What do you think?
Rate this book
Landscapes of Childhood
His Dark Materials Illuminated: Critical Essays on Philip Pullman's Trilogy
The first critical analysis of Philip Pullman’s cross-age fantasy trilogy.
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 2005
4 people are currently reading
160 people want to read
About the author
Millicent Lenz
6 booksProfessor emerita at University of Albany, State University of New York.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 1, 2013
Has some of the best essays about Pullman's work. I loved reading it - my highlighter and Post-It's definitely got a workout. The essays weren't hard to understand and they answered a lot of my questions about the book and got me thinking about stuff I didn't even consider while reading the His Dark Materials trilogy.
I read this book to help me write an essay about Children and their relationship with Darkness, so I didn't exactly read ALL the essays, but I read most (some just because they have interesting titles and subject matter). But I loved the variation on the topics that are discussed in this book.
So yeah, if you're looking to understand Pullman's work a little bit better and realize just how epic and HUGE the trilogy is, then pick up this book.
I'm aware how hard it it to find helpful and understandable essay books that don't require you to take migraine medication after reading each page, and this is why I enjoyed this book. It wasn't a breezy read - it DID require brain cells and a maybe a few rereads to understand fully - but it was understandable and illuminating - just as the title describes.
I read this book to help me write an essay about Children and their relationship with Darkness, so I didn't exactly read ALL the essays, but I read most (some just because they have interesting titles and subject matter). But I loved the variation on the topics that are discussed in this book.
So yeah, if you're looking to understand Pullman's work a little bit better and realize just how epic and HUGE the trilogy is, then pick up this book.
I'm aware how hard it it to find helpful and understandable essay books that don't require you to take migraine medication after reading each page, and this is why I enjoyed this book. It wasn't a breezy read - it DID require brain cells and a maybe a few rereads to understand fully - but it was understandable and illuminating - just as the title describes.
May 9, 2024
philip pullman, you’ve charmed me
February 18, 2019
An intriguing but frustratingly uneven study of Philip Pullman's work. The essay collection carries strong advance praise from several relevant scholars, and it has been favorably reviewed in at least one academic journal, but I found most of the essays to be missed opportunities on the part of their contributors to engage in a serious way with Pullman.
As I am not within the scholarly milieu, not writing specifically for other scholars, nor particularly interested in seeking acceptance for my work within their publications, my opinions may be rather peripheral, and shouldn't carry too much weight. Nevertheless, as I'm reading and thinking carefully about how best to learn from and perhaps to teach His Dark Materials, besides reading Pullman's own comments in essays and interviews and brushing up on some of his most conspicuous sources and literary touchstones, I've also been wading into the existing scholarship, to see if there is anything bright and shiny there worth stealing (with proper attribution, of course) and bringing back to a wider audience. So let's begin with HDM Illuminated. For along with its dross of shortcomings--which may well just be in the eye of this beholder, or endemic to the scholarly-essay-compendium form, or both--there is some gold here. For me the strongest essay was Lauren Shohet's Reading Dark Materials; pieces by Mathews, King, Pinsent, and Russell are also well worth reading.
Following the editor's introduction, "Awakening to the Twenty-first Century: The Evolution of Human Consciousness in Pullman's His Dark Materials," which sounds promising, but proves a little breathless and new-agey, the collection is organized into three sections:
- Reading Fantasy, Figuring Human Nature
- Intertextuality and Revamping Traditions
- Pullman and Theology, Pullman and Science Fiction
Which, unfortunately, are about as faddish and baggy as they sound. There follow biographical and bibliographical notes. Each section is prefaced with an overview; individual essays do not have abstracts, and most carry only a few works cited and endnotes. Still these tangential remarks, citations (especially from interviews and speeches of Pullman's I wasn't previously aware of), and bibliographical signposts proved to be some of the most interesting material in the book.
Frankly, I don't feel like I actually learned very much about Pullman's story, themes, or characters--the things I care most about--nor about the process of his own reading, writing, and revision--the things I wanted to know more about. Most of the authors in the collection seem to treat Pullman's story as simply an experimental case study for whatever theoretical perspective or research topic they are concerned with: ideology, reader-response, various takes on theology, etc. Some of this, again, is built into such a collection and into the broader academic discourse, with its publishing imperative; some of this looseness, with most essays talking past one another from their rather arbitrary arrangement among the three sections, could also be the effect of the editors' choices. I'd be interested to see the original call for papers; I'm in contact with and hope to talk to at least one or two of the authors, though sadly before the book saw publication, Millicent Lenz, the editor, passed away.
For thoughts on the individual essays, see full review at http://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/20...
As I am not within the scholarly milieu, not writing specifically for other scholars, nor particularly interested in seeking acceptance for my work within their publications, my opinions may be rather peripheral, and shouldn't carry too much weight. Nevertheless, as I'm reading and thinking carefully about how best to learn from and perhaps to teach His Dark Materials, besides reading Pullman's own comments in essays and interviews and brushing up on some of his most conspicuous sources and literary touchstones, I've also been wading into the existing scholarship, to see if there is anything bright and shiny there worth stealing (with proper attribution, of course) and bringing back to a wider audience. So let's begin with HDM Illuminated. For along with its dross of shortcomings--which may well just be in the eye of this beholder, or endemic to the scholarly-essay-compendium form, or both--there is some gold here. For me the strongest essay was Lauren Shohet's Reading Dark Materials; pieces by Mathews, King, Pinsent, and Russell are also well worth reading.
Following the editor's introduction, "Awakening to the Twenty-first Century: The Evolution of Human Consciousness in Pullman's His Dark Materials," which sounds promising, but proves a little breathless and new-agey, the collection is organized into three sections:
- Reading Fantasy, Figuring Human Nature
- Intertextuality and Revamping Traditions
- Pullman and Theology, Pullman and Science Fiction
Which, unfortunately, are about as faddish and baggy as they sound. There follow biographical and bibliographical notes. Each section is prefaced with an overview; individual essays do not have abstracts, and most carry only a few works cited and endnotes. Still these tangential remarks, citations (especially from interviews and speeches of Pullman's I wasn't previously aware of), and bibliographical signposts proved to be some of the most interesting material in the book.
Frankly, I don't feel like I actually learned very much about Pullman's story, themes, or characters--the things I care most about--nor about the process of his own reading, writing, and revision--the things I wanted to know more about. Most of the authors in the collection seem to treat Pullman's story as simply an experimental case study for whatever theoretical perspective or research topic they are concerned with: ideology, reader-response, various takes on theology, etc. Some of this, again, is built into such a collection and into the broader academic discourse, with its publishing imperative; some of this looseness, with most essays talking past one another from their rather arbitrary arrangement among the three sections, could also be the effect of the editors' choices. I'd be interested to see the original call for papers; I'm in contact with and hope to talk to at least one or two of the authors, though sadly before the book saw publication, Millicent Lenz, the editor, passed away.
For thoughts on the individual essays, see full review at http://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/20...
September 23, 2015
Many essays in this book contradict or fundamentally disagree with each other, but do not engage in conversation with each other.
July 10, 2016
Really well written and compelling essays on "His Dark Materials". Worth reading for anyone who wants to learn more about the concepts and history behind the trilogy.
April 14, 2020
*read for research purposes. review to come soon*
October 8, 2015
This is a fantastic collection of academic essays about Philip Pullman’s books. It contains essays on a wide verity of subjects, mostly centering on this books place in the fantasy genre or it’s relationship with religion.
His Dark Materials Trilogy remain my favorite books of all time no matter how much I reread them or over analyse them, in fact, they just get better. Pullman’s writing is so meticulous and precise and his ideas so thoroughly thought out that weather you agree with his opinion or not there is plenty of food for thought in his books.
The essays in this collection are all well written and researched with plenty of food notes and bibliography and go on to discuss ideas which I would never have come across otherwise. I am not an English Literature or a Philosophy student so I sound some of the essays challenging to follow but in the best kind of way.
The most fascinating part about the trilogy for me has always been it’s discussion about religion, ever since my minister recommended The Northern Lights when I was about 12 (no, you didn’t hear me wrong). I found all of the essays dealing with these subjects to be excellent especially the one about Feminist Theology.
This book is not for the casual reader or even for every die hard fan, but I would recommend it to anyone wishing to think much deeper about these books and who is up to the challenge.
His Dark Materials Trilogy remain my favorite books of all time no matter how much I reread them or over analyse them, in fact, they just get better. Pullman’s writing is so meticulous and precise and his ideas so thoroughly thought out that weather you agree with his opinion or not there is plenty of food for thought in his books.
The essays in this collection are all well written and researched with plenty of food notes and bibliography and go on to discuss ideas which I would never have come across otherwise. I am not an English Literature or a Philosophy student so I sound some of the essays challenging to follow but in the best kind of way.
The most fascinating part about the trilogy for me has always been it’s discussion about religion, ever since my minister recommended The Northern Lights when I was about 12 (no, you didn’t hear me wrong). I found all of the essays dealing with these subjects to be excellent especially the one about Feminist Theology.
This book is not for the casual reader or even for every die hard fan, but I would recommend it to anyone wishing to think much deeper about these books and who is up to the challenge.
October 8, 2015
Interesting stuff. I read this for fun. I had to cut Pullman from my thesis to make the project manageable but I'd already ordered this book. It has some really interesting essays. I liked Burton Hatlen's piece on Tolkien, Lewis and Pullman especially.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews