After exploring the worlds of Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Narnia, David Colbert turns his eye to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. From the philosophy of William Blake and John Milton's poem Paradise Lost to quantum physics and the Bible, this book reveals the complex origins and controversial themes that make Pullman's trilogy a modern marvel in literature.
- What Does the Trilogy Owe to Paradise Lost?
On Milton's Blindness
Diamond Life
- How Did William Blake Influence Lyra's Story?
"A Grain of Sand in Lambeth That Satan Cannot Find"
Lyra Belacqua: Little Girl Lost
"The Girl for Me"
See No Evil: Specters in Pullman and Blake
- What Makes Iorek Byrnison So Smart?
- Is Lord Asriel the Story's Hero?
Body Double
Yor Little Devil
- Does Mrs. Coulter Really Change?
Monkeyshines
Etc.
" David Colbert's examination of His Dark Materials is intelligent and perceptive and full of good sense--by which I mean that he's seen many of the things I put there to be seen, and got them in what seems to me the right balance. I don't believe that my own reading fo the story is more valuable or authoritative than anyone eles's just because I wrote it; but at least I know it fairly well, and I think David Colbert does too, and you can trust what he says about it. What's more, he writes well. This is a good guide."
--Philip Pullman--