Pullman's Screed — Urth Net

David Lebling26 Apr 2001, 14:13original as archived

Pullman's Screed

↰ answers William Ansley · by quotation

(I previously sent this reply to the Whorl list by mistake, apologies to all for that.)

3 quoted lines

On Wed, 18 Apr 2001, William Ansley wrote: And Pullman evidently regards the success of the first two volumes in the series to be a license to turns parts of the third book into a virulent anti-Catholic screed (thinly disguised but unmistakable).

Really? Anti-Christian, perhaps, but specifically anti-Catholic? Am I misremembering, but in this universe, didn't John Calvin become pope? It seems to me Pullman is mostly attacking the authoritarian streak that is wide in many religions, including Calvinism and Catholicism. And I wouldn't characterize it as even "thinly-disguised.". Dave Lebling aka vizcacha

William Ansley26 Apr 2001, 22:36original as archived

↳ follows David Lebling · by subject

9 quoted lines · 1–2 deep

At 2:13 PM -0400 4/26/01, David Lebling wrote: On Wed, 18 Apr 2001, William Ansley wrote:

And Pullman evidently regards the success of the first two volumes in the series to be a license to turns parts of the third book into a virulent anti-Catholic screed (thinly disguised but unmistakable).

Yup, I was wrong. I wrote too quickly based on already-fading memories (my poor, poor brain) which turned out to be even less reliable than usual. I felt I should warn people on this list of a facet of the books that was potentially offensive; that was unnecessary. All of the people who post messages to this list are obviously too sophisticated to be offended by any such thing. I was bothered enough to do so not because of the anti-religious message itself, but because of the vehemence with which Pullman presents it and because these books are putatively for children, who are likely, even in this day and age, to possess much less sophistication than those who write here. William Ansley