Alternative to Blarnia

Like any good name-calling elitist, I was musing over the latest issue of the New Yorker recently trying to project some blue-state ethos onto my red state existence. I ran across an article about the celebrated children's author Philip Pullman. Pullman writes children's fantasy novels that have been regaled as masterpieces in his native Britain. It's worth noting that Pullman's characters are differentiated from the standard Magic-and-Monster goulash in that there is a pronounced dedication to science.

The article is an interesting juxtaposition of Pullman, an avowed atheist, and C.S. Lewis, the evangelist. In the wake of the movie Narnia, Lewis has been receiving much acclaim from our vocal theocratic wing and a fair amount of criticism for his rather transparent Biblical allegory from egg-headed literary coastal types. For my part (and I identify myself with the egg-headed literary coastal types), I lapped up those books at a very young age like a kitten with a bowl of milk without even sniffing the religion being foisted upon me. I will attribute this to my secular upbringing, my uncritical nine-year-old brain, and the great names of the books, especially "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader."

The article describes Pullman as being more critical of the Narnia series than the Lord of the Rings, that other mainstay of Christian allegory by Lewis' converter Tolkien:


When it comes to “The Chronicles of Narnia,” by C. S. Lewis, Pullman’s antipathy is even more pronounced [than for Lord of the Rings]. [He] considers the fantasy series “morally loathsome.” In a 1998 essay for the Guardian, entitled “The Dark Side of Narnia,” he condemned “the misogyny, the racism, the sado-masochistic relish for violence that permeates the whole cycle.” He reviled Lewis for depicting the character Susan Pevensie’s sexual coming of age—suggested by her interest in “nylons and lipstick and invitations”—as grounds for exclusion from paradise. In Pullman’s view, the “Chronicles,” which end with the rest of the family’s ascension to a neo-Platonic version of Narnia after they die in a railway accident, teach that “death is better than life; boys are better than girls . . . and so on. There is no shortage of such nauseating drivel in Narnia, if you can face it.”

Touche. Much of the criticism of Narnia has to do with the inherent sexism that sounds to me to be earned. On the contrary, many young girls identify with the youngest sister who is the first to be brainwashed...er...believe in Narnia. One thing I like about the Lion episode is that Santa gives everyone tools.

The Pullman series is called "His Dark Materials" (a line from Paradise Lost) and is available here.

Pullman's series is described as being similar to the Harry Potter series in that it attracts many adult readers as well. I've ordered up the series of three and am looking forward to the read. Stay tuned for a review (in about six months).