Philip Pullman Master Storyteller, and: The Elements of His Dark Materials (review)

The title Pullman has chosen for the His Dark Materials trilogy reaches not only back to Milton but forward to the ongoing debate among physical scientists about "dark matter" and "dark energy." The latter is currently hypothesized to comprise 96 percent of our universe, leading scientists to consider that new evidence will lead "not only beyond anything we know but also beyond anything we know how to know" (Panek). And questions regarding multiple universes, whose number string theorists posit "could be 10 raised to the power of 500," provide additional contemporary perspective on Pullman's imaginary worlds.

The fascination that Pullman's trilogy has aroused is thus not due simply to its effectiveness as an artistic tour de force, with worlds, characters, and events whose imaginative ebullience grips and teases us. These scientific conundrums, which challenge ways of knowing and involve faith, observation, philosophy, and the structure of scientific thought, resonate at the heart of Pullman's work. The complexity of the worlds he creates mirrors the complexity of the current challenges that physical scientists face as they speculate upon our universe.

In this context, Pullman's enthusiasts will welcome two new works, recently published, that focus upon the mysteries and challenges posed by the intricacies of his trilogy and its slow revelation of the fantastic politico-philosophical configurations of alternative realities. Both books proclaim their intention to be "Guides": One is Claire Squires's Philip Pullman Master Storyteller, identified as "A Guide to the Worlds of His Dark Materials." The other is Laurie Frost's The Elements of His Dark Materials, identified as "A Guide to Philip Pullman's Trilogy."

Despite the similarity of their titles and avowed intent, the two works operate in very different ways. Frost's 542-page volume is an encyclopedic work, with two systems of organization: first the writer's own categorization of informational material, and then, within that, an alphabetical listing. The sections divide the information into readily accessible areas of knowledge:

1. Characters
2. Places and Peoples
3. Creatures, Beings, and Extraordinary Humans
4. The Alethiometer, the Subtle Knife, the Amber Spyglass
5. Philosophy, Psychology, and Theology
6. Applied Metaphysics
7. Applied Sciences and Technology
8. The Natural Sciences
9. Social Structures of the Worlds
10. Languages and Diction
11. Allusions
12. Epigraphs(numerically ordered)

These major categories are further divided into subcategories. "Applied Sciences and Technology," for example, contains seven subheadings: Clothing and Accessories; Smokes and Medicinals; Food and Drink; Information Technology; Transportation; Weapons; and Other Crafted Goods and Materials.

In contrast, Claire Squires has organized her 214-page volume in narrative form, giving more of a holistic critical approach to the trilogy. As her title suggests, her chapter headings take their shape from her concept of Pullman as storyteller¹ :

1. Pullman, the Man (biographical)
2. Stories of Multiple Worlds (description of primary characters)
3. Politics and Morality (politics, religion, science, sexuality, morality)
4. Telling Stories (morality, didacticism, authority of the storyteller)
5. Intertextuality (Pullman's debts, derivations, personal influences, and intentions)
6. What Type of Story is HDM? (is it a children's story, what is its genre?)
7. Other Stories (staging of HDM; Pullman's other works for children and adults)

Conclusion: Pullman the Master Storyteller

Squires's narrative, analytic perspective includes not only a discussion of the trilogy and her understanding of it but also incisively selected quotations from Pullman's writings and interviews with him, as well as references to and analyses of critical commentary about his work and suggestions for interpretation. Both books include bibliographical information of primary and secondary texts. Because of the nature of her organization, Frost needs no index, but Squires does, and includes one.

The two works offer very different uses. Squires's narrative investigates and clarifies many perplexing ambiguities in the trilogy in a very readable way, explaining difficult points, elucidating...