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arguchiki just finished the amber spyglass. in his acknowledgments, philip pullman acknowledges his debt to milton's paradise lost. i knew it! i mentioned to my sister recently that the books reminded me of milton. by my reading, paradise lost inscribes milton's own deep theological questions. almost despite his best intentions, milton renders eve and satan as sympathetic characters whose resistance and rebellion against god's inexplicable autocracy are understandable and even justifiable. milton also shows that the things humanity acquires through the fall can (and should?) be viewed as great gifts that are worth the price. pullman's books present a similar cosmology. his "authority" (which humanity calls "god") is himself a fallen and very frail angel, easily and quietly dispatched. metatron, the "regent" of the authority's kingdom, seeks to replace the authority and to rule over all worlds directly, by instituting an inquisitional autocracy with himself at the helm, and by draining away the "dust" that gives sentient beings free will, curiosity, and ultimately knowledge and wisdom.
i'm pretty impressed that these books were written in this way for a young adult audience. they stand in sharp contrast to the left behind series of books that my nephew got interested in last year (he checked them out of his public school's library). those books were written by a pair of conservative evangelical christians, and depict a post-apocalyptic world ruled by the antichrist. my nephew has read all of the books. i have mixed feelings about this--ultimately, i say let the kid read whatever he feels drawn to. it's impossible to control who he is going to become, and i think it would be wrong to try to close off any line of inquiry. he is growing up in an area dominated by conservative, fundamentalist, calvinist, evangelical christians, and that makes me wary of books like this. but it's impossible to say how they might affect him. sure, he could find himself increasingly drawn to that worldview, and might ultimately adopt it as his own. who am i to say "boo" about that? on the other hand, they might simply give him a richer, more nuanced insight into the culture around him, and thereby awaken and stimulate his critical faculties. that would be a good thing.
i'm pretty impressed that these books were written in this way for a young adult audience. they stand in sharp contrast to the left behind series of books that my nephew got interested in last year (he checked them out of his public school's library). those books were written by a pair of conservative evangelical christians, and depict a post-apocalyptic world ruled by the antichrist. my nephew has read all of the books. i have mixed feelings about this--ultimately, i say let the kid read whatever he feels drawn to. it's impossible to control who he is going to become, and i think it would be wrong to try to close off any line of inquiry. he is growing up in an area dominated by conservative, fundamentalist, calvinist, evangelical christians, and that makes me wary of books like this. but it's impossible to say how they might affect him. sure, he could find himself increasingly drawn to that worldview, and might ultimately adopt it as his own. who am i to say "boo" about that? on the other hand, they might simply give him a richer, more nuanced insight into the culture around him, and thereby awaken and stimulate his critical faculties. that would be a good thing.
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