[Milton-L] Milton and Pullman

[James Fleming]

I bet that Pullman would retort just like that. But one would then be able to point out that the Christian God actually sacrifices himself; for a memorable account of the relevant considerations one might refer to Jung's essay "Answer to Job"; and for a text highly relevant to Pullman's appropriation of Milton, one might cite _PL_ 3.144-343. JDF


----- Original Message -----
From: "Horace Jeffery Hodges" <jefferyhodges at yahoo.com>
To: "John Milton Discussion List" <milton-l at lists.richmond.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 1:11:31 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: [Milton-L] Milton and Pullman



The Christian critique of Asriel will likely center on Asriel's apparent "end-justifies-means" ethic, namely the evil of sacrificing a child to open a way toward attaining what Asriel considers good. Pullman could then retort -- more or less plausibly -- that this is precisely what the Christian God does, i.e., sacrifice a child to attain the good. If Christians reject Asriel, then they must also reject their own God. If they refuse to reject their own God, then they cannot criticize Asriel. 

I think that this is what Pullman is up to with his depiction of Asriel. Whether the trap that he springs catches Christian critics is less clear to me, for the two cases of sacrifice are not entirely analogous. 

What do readers of Pullman think about this? 
  
Jeffery Hodges 

--- On Fri, 3/27/09, Horace Jeffery Hodges <jefferyhodges at yahoo.com> wrote: 



From: Horace Jeffery Hodges <jefferyhodges at yahoo.com> 
Subject: Re: [Milton-L] RE: Milton and Pullman 
To: "John Milton Discussion List" <milton-l at lists.richmond.edu> 
Date: Friday, March 27, 2009, 3:53 PM 



	
You're not "alone in finding Pullman both shallow and sinister." Even worse, he can't tell a good story. 
  
In the mid-90s, I was sitting in a cafe in London reading book reviews in some newspaper and came across two reviews, one of Rowling and the other of Pullman. An excerpt from the latter's book aroused my curiosity, but I didn't actually read the series until around 2005, long after I'd read most of the Harry Potter series. 
  
I was greatly disappointed by the story's development in the Pullman's series. I started reading with high expectations, and the quality of his writing is certainly very good, but the story went nowhere. Even the writing seemed to falter in the latter book . . . but perhaps I was just getting bored. 
  
Like Professor Fleming, I was troubled by the "noble sacrifice" -- though there may have been an allusion to Christianity in that -- but whatever Pullman might have intended by that, and by the entire series, I finished reading him with a sense of letdown. 
  
In my opinion, he let his animus toward Christianity distort his story. 
  
Despite Pullman's literary gifts, which are considerable and far better than Rowlings', the latter tells a much better story that kept me interested to the very end. 
  
The 'noble sacrifice' in the Harry Potter series worked rather better, too. 
  
For anyone interested, I blogged on my reaction to Pullman back in 2005, soon after having finished him in disappointment: 
  
http://gypsyscholarship.blogspot.com/2005/10/his-dark-materials.html 
  
Jeffery Hodges 


--- On Fri, 3/27/09, James Fleming <jfleming at sfu.ca> wrote: 



From: James Fleming <jfleming at sfu.ca> 
Subject: Re: [Milton-L] RE: Milton and Pullman 
To: "John Milton Discussion List" <milton-l at lists.richmond.edu> 
Date: Friday, March 27, 2009, 2:59 PM 


Am I alone in finding Pullman both shallow and sinister? 

As far as I can tell, _The Golden Compass_ ends with Lord Asriel, the good-scary guy, murdering a child (Roger). This is presented as a noble sacrifice, allowing the great man to open up the heavens in defiance of an authoritarian God. 

A little _Brothers Karamazov_ rids us of this deed. 

JD Fleming 
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