Debates and reviews

[selenak]

A while ago, melymbrosia posted on feeling betrayed by the Christian not-so-sub text of the Narnia novels by C.S. Lewis, which led to interesting discussions in various ljs. Here, elynross writes about feeling similarily betrayed by Philipp Pullman in the His Dark Material trilogy. Personally, I don't feel betrayed by either, but I agree with both ladies that Pullman is as doctrinaire as Lewis ever was, just for the opposite pov. These two are soulmates, clearly. See, that's why I like J.K. Rowling. As a writer, she isn't nearly as skilled or sublime than either Lewis or Pullman, but she doesn't use her characters and her universe to stuff messages about religion (either pro or anti) in her readers' throats. Meanwhile, the stage production of His Dark Materials is reviewed here; I was amused by the reviewer's comment that Pullman might be inadvertendly doing for God and organized religion what Milton did for Satan.

Another article that struck me was this review about a new biography of Catherine de' Medici, a lady who usually gets bad press and worse movie representations. Personally, I always found her more interesting than either her husband's mistress, Diane de Poitiers, or her daughter-in-law, Mary Queen of Scots, two ladies who underestimated her at their peril but got plenty of poets swooning over them. What's objectionable about Catherine isn't her influence over her sons but that she didn't overrule them altogether, for these three were a disaster for France.

From the past to the future: My last Deep Space Nine reviews.

And isn't it good to discover:


You are Emma Goldman! You are
the mama of
Anarchist/Communist feminism and you inspired
millions
to embrace the labor movement. Without
ever directly saying so, you
directed efforts
toward saving wymyn and children
from
exploitation. Oh yeah, you were also a total
sexpot!



Which Western feminist icon are you?

brought to you by Quizilla

Comments

[kathyh]

Amusingly enough I finished reading Northern Lights about half an hour ago.

Personally, I don't feel betrayed by either, but I agree with both ladies that Pullman is as doctrinaire as Lewis ever was, just for the opposite pov. These two are soulmates, clearly.

I think the great thing about both Pullman and Lewis is that both of them write/wrote so vividly and well that you are entirely pulled into the story they are telling. I can still remember the thrill of reading about Lucy and Susan's ride through Narnia on Aslan's back after his resurrection. Lyra's adventures are, if anything, even more exciting and she's an unforgettable character. Having been so absorbed in their worlds is, I think, what causes the sense of betrayal when the reader realises that the author is preaching a different point of view than the reader might normally hold.

And I still don't know *exactly* what happens at the end of The Amber Spyglass so I'm going to avoid reading the reviews *g*. On to The Subtle Knife...

[piedmargaret.livejournal.com]

The reason I include both Lewis and Pullman in my list of best evers, and not Rowling, is at least partially *because* they use their novels to explore important spiritual/philosophical issues. It gives the works depths lacking from more (for me) forgettable books.

In fact, thinking about it, there isn't a book on my best ever list that doesn't have a strong spiritual theme to it, either allegorical in nature, or direct. I don't seem to care which faith the theme is pulled from or which aspect is presented as 'right', I just seem to requre that the spiritual is represented as well as the emotional/physical, etc.

Interesting :-)

Spiritual themes

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I love them as well, and as I said, totally agree with the ranking of Lewis and Pullman over Rowling as writers.

However, I can't help but wishing L & P would have been able to do what, say, J.M. Straczyinski did in Babylon 5, a show which tackles a lot of spiritual themes and was able to produce a fascinating episode on a theological problem, Passing Through Gethsemane, without giving the viewer the feeling the writer (i.e. JMS) wants her/him to convert to his pov. In short, it made you feel challenged to think, not to concurr.

Re: Spiritual themes

[piedmargaret.livejournal.com]

See, I never felt Lewis was evangelical, although I can see the criticism more clearly for Pullman, who doesn't use allegory.

As a child, I was of course tremendously impressed with Aslan and also with Jardis. Had there been an Aslan-based religion, I may have gone with it. But even as a kid I could see no resemblance between the dull reality of Christianity as presented by my schooling, and the magic of Narnia, although I recognised the stone table metaphor. And as I say, I was as equally impressed with Jardis as I was with the good ol' daddy lion.

Having said that, I do believe that my early and repeated exposure to the Narnia books certainly contributed to my spirituality (not remotely Christian), and in particular my *need* for a spiritual life.

Pullman, I agree, has a more obvious manifesto, and I can understand why it could upset some people. I was unbothered by it, although I don't agree with many of his assertions. I like authors to put themselves into their work in a deep (and not mary sue) way. I like my novels to have heart and soul.

One thing that interests me is the idea that Lewis and Pullman's agendas are opposed. I can see that on the face of it, one is pro-Christian and the other anti. But to my viewpoint, they were both preaching the doctrine of 'love is all you need'.

All my favourite books and iconic personalities challenge me to think, by the way. That's why they're my favourites :-).