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PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 29 November 2019

Philip Pullman's latest

book is adventure for an

anxious age

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press from his
LONDON (AP) — The line home in Oxford.
between fantasy and real- "We see this very clearly in
ity is blurry in the world of Donald Trump and in Boris
Philip Pullman. Which, he Johnson. And that's a very
thinks, is how it should be. dangerous state of affairs.
The British author's latest If you allow the idea to de-
book, "The Secret Com- velop that it doesn't really
monwealth," is set in a matter what you say be-
world of mystery, magic, cause no one will believe
witches and daemons — it anyway, we're on very
as well as untrustworthy shaky ground."
politicians, manipulative Questions about truth, lies
charmers and fake news. and the limits of knowl-
"If you're interested in the edge ripple through "The
world, the world is bound Secret Commonwealth,"
to affect what you write," the second volume in a
Pullman says. planned trilogy "The Book
"The Secret Common- of Dust," and a follow-up to In this Thursday May 16, 2019 file photo, author Philip Pullman with his knighthood following an
wealth" brings back the the three-volume saga "His investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London.
indomitable Lyra, whom Dark Materials." Associated Press
millions of readers have "His Dark Materials" intro-
followed in four previous duced the world to Lyra, new book in The Guard-
books from infancy through an imaginative, unman- ian, University College Lon-
an adventure-filled ado- ageable child being raised don English professor John Author Lee Child
lescence — and now into by scholars of Oxford's Jor- Mullan said that "Pullman
troubled young adulthood. dan College. seems to be writing for
In the latest book, Lyra's The world of the books is a those who read the HDM explores origins
studies at Oxford University familiar-yet-uncanny blend novels as children, but are
and interrupted by a per- of old-fashioned technol- children no longer." He of hero concept
sonal crisis and a journey in ogy — gas lights, airships — called it "a book for getting
search of mysterious Cen- and advanced science, of older with."
tral Asian roses and their everyday worries and fan- It rankles with Pullman that
dangerous power. tastical creatures includ- because of publishing in- Associated Press
It's a rollicking adventure ing witches and armored dustry categories his work "The Hero," a non-fiction
with a philosophical un- bears. In Pullman's most is categorized as children's essay by author Lee Child,
dertow, set in a fantastical striking act of imagination, literature. Such has been opens with Child looking at
universe. But it's also shad- every human has an insep- the success of the series language and how words
owed by the specter of arable animal soul mate — 17.5 million copies sold have different meanings
current events. known as a daemon (pro- around the world — that over the space of time.
Like his heroine, Pullman nounced demon). Pullman says he is "quite of- Child also asks the ques-
is troubled by the world Like its predecessors, "The ten asked to sign a book for tion of who was the first
around him. A chat with Secret Commonwealth" somebody's little baby that person to initiate a par-
the 72-year-old author in- brims with perilous trips to they've just named Lyra." ticular word or phrase and
evitably turns to Brexit, as far-flung locales, including "I always sign it 'For the real have that definition mean
many conversations in Brit- Geneva, Prague and Istan- Lyra,'" he said. the same for everyone.
ain do these days. Pullman bul. But there is also a new, As she faces a personal cri- As time passed, people
thinks Britain's decision to adult, sense of unease. Lyra sis, the book also pitches began to tell each other
leave the European Union is no longer a child but a Lyra into conflict with an stories. The stories prob-
is a big mistake. He consid- troubled young adult who oppressive religious hier- ably were basic at first
ers ex-Prime Minister David finds herself estranged from archy, the Magisterium, and then over time heroic This cover image released
Cameron a "complacent her daemon Pantalaimon which has an intense inter- traits were added to keep by TLS shows "The Hero," by
fool" for calling the 2016 ref- — effectively at war with est in those mysterious Cen- the audience engaged Lee Child. By JEFF AYERS
erendum on the country's herself. tral Asian roses. with the tale. The works Associated Press
EU membership. "If we are estranged tem- Pullman is an atheist, and of Homer saw a hero as a
Like many people looking porarily or permanently his unflattering depiction warrior who approached prose isn't limited to fic-
at the state of politics on from part of ourselves, it's of religious authority has everything with a sense of tion. He delivers an inter-
both sides of the Atlantic, a terrible situation to be drawn criticism in the past honor, kind of like the Klin- esting premise and backs
he worries about "the de- in," Pullman said. It's also from some Christian groups. gons in "Star Trek." Today, up his hypothesis with
cay of truth … "the idea one many people who His books have been pulled a hero can be described data and personal insight.
that nothing is real, noth- have made a rocky transi- from some Catholic school as a popular athlete or What this book lacks
ing is true, life is a tissue of tion from adolescence into library shelves in Canada someone who does the in page count more
improbable lies spun over adulthood will recognize. and the United States over right thing under difficult than compensates in a
nothingness." The first volume of "His Dark the years. circumstances. How did thought-provoking dis-
"You can say anything, and Materials" was published Pullman remains convinced that change occur? cussion of the origins of
if you say it with enough ef- in 1995, so Pullman is on that "when religious power Child writes popular and language, storytelling
frontery, you can get away his second generation of acquires political power, intriguing thrillers and and what makes all of us
with it," Pullman told The readers. Reviewing the terrible things happen."q his talent for compelling human.q