the state of innocence,’ and isgiven an affirmative answer.

It is easy to see the connections between thisstory and the controlling theme of His DarkMaterials. In the spirit of von Kleist’s dancer,Pullman does not deplore the inevitable loss of‘grace’ which is associated with maturity, butrather advocates what might be described as a‘second Fall’ as a step on the way to ‘becominggods,’ by linking experience to self-knowledge.

An interesting sideline to this is the obviousinfluence of von Kleist’s essay on Pullman’sinvention of the armoured bears; it is evenpossible that it may have sparked off one of hismost original imaginative creations, thedæmons. It is therefore particularly apt that the

The play

Timothy Dalton (as LordAsriel), Lord Asriel's dæmon

(Stelmaria)

photo Ivan Kyncl


performance of non-human roles in the NationalTheatre production is allocated to puppets;however, this also highlights a major differencebetween reading His Dark Materials andperforming it. On the page it is possible for thenarrator simply to announce that a dæmon haschanged shape; on stage it must be shown.Some of the dæmon puppets, created by theCurry brothers who also made the puppets forthe staged version of The Lion King, are workedby the actors; in some cases puppeteers areinvolved. Puppets are tucked into sleeves andhidden in special compartments in costumes,and present a constant challenge to the actors,as Russell Tovey explains: ‘you’re not justthinking about the acting… you’ve got thisanimal with you all the time that… you’ve got tomake come alive effortlessly’. Puppetworkshops, choreography, visits to the zoo andconstant rehearsals were used to help actorsturn puppets into dæmons, so that it doesn’tseem as if they ‘are just holding a stuffed parrotat the end of an arm, but that they are holding areal life force with a real feeling of energybetween the performer and the dæmon.’ (Tovey)

John Milton (1608–1674), Paradise Lost(published in 1667 but written over a longperiod)Pullman’s debt to Milton is not only signalled inhis acknowledgements at the end of the trilogy,but also in the quotation from Paradise Lost(Book II, lines 910–919) from which he has

drawn the title His Dark Materials and which isused as the epigraph to Northern Lights.Milton’s context is the point at which Satan, onhis way to the newly created Earth in the laterfulfilled hope of tempting the first humans fromtheir obedience to their creator, meets Sin, thedaughter who sprang from his head when heled the revolt in heaven, and their mutualoffspring, Death. The ‘dark materials’ are thefour elements out of which God had created theuniverse, while Pullman’s title presumablyalludes to the rich potential not only of thesematerials but also of the ‘Dust’ which is sosignificant to his theme. Milton’s works, againmostly Paradise Lost, also provide theepigraphs to six of the 38 chapters of TheAmber Spyglass, a number equalled by thosewhich are quoted from the Bible and onlyexceeded by the ten from the works of Blake.

Milton’s sympathies during the English Civil Warwere strongly Republican, and he publishedpamphlets attacking monarchy and justifyingthe execution of King Charles I. Paradise Lostclaims to ‘justify the ways of God to man’ (line26) but (presumably despite himself) Milton isusually judged to have conveyed to the reader agood deal of kinship with the figure of Satan inhis revolt against God. This was to such anextent that, famously, Blake claimed that Milton‘was of the Devil’s party without knowing it.’Satan’s heroic first speech when he and theother rebel angels have been consigned to helldisplays Milton’s appreciation of the feelings ofthose who have risen against a repressive force;the speaker wins our sympathy even though weknow we should be on the side of God:

All is not lost – the unconquerable will,And study of revenge, immortal hate,And courage never to submit or yield:… We may with more successful hope resolveTo wage by force or guile eternal war,Irreconcilable to our grand FoeWho now triumphs, and in the excess of joySole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven.(Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 106–124)

The figure in His Dark Materials whocorresponds most closely to Satan is LordAsriel, in his quest to defeat ‘The Authority.’Although he is not an angel, his name echoes

The play

Armoured Bears and Dominic Cooper (as Will)

photo Ivan Kyncl


those of several archangels (Gabriel, Uriel,Uzziel, Ithuriel) who figure in Milton’s epic, andhis pride and fortitude certainly have parallelswith Satan’s qualities. The epic scale ofParadise Lost and Satan’s travel to find theearth also seem to be echoed in His DarkMaterials, though obviously Biblical andagnostic influences also proliferate. 5

In his depiction of a second ‘Fall’, Pullmanseems to owe more to Milton’s description ofParadise and of Adam and Eve’s sojourn in itthan to the brief description in Genesis. Thesensuous quality of the relationship of the firsthumans and their delight in the taste of theforbidden fruit is evident in Milton’s poem:

So saying, she embraced him, and for joyTenderly wept, much won that he his love Had so ennobled…She gave him of that fair enticing fruitWith liberal hand. He scrupled not to eat… (Paradise Lost, Book IX, lines 990–999)

These sentiments are echoed when Lyra andWill eat the sweet red fruit that Mary Malone hasgiven them and become aware of the depth andmutuality of their love (The Amber Spyglass, pp.491–2). In effect, it is impossible to imagine HisDark Materials existing without Milton’s priorexample, though whether or not Milton, as adevout if somewhat heterodox Christian, wouldhave relished his enlistment to the ranks ofdefenders of ‘the Republic of Heaven’ remainsdebatable.

The works of William Blake (1757–1827)William Blake is an artist whose radicalsympathies lead Pullman to claim him as ‘one ofthe founding fathers of the republic of Heaven.’6

The first, and perhaps most striking, of theseallusions to Blake occurs at the beginning of thefinal volume of the trilogy, when Lyra is in adrugged sleep under the power of Mrs Coulter,since her mother wishes to preserve her frommeeting the prophesied temptation, thusprecipitating the second Fall. Pullman’sepigraph to the chapter signposts the similaritybetween Lyra’s situation and that of Lyca, ‘TheLittle Girl Lost’ in Blake’s poem of that name inthe ‘Songs of Experience’; it consists of the lastthree lines from stanza 7 of Blake’s poem:

Sleeping Lyca lay;While the beasts of prey,Come from caverns deep,View’d the maid asleep.

The similarity of name is surely more thancoincidental. The whole spirit of Pullman’strilogy, reinforced near the end in the separationof Lyra and Will, emphasizes the need to live inan informed and ultimately an ‘experienced’manner, a message akin to that of Blake’sSongs of Innocence and Experience (combinedvolume 1794). There are inevitably manydifferences, both those resulting from thedifferent cultural contexts of Blake and Pullman,their choice of different literary forms, and thewriters’ different philosophical standpoints.Nevertheless, it is clear that Pullman valuesmuch in Blake’s writing and thinking.

Other literary influences It is impossible to do justice to the many otherliterary sources that Pullman appears to havedrawn on in His Dark Materials, though it isworth noting that, like much of Pullman’s longerwork and especially the Sally Lockhart novels,His Dark Materials can be regarded as adescendant of – and perhaps a tribute to – theVictorian triple-decker novel, which affects hiswork in some interesting ways. As well as beingserialised, many Victorian novels were initiallypublished in book form in three companionvolumes, published before the complete textwas finished. This had marketing advantages inthat it created an appetite and excitement about

The play

Anna Maxwell Martin (as Lyra) and Armoured Bears

photo Ivan Kyncl


the work, with readers waiting eagerly for thenext volume to appear – exactly as happenedwith The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.And, of course, it meant readers paid for threebooks rather than one. For writers, however,publishing in this format creates problems aswell as opportunities. Not the least of these isthat if their thinking changes or evolves as thework develops, it is not possible to go back andrework the beginning. This may result ininconsistencies, and it could be argued thatsome of the difficulty readers have had inunderstanding the phenomenon of Dust acrossthe three parts of His Dark Materials, reflectshow Pullman’s ideas about it changed anddeepened as he wrote. Perhaps for this reasontoo, he is currently writing a prequel to thetrilogy titled A History of Dust. In adapting thetrilogy for the stage, Nicholas Wright had theadvantage of having read the completed work,allowing him to feed ideas developed later inPullman’s writing process into earlier parts ofhis versions. Directors and actors similarlyknow the complete work, which affects, forinstance, the character of Mrs Coulter. InNorthern Lights she seems at best anambiguous character; in the National Theatreproduction, care is taken to show her maternalfeelings throughout.

In the case of specific intertexts less centralthan the three discussed above, an interestingquestion is concerned with the extent to which

Pullman has made them his own. A goodexample is Lyra and Will’s visit to the world ofthe dead. McLeish (1996) claims that manydifferent traditions have incorporated into theirmythology ‘Underworlds [which are] mirrorimages of ours: places of non-being, non-consciousness, non-emotion, non-arriving,’7

qualities which are certainly characteristic of theworld which Will and Lyra reach. To get therethey cross a lake (The Amber Spyglass, p.294),a journey very reminiscent of the crossing of theriver Styx, which in Greek myth leads to Hades,while their surly boatman surely also owes hisexistence to the same mythology’s Charon.Pullman, however, adds his own individualtouches: the boatman makes explicit the factthat Lyra must leave Pantalaimon behind,something which allows the author the chanceto emphasise the depth of feeling which existsbetween Lyra and her dæmon. The boatman isalso used to remind readers that Will himselfhas a dæmon, which he has never before seensince as an inhabitant of our world, Will’sdæmon remains within him. Later the youngpeople meet the Harpies (also drawn fromclassical mythology), fearsome winged femalecreatures ‘who were so hideous that their ownparents were disgusted by them and hid themdeep in the underworld’ (McLeish, 1996, p.240).Here, Pullman again adds an original touch –transmuting their role from that of tormentingthe ghosts of the dead to that of guiding themto the opening out of the underworld that Will isabout to create with the subtle knife (The AmberSpyglass, p.334).

Pullman’s approach to his many sources is inthe spirit of Milton and Blake; Blake himselfargued that ‘too much deference to a writer’sclaimed inspiration, or authority, will result inreducing that author to a “church”, a merecodifier of repressive moral laws.’ 8 Such aposture, whether in relation to text or institution,is precisely what Pullman rebels against.

Retellings, stories and the NationalCurriculumIn addition to being aware of the intertextualnature of Pullman’s writing, it is useful to think ofhim as part of the tradition of retelling ancienttales. The stories that cultures choose to

The play

Danny Sapani (as IorekByrnison), Dominic Cooper

(as Will)

photo Ivan Kyncl


preserve and repeat serve a purpose. Theydisseminate values, pass on traditions, andprop up traditional qualities such as loyalty,honour, courage, humility, duty andresponsibility.9 These are all characteristicsshared by the majority of early heroes whosestories continue to be handed down fromgeneration to generation; and perhaps notsurprisingly, they are also the kind of attributesthat make for good and governable subjectsand citizens. Undoubtedly that is a crucialfactor behind official directives to ensure thatsuccessive generations of children areacquainted with these stories from the past.

Terry Pratchett, another award-winning fantasywriter with a crossover audience, links retellingstories to the shaping of culture and investsstories with agency in ways that can helpfully becompared to Pullman’s use of earlier texts andhis investment in the power of story.

People think stories are shaped by people. Infact, it’s the other way round.

Stories can exist independently of their players.If you know that, the knowledge is power.

Stories… have been blowing and uncoilingaround the universe since the beginning of time.And they have evolved. The weakest have died,and the strongest have survived and they havegrown fat on the retelling…

And their very existence overlays a faint butinsistent pattern on the chaos that is history.Stories etch grooves deep enough for people tofollow in the same way that water follows certainpaths down a mountainside. And every timefresh actors tread the path of the story thegroove runs deeper…

So a thousand heroes have stolen fire from thegods. A thousand wolves have eatengrandmother, a thousand princesses have beenkissed…

Stories don’t care who takes part in them. Allthat matters is that the story gets told, that thestory repeats. (Witches Abroad, 1991)

It is required as part of the National Curriculumthat children and young people are introducedto a proportion of early texts (pre-1800). Sadly,Pratchett’s confidence in the strength of thesestories is arguably misplaced. Since mostBritish children are no longer familiar with thecodes or even the syntax of earlier eras, manyparents and teachers like to acquaint them withthe plots of Shakespeare’s plays, Homer’sepics, or classical myths and legends beforethey try to tackle them in whatever version ofthe original they are required to study as part oftheir formally assessed coursework. However,these retellings are often deeply sterile;because there is an unthinking acceptance thatthese are stories our culture needs its childrento know, they are turned into texts for children.

Like folk and fairy tales, these tales from thepast were never intended for an exclusivelyjuvenile audience. In fact, the knowledge theyconvey is almost entirely adult, encompassingwar and adultery, faithlessness and betrayal.Horrible things happen in them. And childrenthrough the ages have listened and learned,have stored up undigested gobbets ofinformation about passion and hatred, lust andchastity, virtue and perfidity. They might notunderstand them at this stage, but likeintertexts, they are there to be examined

The play

Dominic Cooper (as Will) andAnna Maxwell Martin

(as Lyra)

photo Ivan Kyncl


occasionally and brought into play when thetime comes.

Sadly, they won’t get this knowledge from themajority of retellings offered specifically tochildren today. The passion is gone, along withthe perfid, and the stories are essentiallymeaningless as a result. Philip Pullman’s work,on the other hand, retains all of these qualities;undoubtedly this is why his readers, young andold, find His Dark Materials endlesslyfascinating at many levels. No other writer inrecent decades has been so frequentlyinterviewed in the media or the focus of debatein secular and religious, literary and scientific,academic and popular forums. While notretellings in the strict sense, the volumes in thistrilogy can do much to complement and extendunderstanding of both original tales and theirretold versions for young readers. Spendingsome time in the worlds that make up Pullman’strilogy can enable the reader to understand, forexample, the structure and belief systems ofclassical epics – including episodes recountingthe hero’s descent into the underworld – afterreading about Will and Lyra’s time in the Land ofthe Dead; to enter into debates about free willand the meaning of the Fall in relation to biblicalnarratives, or to recognise shiftingconstructions of the hero, the attractions of therebel, and discourses of humanism.

Controversy and ideology: Pullman andreligion Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy hasbeen greeted by some Christians with stronghostility. They regard the books as dangerous,fearing that their apparent dismissal of God, theChurch and eternal life in heaven couldinfluence susceptible young readers againstChristian beliefs. Pullman himself, in interview,has never held back from attacking all kinds offundamentalism, while his abhorrence of thereligious views underlying C.S. Lewis’s ‘Narnia’books is well known. Is Pullman’s work really sohostile to Christianity?

Throughout the trilogy, Pullman subjects theChurch in Lyra’s world (and, by analogy, in ours)to a savage attack for its sterile adherence to acode of rules, its proffering of the hope of anillusory heaven, and indeed, its cruelty andunscrupulousness. He bases his critique onhistorical events: the burning of witches, thecruel record of the Inquisition and thepersecution of anyone who dissented fromaccepted opinion. While his harping on the evilsof the past is hardly likely to endear him tomembers of the churches, the areas of dissentbecome less glaring when individual doctrinesare examined.

One major area of disagreement betweenPullman and most religious writers might beexpected to lie in the portrayal of the divine.Pullman describes himself as finding belief in ‘apersonal God and a Saviour… impossible,’ butthe image of God which he seeks to destroy isone which is equally uncongenial to manyChristians. Particularly in The Amber Spyglass,the God-figure is portrayed as giving himselftitles to which he has no claim: ‘The Authority,God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai,the King, the Father, the Almighty – those wereall names he gave himself’ (The AmberSpyglass, p.33). Portrayal of The Authority’sdecay into nothingness is the way in whichPullman deals with the decline of belief in anomnipotent and omniscient deity: ‘Dementedand powerless, the aged being could only weepand mumble… he was as light as paper… in theopen air there was nothing to stop the windfrom damaging him, and to their dismay hisform began to loosen and dissolve…’(The

The play

Lady Salmakia, The ChevalierTialys (Gallvespians) AnnaMaxwell Martin (as Lyra),

Danny Sapani (as IorekByrnison), Dominic Cooper(as Will) and Lyra’s dæmon

Pantalaimon

photo Ivan Kyncl


Amber Spyglass, pp. 431–2). The idea of Godwhich Pullman is seeking to destroy here is thatof a distant, arrogant, rigorous and oftennegative force – a very different figure from theloving God to be found in the teaching of Christ.If any parts of the Christian church havesubstituted a punishing, authoritarian figure forChrist’s vision, its members should be happy forPullman to demolish this idol.

Another area where Pullman’s trilogy differsfrom traditional Christian theology is in thepresentation of the story of the Fall not as adisaster, but as a coming of age for the humanrace, with his main protagonist, Lyra, becomingthe new Eve. In most churches today, however,there is less emphasis on original sin and thedisastrous results of the Fall, and sometheologians have even seen this myth inpositive terms similar to Pullman’s, holding thatthe development in self-knowledge which themyth figuratively describes is a necessary stagein human evolution.10

Fundamental to Pullman’s position throughoutHis Dark Materials is the conviction that there is

no eternity in heaven to be looked towards. Aswe have seen, instead of the traditional view ofheaven, Pullman’s mythology involves theimprisonment of the dead in an underworld, tobe released by Lyra and Will, not so that theycan go to heaven but rather to allow them to bedissolved into the elements of their being andbe united with nature. While it would be wrongto suggest that this kind of vision of eternityresembles life with God in heaven, its emphasison faithful love enduring forever is in no wayalien to a religious vision of life.

ConclusionIt has only been possible here to touch upon afew of the many areas relevant to Pullman’strilogy. It would be interesting to look in detail athis attitude to feminism; it is at least worthnoting that we have here a male author whosemajor and most memorable character is female,by contrast with J.K. Rowling’s male hero, HarryPotter.

Another area which would be fruitful is that ofscience; Pullman has indicated that whilehimself a layman in this field, he has at leasttried to ensure that his created universes are notincompatible with contemporary theories. In theintroduction to a recent book, The Science ofPhilip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, by Mary andJohn Gribbin (2003), Pullman discloses thatalthough he was turned off science at school,he was fascinated by it at home. With chapterson subjects such as The Nature of Dust, TheMagnetic Web, and Worlds Beyond Worlds, theauthors hope to stimulate other children’sinterest in the subject. Pullman’s use of scienceseems also to relate to his recognition of theimportance of having a proper regard for thefuture of this planet. The trilogy’s concern withenvironmental issues has largely beensacrificed in the National Theatre productions;the need to condense the texts resulted in theexcision of the whole world of the Mulefa andthe issues it raises about interdependency andecological balance.

The question remains as to why these bookshave proved so popular to all age-groups. Onesuggestion might be the way in which theybelong to the ever popular genre of Romance,with their most important elements being

Niamh Cusack (as SerafinaPekkala), Cecilia Noble

(as Ruta Skadi)

photo Ivan Kyncl

The play


quests and the developing love between Lyraand Will. Extra power is added by the lovers’enduring separation, made slightly morebearable by their continuing emotional link asthey both visit the Oxford Botanic Garden, asuitable location given the feeling for natureengendered in the trilogy. 11

Another significant factor is surely the originalityof the idea of dæmons. The closeness betweenLyra and Pantalaimon surpasses that betweenchildren and their animal companions, beingperhaps more similar to the relationshipbetween some children and their ‘imaginaryfriend’. The fact that this dæmon is generally ofthe opposite sex is also compelling, andperhaps relating to an implicit recognition of the‘anima’ (which may very approximately bedefined as the female part of a male’spersonality) and animus (the male part of afemale’s), an idea propounded in the work ofCarl Gustav Jung. Jung taught that the healthypsyche strikes a balance in this aspect as wellas others he identified as central. Pullman’strilogy offers many models for balancingaspects of the self.

A different kind of attraction results fromPullman’s transformation of Oxford. Manynovels (for instance Orwell’s Nineteen EightyFour) have been set in a future London, but theidea of an altered city being in a differentuniverse is particularly attractive, while the

architectural and academic status of Oxfordmakes it a splendid choice.

None of these aspects would be sufficient toattract adults and young people to the trilogy ifthe quality of Pullman’s writing and plot-makingwere not strong enough to hold interest.Legitimate criticisms might perhaps be madethat some of the minor characters are a littlestereotyped, as in Lee Scoresby, and evenperhaps Mrs Coulter, but in such a far-reachingendeavour, simplification of some charactersseems acceptable, especially as it iscompensated for by other areas of strength.Particularly notable among these are Pullman’ssense of the dramatic, and his invention of newworlds.

One of the strongest features of His DarkMaterials is Pullman’s creation of a sense ofmystery – that we can never be quite sure as tothe meaning which lies behind it all; but that inthe text, as in life itself, it is vital to look beyondsurface meanings. The insistence on escapingthe shackles of rational, evidence-basedcertainty in Pullman’s work is again reminiscentof Blake and expressed in his poignantresponse to Isaac Newton’s account of himself:

I seem to have been only a boy playing on thesea-shore, and diverting myself in now and thenfinding a smoother pebble or a prettier shellthan ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth layall undiscovered before me.

Blake shows Newton underwater, gazing intothe shifting sands on which he is writingformulae, while all above him the great, radiantocean of truth washes unheeded. Blake’smessages were largely ahead of his time andmuch of what he taught was equallydisregarded. Happily, when His Dark Materialsurges readers and viewers to look up, engage,question, learn, be courageous and takeresponsibility, the message is being heard. Thismay be the secret of its appeal and the reasonfor the National Theatre to bring it to audiencesthis season.

The play

The Golden Monkey (Mrs Coulter’s dæmon),

and Patricia Hodge (as Mrs Coulter)

photo Ivan Kyncl


THEMESHis Dark Materials is rich in themes that canstimulate thinking and discussion. ‘The only thing about fantasy that interested mewhen I was writing was the freedom to inventimagery such as the dæmon; but that was onlyinteresting because I could use it to saysomething truthful and realistic about humannature.’ Philip Pullman (Random House website)

LoveWILL I’ll always love you, whatever

happens. When I die, I’ll driftabout for ever, all my atoms, tillthey mix with yours.

LYRA Every atom of you and everyatom of me. Nothing will pullus apart. And when they useour atoms to make new lives,they will have to take one ofyours and one of mine, we’ll bejoined so tight.

(His Dark Materials Part II)

For discussionThe love story is used to frame the two parts inthe National Theatre’s adaptation of the trilogy.The opening and final scenes show Will andLyra in the Botanic Garden. It is noon onMidsummer Day. This meeting takes place atthe same appointed place and time each year,though Will and Lyra, in separate worlds, areunable physically to see or touch each other.Discuss the treatment of the concept of love inHis Dark Materials. Some key questions toconsider:• Consider how Will and Lyra’s love for each

other grows from their first meeting through totheir ultimate separation.

• How does their love affect the living and thedead?

• How does Lyra’s journey help her towards anew understanding of ‘love’?

Different groups might then discuss andprepare a retelling of one the other love stories.Key quotations which encapsulate the quality ofthe love can be located in the novels or thescript and incorporated into the retelling. Hereare some suggested pairings and quotations:• Mrs Coulter & Lord Asriel

(e.g. Mrs. Coulter: We can wrestle with him onthe edge of the gulf, and then we’ll all go downtogether.Lord Asriel: Marisa! final word HDM, Part II)

• Baruch & Balthamos (e.g. Forgive me. I wasdisabled by my grief. But one must persevereeven after you’ve lost the one you love. HDM,Part II )

• Farder Coram/Serafina Pekkala (eg. Men passin front of our eyes like butterflies, creatures ofa brief season. We love them; they are brave,proud, beautiful, clever; and they die almost atonce. They die so soon that our hearts arecontinually racked with pain. Northern Lightsp. 314)

Written work and researchAlternatively, the groups might make a list ofwords that describe the love of their chosencharacters (e.g. tenderness, sacrifice,compassion, desire etc.). These words can bewritten on large strips of paper and displayedaround outline shapes of the characters to

Exercises

Anna Maxwell Martin (as Lyra)

photo Ivan Kyncl


create a visual backdrop for the retellings. Thewords could stimulate the creation of stillimages that capture the essence of the word(sculpture). These images might bephotographed and displayed with the wordlists.

ReflectionIn a plenary session, consider the similaritiesand differences in these relationships (e.g. theyare all forbidden or doomed). Finally, encouragethe pupils to consider how the presentation oflove in His Dark Materials has challenged orconfirmed their own ideas.

Parents and ChildrenFor discussionLove between parents and children can also beexplored by discussing the followingstatements.Will loved his mother ‘so much he would havedied to protect her.’ (The Subtle Knife)

MRS COULTER I was afraid that he’d see mylove for Lyra. It’s the one bit ofgood in me, and I don’t evenknow where it came from. Ilove her so much, my heart isbursting with it. (HDM, Part II)

The discussion can be extended to explore inmore depth the different child/parentrelationships including surrogates (e.g.

Iorek/Lyra, Master of Jordan College/Lyra,Serafina/Lyra ). Start by making a list of therange of parent/child relationships includingminor characters.

Practical exercises and related written workOrganise the students in small groups and giveeach group a key passage in which one of theparent/child relationships is depicted. Passagescan be enlarged and stuck in the centre of A1sheets of paper. After reading the passagesaloud in their groups, ask the students toannotate the texts commenting on the way inwhich the relationship is presented. Highlighterpens might be used to pick out vocabulary/phrases/dialogue that the students consider tobe significant.

Feedback in a plenary, comparing andcontrasting the different relationships (e.g. Willas carer for his mother, Mrs Coulter’s betrayalbut ultimate protection of Lyra*). Display theannotated passages.

Authority and Responsibility[HDM] depicts a struggle: the old forces ofcontrol and ritual and authority, the forces whichhave been embodied throughout human historyin such phenomena as the Inquisition, thewitch-trials, the burning of heretics, and whichare still strong today in the regions of the worldwhere religious zealots of any faith have power,are on one side; and the forces that fight againstthem have as their guiding principle an ideawhich is summed up in the words ‘The Republicof Heaven. It’s the Kingdom against theRepublic.’ (Philip Pullman, Random Housewebsite)

Introduction including practical exercises,discussion, written work and researchIn small groups, brainstorm a list of synonymsfor the word authority (e.g. command,domination, government, power, permit etc.) A thesaurus might be used to extend the listand encourage the students to consider thefiner nuances of meaning.

Ask the groups to consider whether there issuch a thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ authority.

Exercises

Dominic Cooper (as Will),with Lyra’s dæmon

Pantalaimon

photo Ivan Kyncl

* This activity could be combined with those under the heading Adaptation by looking at the way thecharacter of, for example, Mrs. Coulter is changed in the play script and what pupils think this saysabout her love for Lyra and Lord Asriel.


Ask them to suggest examples of both fromtheir own experience, the texts, and knowledgeof the world.

Summarise in a plenary discussion, asking eachgroup to contribute one suggestion for ‘goodauthority’ and ‘bad authority’. Extend andchallenge the students’ thinking by posingsupplementary questions. (e.g. If authority isbenign, does this necessarily mean that it is agood thing? Is it necessary to have authoritywithin a society where everyone is equal? If so,where does the authority lie in such a society?Are rules necessary? Can rules be broken?When is it acceptable to break a rule? Are theresome rules, such as ‘thou shalt not kill’, thatshould never be broken? Under whatcircumstances would you consider itacceptable to break this rule? etc.)

Consider and discuss representations ofauthority in His Dark Materials. LORD ASRIEL All we know is that at some

point the Authority tookcharge and called his domain

“ The Kingdom of Heaven”,and ever since then, angelshave rebelled. The humanbeings have struggled againsthim too. This is the lastrebellion. (HDM, Part II)

In small groups, make notes comparing andcontrasting the characters in positions ofauthority. For example:• Megatron and the Authority • Iorek and Iofur • Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel• Serafina Pekkala/Farder Coram• Lord Asriel/John Parry

Discuss with the class ways in which thesepairings illuminate the themes of the trilogy.

How do Will and Lyra’s characters contribute toan understanding of the individual’sresponsibilities in society? Consider thesignificance of Will’s name (free will). What doesHis Dark Materials have to say about free will?

In pairs, ask the students to make a list ofpoints that could be used in an argumentsupporting the preservation of a Kingdom ofHeaven. Then ask them to make a list of pointsin favour of a Republic of Heaven. Guide themtowards understanding that they will need todecentre to another point of view in order to dothis activity and that they are not necessarilypresenting their own viewpoints. This activitycould be extended by staging a debate in whichsome students take up the case for a Kingdomof Heaven while others take up the case for aRepublic of Heaven. The remaining students areneutral and can ask questions after thespeeches and vote for the most convincingargument. Afterwards, ask the students whatthey have learned from the process ofpresenting a debate.

‘We hold the truth to be self evident that all menare created equal’ The American Declaration ofIndependence.

Philip Pullman’s vision of a Republic of Heavenas revealed in His Dark Materials is a moralrather than a political one but a comparison

Exercises

Patricia Hodge (as MrsCoulter), Timothy Dalton

(as Lord Asriel)

photo Ivan Kyncl


with the American Declaration of Independencecan be made. The Declaration can be viewedonline athttp://independenceroadtrip.org/Declaration/index.html

After looking at the language and the principlesin the Declaration, ask the students to work inpairs to draft a ‘Declaration of Independence’for the Republic of Heaven.

ReflectionInvite the students to consider how theperformance and the study of His DarkMaterials have informed their understanding ofconcepts of authority and responsibility.

Taking it FurtherOther themes that could be discussed in asimilar way include growing up, and theconcept of ‘the soul’. Oppositional pairs ofideas such as cruelty and love, innocence andwisdom, good and evil, trust and betrayal,courage and fear might also be explored.

Exercises

Helen Murton (as Pipistrelle),Niamh Cusack (as Serafina

Pekkala), Cecilia Noble (as Ruta Skadi)

photo Ivan Kyncl


ADAPTATIONIntroduction including practical exercises,discussion, written work and researchPrior to viewing the performance, initiate a classdiscussion about the different processes ofwriting a trilogy and playscript. Extend thediscussion to consider what is involved inadapting a book for the stage.

Make a list of the general challenges that haveto be met in adapting a book for the theatre. Forexample: • reliance on dialogue rather than narration• physical realisation of setting using sets and

staging• budgetary constraints may impose limitations

on what can be achieved• making cuts to fit an acceptable performance

time • confines of space• preserving something of the point of view,

tone, mood of the narration

In small groups ask the students to consider thespecific challenges posed by adapting His DarkMaterials for the stage. For example:• the convincing portrayal of characters such as

the Armoured Bears• problems of scale: the large cliff-ghasts and

the tiny Gallivespians• the space e.g. journeys, other worlds • travel e.g. witches flying, balloons• children’s dæmons change and move away

from their humans• Dust

In a plenary, discuss the students’ ideas andconsider some of the ways in which thesechallenges might be met. For instance, whatcan be done to create the effect of witchesflying? How might the dæmons be realized inthe production?

Working individually or in pairs, ask the studentsto choose a character – e.g. Lord Asriel, MrsCoulter, Iorek Byrnison, Serafina Pekkala,Balthamos, Lee Scoresby – and locate keypassages featuring the characters (alternativelythese might be prepared and copied for them).Ask the students to read the passages,highlighting and annotating anything thatprovides useful information about the character(e.g. appearance, behaviour, attitudes andvalues etc). Ask them to use the information todevelop a concept/costume design for thecharacter (visit the companion website atwww.stagework.org.uk to see examples fromthe National’s production). Words, phrases andsentences from the text can be used toannotate the designs. Guide the studentstowards understanding the interpretative natureof the task.

After the performance, compare the stageadaptation with the trilogy. Points forcomparison might include the opening, a keyscene, interpretation of character, how thechallenges identified above were dealt with, etc.

Compare the opening of Northern Lights withthe opening of His Dark Materials.

Exercises

Patricia Hodge (as Mrs Coulter)

photo Ivan Kyncl


• Were there any surprises? • Why do they think Nicholas Wright chose to

start the play in The Botanic Garden?

Extend the students’ thinking by asking them toconsider the differences between producingfilm and stage versions. Consider thecomparative advantages and disadvantages.For example:• immediacy of stage performance• living performance can adapt and evolve,

building on audience response• special effects and digital wizardry in films can

overcome many of the difficulties mentioned,such as problems of scale and the dæmons’transformations

• multiple viewpoints through use of cameraangles and shots ( Pullman also uses film-liketechniques in his narration, zooming in andthen pulling back from scenes)

Alternatively, compare stage and radiodramatisation. Points for consideration include:• sound effects for suggesting action which will

be intrusive if there are too many• use of musical themes to elicit audience

reaction: mood, setting character • characterisation through voice • the possibility of using some narration to

replace stage direction

Building on the discussion, ask the students totake a key scene and in groups plan stage, filmand radio adaptations of the scene.

Exercises

Stelamaria (Lord Asriel’sdæmon) Timothy Dalton (asLord Asriel), Patricia Hodge

(as Mrs Coulter), and The Golden Monkey

(Mrs Coulter’s dæmon)

photo Ivan Kyncl


FANTASY WORLDSThe first volume is set “in a universe like ours,but different in many ways.” (Northern Lights)

Introduction, including practical exercises,discussion, written work and researchUsing the internet and sources, research someof the places that Philip Pullman uses assettings for His Dark Materials (e.g. Oxford,Svalbard, Vauxhall).

Share the following quotation with the students:‘Fantasy, of course, allows you to change thingsinto other things as much as you like. The part ofOxford known as Jericho is, in real life,thoroughly respectable: terraces of smallVictorian houses built for labourers, nowoccupied by young professionals and theirfamilies… However, the area has always struckme as having a hidden character, more raffishand jaunty altogether, with an air of horse-trading, minor crime, and a sort of fairgroundishbohemianism. That is the Jericho I describe inthe story.’ (Philip Pullman, Random Housewebsite)

Discuss ways in which Pullman takes a familiarplace and makes it strange.

WritingAsk the students to think of a place that theyknow well. Then ask them to imagine that placein a new light so that it begins to take ondifferent characteristics, in a similar way to thatdescribed by Philip Pullman (above). Invite themto share ideas with a talk partner and encouragethem to ask each other questions to extendideas. After talking, ask the students to writeplace descriptions. Extend the idea by writing astory in this familiar but strange world that hasbeen created.

Exercises

Anna Maxwell Martin (as Lyra) with her dæmon

Pantalaimon

photo Ivan Kyncl


STORIES AND STORYTELLING“Stories are the most important thing in theworld. Without stories, we wouldn’t be humanbeings at all.” (Philip Pullman, Random Housewebsite)

Introduction including practical exercises,discussion, written work and researchTelling stories is a recurring theme in His DarkMaterials.• Discuss the place of storytelling within the

novels (e.g the children frightening each otherwith stories about the Gobblers, Ma Costatelling Lyra the story of her parentage andearly life etc.)

• Discuss the attributes of storytelling that arepresent in the writing of the trilogy (e.g.emphasis on plot or theme: ‘there are somethemes, some subjects, too large for adultfiction’. Philip Pullman, Random Housewebsite)

Telling and writing storiesStart by telling stories from personalexperience. Ask the students to remember afrightening experience, or a time when they tolda lie and were found out, or a time when theywere told off but didn’t think it was justified. Askthem to recall how they felt and then tell theirstory to a partner, exactly as they remember ithappening.

After the activity, ask them what they enjoyedabout listening to each other’s stories, andhighlight some of the pleasures of the story.

“Stories must begin somewhere. Out of thewelter of events and ideas and pictures andcharacters and voices that you experience inyour head, you the storyteller must choose onemoment, the best moment, and make that thestart.” (Philip Pullman in James Carter’sCreating Writers London: Routledge, 2001,p.97)

Ask pupils to think about some of thedifferences between writing and telling a story. Ifthey were going to write the story they have justtold, where would they begin? At thebeginning? At the end (as in Nicholas Wright’sadaptation of His Dark Materials)?

“It really does help to know that surprise is theprecise opposite of suspense. Surprise is whensomething happens that you don’t expect:suspense is when something doesn’t happenthat you do expect.” (Phillip Pullman in JamesCarter’s Creating Writers London: Routledge,2001, p.142)

Explore how Philip Pullman creates suspenseand surprise in the trilogy. Identify two keyscenes, one showing the build up of suspenseand another showing surprise; ask pupils toannotate and discuss the passages.

After discussion, ask the students to producewritten versions of their stories, thinking abouthow they will start their stories, build suspenseand create surprise as appropriate. Share andevaluate the group’s stories.

Lyra The StorytellerIn a story circle, tell the story about the returnfrom the Land of the Dead from Lyra’s point ofview. Each student tells part of the story andpasses it on to the person on her/his left tocontinue. An object such as ‘an alethiometer’could be passed around the circle as a signal toreinforce who is telling the story. Afterwards,consider whether Will’s story would be thesame or different.

Exercises

Dominic Cooper (as Will),Chris Larkin (as Jopari)

photo Ivan Kyncl


LANGUAGEWriters of fantasy often use vocabulary andlanguage in interesting and original ways. Makea study of the language used in His DarkMaterials, for example the apposite use ofnames. Names might be chosen for theireuphony and because they are suggestive ofparticular qualities and characteristics. Lyra, forinstance can be easily transposed into liar, but italso carries with it connotations of music (thelyre) and is a constellation (see page 7 for acomparison to Blake’s Lyca). Names might alsobe chosen to provide a sense of geographicalauthenticity; Philip Pullman uses compoundNorse words to this effect e.g. Panserbjorne(bjorne = bear, pansr = armour). Make a list ofnames and consider some of the associationssuggested by them.

Extend this work by studying other instances ofPullman’s use of original words, for example theuse of scientific vocabulary. Students mightproduce a glossary of original words.

Exercises

Dominic Cooper (as Will), and Lyra's dæmon

(Pantalaimon)

photo Ivan Kyncl


Selected Resources and BibliographyRobert Butler (2003) The Art of Darkness:Staging the Philip Pullman Trilogy London:Oberon/National Theatre• Fully illustrated backstage account of how

Pullman’s trilogy was brought to the stage ofthe National Theatre.nationaltheatre.org.uk/bookshop

John and Mary Gribbin (2003) The Science ofHis Dark Materials London: Hodder• Award-winning science writers explore and

explain the scientific theories that lie behindsome of the ideas in His Dark Materials. Topicsinclude spacetime, quantum physics, chaostheory, the meaning of truth and theunconscious mind

Peter Hunt & Milicent Lenz (2001) AlternativeWorlds in Fantasy Fiction London: Continuum• The genre of alternative world fantasy is

considered with reference to three writersincluding Philip Pullman

Claire Squires (2003) Philip Pullman’s His DarkMaterials Trilogy: a reader’s guide Continuum• Includes a short biography, a thematically

organised study guide, discussion questions,suggestions for further reading, and research

Nicholas Tucker (2003) Darkness Visible: insidethe world of Philip Pullman Wizard Books• Nicholas Tucker discusses the sources that

have influenced Philip Pullman and thethemes that are explored and developed in hisstories. Includes a who’s who of His DarkMaterials and gives answers to frequentlyasked questions including an explanation ofthe elusive nature of Dust

WebsitesRandom House (USA) Micrositewww.randomhouse.com/features/pullman• Author information including questions and

answers and writing advice• Teachers’ and readers’ guides for each of the

books in His Dark Materials Trilogy• How to read the alethiometer

BBC Radio 4www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/hisdarkmaterials/index.shtml• Website devoted to the Radio 4 dramatisation.• Listen to the characters’ voices and musical

themes. This dramatisation is available onaudio cassette. Useful for comparing thestage and audio adaptations (visual andauditory realisations).

Bridge to the Starswww.bridgetothestars.net• Fan site with extensive news coverage

including information about the forthcomingfilm. A first stop for up-to-date informationabout all aspects His Dark Materials

• Wide range of international cover art whichcould be used for comparative study

• Images of Oxford, Svalbard, The BotanicGarden useful for context building and workon the creation of settings.

His Dark Materials.orgwww.hisdarkmaterials.org• Fan site offering information about the books,

adaptations and other resources, as well asup-to-date reviews and discussion boards.

• From Alethiometer through to Zalif, the'Encyclopaedia Materiarum' includes usefuldefinitions of terms contained in the His DarkMaterials books.

Further research

Lyra's dæmon (Pantalaimon),Anna Maxwell Martin

(as Lyra)

photo Ivan Kyncl


1 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy: The Literatureof Subversion (London and New York:Routledge, 1981), p. 4.

2 All the audio diaries kept during rehearsalsfor His Dark Materials can be read at therelated website, www.stagework.org.uk.

3 Much of this biographical information isdrawn from Nicholas Tucker’s DarknessVisible (2003), a useful complementaryresource.

4 An English translation of this is reproducedin Nicholas Tucker’s Darkness Visible (2003).

5 See Pullman’s article, ‘The Republic ofHeaven,’ in The Horn Book (2000, pp.656–8)for detail about Gnosticism.

6 The Republic of Heaven (p. 664).

7 K.McLeish, Myth (1996), p.633.

8 David Riede, ‘Blake’s Milton’ in Nyquist &Ferguson (1987), p.258.

9 See John Stephens and Robyn McCallum,Retelling Stories (London: Routledge, 1991).

10 Primavesi (1991) p. 226

11 A similarly romantic liaison of loversseparated by being in different worldsoccurs at the conclusion of Susan Price’sThe Sterkarm Handshake (1998).

Anna Maxwell Martin (as Lyra)

photo Ivan Kyncl

Notes

Documents

His Dark Materials - d1wf8hd6ovssje.cloudfront.netd1wf8hd6ovssje.cloudfront.net/documents/His-Dark-Materials.pdf · His Dark Materials based on the novels by Philip Pullman adapted