Friday, August 12, 2011

The Reading List: His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials
Phillip Pullman, 1995-2000

I don’t really have a sense of how popular His Dark Materials is, so perhaps I should start out by saying that it is an young adult fantasy trilogy in three volumes: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Its protagonists, as in all young adult fantasy, are children who find out that their parents are far more important than they thought, that they themselves possess strange powers, and that they must go on an epic journey to strange lands where they will encounter strange creatures and mortal perils, and who will find that the fate of the entire world(s) rests on their shoulders.

Aside from this basic skeleton, however, His Dark Materials goes way beyond replicating the conventions of its genre. For one thing, it handles the ecology, the interior logic, of a fantasy setting – in the first book, a vaguely steampunk alternative Earth created before anyone was using the word “steampunk” – about as well as I’ve seen it done. Rich local settings are established with closely observed details; the impression of a large and complex surrounding world is created by gesture – unadorned references to places, events, and entities that, for the characters, are too familiar to need elaboration. For another, Pullman rounds out his secondary characters very nicely with dialog. He doesn’t need to explain their personalities or motives to us; we can tell who they are from what they say. In other words, he’s a very good writer.

Beyond this, Pullman has the audacity to assume that young adults might have intellectual leanings. The whole trilogy is interwoven with Paradise Lost; I would tell you more about this if I had actually read Paradise Lost. I haven’t, but I like that Pullman thinks that I, or the young adults of my acquaintance, might want to consider doing so. I like that the fantasy aspects of his plot are linked to concepts of theoretical physics, with the assumption that we readers might have heard of these ideas and found them interesting. I’m frankly a little amazed that the staunch critique of religious culture implied in the books, along with its fairly radical theological notions – God (yes, that God) makes a deeply unflattering cameo appearance in the third book – ever found an American publisher.

And, it has sentient armored polar bears, which is awesome.

So there is no point dancing around the obvious question. And yes, His Dark Materials is far more sophisticated, better written, more literary, and all-around a superior creative achievement than the best-selling multi-volume young adult fantasy series of our times. It is, though, something of an unfair comparison – Dark Materials [note: I just typed “Dork Materials,” aptly enough] is written for an older young adult from the get-go, and does not have to deal with a legacy of children’s literature into its second and third volumes. Too, it achieves more because it aims higher and asks more from its readers. I love this about it.

So, with all this behind it, it’s a pity I don’t find the series as a whole just a bit more satisfying. The real culprit is The Amber Spyglass, the third volume. As events culminate, Pullman gets up a terrific head of steam, adding more and more elements to an intricate crisis. At about the point where you might expect some move towards reconciliation of the plot elements and the onset of some sort of resolution, though, he keeps throwing more balls into the air. I’m no young adult, alas! …and I have the gall to consider myself a fairly able reader, but halfway through The Amber Spyglass, I was becoming very challenged in my ability to keep track of what the hell all was going on.

And then – at the end of this deeply smart creation, steeped in history, literature, science, and anthropology – something brazenly banal happens, and as a result, the problems of the universe are solved. It feels like an extravagantly arbitrary stress on the structure of the narrative. It’s as if All Quiet on the Western Front ended with a little girl asking why people have wars, and none of the grown-ups being able to explain it to her, and this made everyone realize that war is bad, so it disappeared forever. I don’t exaggerate by much, and the only thing I can think of is that the finale would make more sense if I had Paradise Lost under my belt. From where I stand now, however, His Dark Materials is a beautifully woven fictional tapestry that gets mangled by internal stresses in the final act.

Nevertheless, this is a highly worthwhile reading both for its ambition and for many excellent vignettes, explorations, and episodes to be savored en route to the ultimate train wreck. I would highly recommend it to the young people and their natural allies in my life, if it hadn’t been them that recommended it to me.

19 comments:

Ezra said...

I just want to go through this sentence by sentence and say "yes", "yes", and "yes" to each.

The first book is so superior to the others. I think the overall structure of the chase gives it a sense of pursuit and danger gives it a propulsion and sense of wonderful nightmare that is lacking in the others.

And I basically have to pretend like the third book was never written to maintain my enjoyment of the first. The way that the magic is explained is sort of like how disappointing it is in "The Phantom Menace" to learn that The Force are just some kind of sentient particle. I'll just forget that happened, and go back to the original trilogy, thanks.

And what a comedown for Lord Asriel by the third book. He ends book 1 with such an oversized personality— he's like Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights + James Bond + Satan. He's setting a lot of amazing and bad things in motion with his hubris, and he deserves a more appropriately heroic comeuppance at the end.

Finally, GO READ PARADISE LOST NOW.

Voron X said...

I absolutely agree with you. Wonderful series with a terrible ending. In fact, being 3 years since I read/audiobooked it I can't exactly remember exactly the ending -- just a lot of events that took place in the last book. I think I blocked the trauma from memory. I think he had so many ideas he wanted to get out, and decided to try to fit them all in there, ALONG WITH all the things introduced in the first two books. Maybe they belonged in stories in their own right. And what the hell happened to Mrs. Coulter?? She went from all bad-ass dominista to totally wussified gender-role-submissive in no-time flat.

Btw, I highly recommend the movie. Wonderful adaptation, even if they switched up events and left the end for the next book. Pullman himself approved of it and even said about Mrs. Coulter's hair color change:
"I'd described Mrs Coulter's hair as black. I was clearly wrong. You sometimes are wrong about your characters. She's blonde. She has to be." (http://moreintelligentlife.com/node/697)

mrs.5000 said...

I'm very fond of these books, unusally so for children's lit I've encountered only as an adult. I agree that they spiral rather out of control, but there's something rare and audacious even in that. The human/daemon relationship (I won't explain) is one of the most magical and artfully developed ideas I've encountered in a fictive world.

Rory said...

You used the word "sentient" to describe the armored polar bears, when I think what you meant was "formidable, articulate, and psychologically complex." Your cat, after all, is fully sentient.

Otherwise, a nice review, with an excellent choice of illustration.

Aviatrix said...

What language is the depicted cover in? Does Catalan have those descending accents on the U? Does Romanian have the letter K?

Michael5000 said...

Trixie: I thought Finnish at first, but now we're leaning towards Czech. But no idea, really.

pfly said...

I listened to these as audiobooks during my former long commute. They were very well done, with a full cast of voice actors/actresses. Recommended.

Chance said...

The language is Lithuanian. The word "steampunk" was coined in the '80s, long before this book was conceived.

Aviatrix said...

Thank you Chance. I was just about to settle on Latvian.

Michael5000 said...

The staff Czech verifies that this is neither Czech nor Polish. We shall refer Chance's assertion to the staff Lithuanian. He's certainly right about the "steampunk" concept being older than I thought it was. Maybe he can be the staff steampunk specialist.

Aviatrix said...

I'm continually startled by how old cyberpunk is. There are some startlingly accurate depictions of the social effects of the Internet that predate some of the technology that have brought it about.

Jenners said...

Hmmmmm....I've always wondered about this series. And, despite the problems with the ending, I think I'll take it on at some point ... despite my continued problems with YA books.

dhkendall said...

A bit late to chime in, but yes, that is definitely Lithuanian. It's definitely the only language with a ų.

gl. said...

i'm enormously pleased you (&sue5000) like this series. i LOVE it, though your review reminded me that the ending was... unsatisfying and reductionist. but the world and the writing is so engaging i can ignore that part. i read the whole series over a long weekend, i was so enraptured.

i've got the smaller follow-up books: "lyra's oxford" & "once upon a time in the north." let me know if you want to borrow them!

Michael5000 said...

It's not Lithuanian until the staff Lithuanian says it's Lithuanian -- but she has, it is, and the issue is settled!

Chance said...

Where's my prize?

Michael5000 said...

No reward per se, but I'm happy to report that my father just used the phrase "I didn't have a dog in that fight."

Eavan said...

Your book reviews are so discerning, Michael. Few fans I know have admitted that the trilogy has a confusing and unsatisfying conclusion.

Michael5000 said...

Jus' one man's thoughts on the matter, ma'am. But thanks. : )