Image:HisDarkMaterialsUS.jpg|thumb|right|256px|The trilogy (North American versions)
His Dark Materials is a
trilogy of
fantasy novels by
Philip Pullman comprising
Northern Lights (1995, published as
The Golden Compass in North America),
The Subtle Knife (1997) and
The Amber Spyglass (2000). It follows the
coming-of-age of two children,
Lyra Belacqua and
Will Parry, as they wander through a series of
parallel universes against a backdrop of epic events. The three novels have won various awards, most notably
The Amber Spyglass, the 2002
Whitbread Book of the Year prize, while the trilogy as a whole took third place in the BBC's
Big Read poll in 2003.
The story involves fantasy elements such as
witches and
armoured polar bears, and alludes to a broad range of ideas from fields such as
physics,
philosophy,
theology and
spirituality. The trilogy functions in part as a retelling and inversion of
John Milton's epic,
Paradise Lost; with Pullman commending humanity for what Milton saw as its most tragic failing. North American printings of
The Amber Spyglass have
censored passages describing Lyra's incipient sexuality.
Pullman has published two short stories related to
His Dark Materials: "Lyra and the Birds", which appears with accompanying illustrations in the small hardcover book
Lyra's Oxford (2003), and "
Once Upon a Time in the North" (2008). He on another, larger companion book to the series,
The Book of Dust, for several years.
The London
Royal National Theatre staged a major,
two-part adaptation of the series in 2003–2004, and
New Line Cinema released a film based on
Northern Lights, titled
The Golden Compass, in 2007.
View original article : His Dark Materials
Comments