Saturday, August 28, 2010
Philip Pullman on C.S. Lewis
Philip Pullman is the author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, of which the first book is The Golden Compass. He has been a very vocal and vehement critic of the Narnia books. As he puts it, "there is no doubt in my mind that it is one of the most ugly and poisonous things I've ever read." You can read one expression of his vituperative critique here. What do you think? Wanna defend Lewis against some of these charges? Or does some of what Pullman says make sense to you?
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As I was reading Pullman's critique, all I could think was, "Wow...this guy really has it in for C.S. Lewis." It was hard for me not to wince a little at the way Pullman seriously ripped into Lewis' writing style, especially with the Narnia cycle. I read this and all I could see was a man who already had a vengeful pen ready for war before writing this article. Obviously Pullman greatly dislikes the "undertones" of Lewis' writing in the Narnia serious. The man ends his whole argument with "those of us who detest the supernaturalism, the reactionary sneering...will still be arguing against him." That is some serious attack Pullman has created. I guess I can understand if Pullman disagrees with the way Lewis' presents his thoughts in the story, but reading this I couldn't stomach the way he offered his argument. It wasn't clean, it wasn't encompassing of both sides; it was just "a nice pile-drive to the face" as Jack Black would say in Nacho Libre. We all have opinions and views and this is a world of one conflicting idea after the next, but I believe we should be able to discuss and offer these opinions and perspectives with a bit more civility, eh? Perhaps I just don't enjoy people outright attacking one another and desire a world where we acted more like Christ and were able to flow through conversation and discussion like the Spirit over waters, but my heart goes out to Lewis on this one. So I think I'd do the Aslan thing and leap between him and Pullman and give a hearty roar.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading Pullman's article, I, too, thought, Wow! Is this really necessary?! So after reading the article, I couldn't help but look deeper into Pullman and his works. Seeing that he wrote The Golden Compass, I started putting the puzzle pieces together. I don't know if you remember, but a couple years back, there were huge controversies within the church about how The Golden Compass was a hit towards the Catholic Church, and radio stations and the like were warning families not to allow their children to see this movie. In the Golden Compass, the government, "Magisterium," (representing the Catholic Church) is trying to overtake people's free will and the main character, Lyra, finds out that the Magisterium is trying to kidnap children, take their spirits, and eliminate the ability to receive dust (representing the free will the Magisterium is trying to eliminate). And along with this conflict, the characters also have daemons, their spirits, represented by animals. Coincidentally, the Magisterium's daemons are a tad bit meaner... But back to Pullman, after reading about the controversy on the Golden Compass and his confirmed confession of being an atheist, I can understand why Pullman showed so much frustration and anger towards Lewis. Lewis' books are loved and show the great love of our Savior, but they have views completely opposing that of Pullman. So I guess I would understand the feelings behind the letter because of Pullman's views, but I believe Pullman may just have a few jealousy issues that his books haven't received as many parties and celebrations as Lewis, only controversies. And personally, I would much rather have it that way any day!
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