Official HDM Site

[Will]

Remember their (shock) update?

Discover Lyra's Oxford, an exciting new tale set in the world of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials saga. This collectible hardcover volume includes a short story by Mr. Pullman, plus a fold-out map of Oxford and various "souvenirs" from the past. The book is illustrated throughout with woodcut illustrations by John Lawrence. Coming in October.

Can you spot the operative word? Has someone made a big booboo and wrongly figured that Lyra's world is set in the past, not an alternate universe?

[Kinders]

They could still be souvenirs from the past...

[Will]

How so?

[Kinders]

Even if the year is 2003 in Lyra's world, the souvenirs could be from the year 1903 in Lyra's world... I haven't read it; does it actually state that Lyra's world is set in the past??

[Will]

No, not emphatically. It's just that quote, and it seems to suggest it, wouldn't you say?

[Nef]

i think it's just a comprehension mistake.

[jessia]

well there are still some people out there that think the golden compass takes place in victorian times.

and notice how they still have changed the kyra typo.

[Tristan]

yeah, what makes you think the people who built the official site actually READ the books? ......

[TheLadyofShalott]

Good point LOL Past...that's a mortal sin to the HDM fanatic.

[Kinders]

I still think it might actually mean the past. It could even mean 'from events between Bolvangar and meeting Will'

[Tristan]

well the press release said:

"In Lyra's Oxford the reader will share the excitement of discovering a small bundle of material that has somehow slipped between Lyra's universe and our own. It will include as well as the story fully illustrated intricate maps and other ephemera from Lyra's universe. The text will be illustrated throughout in beautiful black and white wood-blocks together with specially printed three-colour pull out maps of Lyra's Oxford. No expense has been spared to make a publication which could 'perhaps' have come from a parallel universe."

..nothing about the 'past' there... I think the people who edited the official site just didn't quite understand what was meant..

[jessia]

just some random house web techies.

[eloquent]

The Amazon WAP site had a classic one as well! But when I went back to get the exact quote it was gone, along with all other references to Pulman's work in their titles database, so alas, I was unable to start a topic about it.

[Enitharmon]

It's been said quite a lot that Lyra's England resembles our England in Victorian or Edwardian times. I'm not sure I agree. There are some features that suggest this, and others that contradict it.

It's just that PP has created a world that is at once familiar but where history has evolved differently. There is a king in White Hall, who is in real power and convenes meetings of the Cabinet Council so we can assume that the English Civil War never happened. We know that the Reformation took a quite different course (so presumably no Bloody Mary!). They have technology of the later 20th century, though it has not progressed as far and has gone in different directions. They have 'Atomcraft' and anbaric power (but traditionalists prefer naphtha lamps and I don't blame them). They haven't got the aeroplane and rely on hydrogen-filled Zeppelins for mass air transport (but don't seem to have had the history of calamities that pushed airship technology towards helium in our world. Perhaps they can't isolate helium) - but they have helicopters (gyropters, same difference). Sophisticated technology is there all right, but it is almost entirely at the disposal of those who hold absolute power - basically the Magisterium. There is no consumer culture to speak of (and hoorah for that!).

I suggest that, rather than Victorian England, Lyra's world bears a strong resemblance to Poland in the second half of the 20th century (A good model for Lyra's Oxford would be Krakow, with its Jagellonian University). They do say that Poland missed out on the 20th century and is currently rushing headlong from the 19th to the 21st. That's certainly how it feels anyway, and it's what I had in mind when I wrote The Cassington Scholar.

[jopari]

i think that lyra's world started out just the same as ours, then something happened- or didn't happen-, causing them to discover atomic anergy but not aircraft and alethiometers but not computers. Basically, they never really left the rennicance (s/p ).also, in some ways they are more advanced than us (the intention craft). because philosophy never died, they wil end up more technoligally advanced then the people in Will's world. also, there is no such thing as WoMD, so they will probably outlive us...

[eloquent]

I'm glad you brought up 'renaissance'. That is also the way I would describe the way their technology has developed differently from ours. Although there are aspects of industry, it is clear they did not undergo a real industrial revolution (remember the part about being able to drink from streams, etc). I wonder about the gyropters... a hellicopter would require the ability to produce a turbojet engine (less advanced than a turbofan engine, but still very advanced engineering), and I don't think they can due to the lack of heavier-than-air aviation (apart from the intention craft, of course, which i suspect used a very different technology) and also the apparent fact that there was no WW2 which was the catalyst that steered aviation development away from radial pistons and towards turbojets. This would mean that they are called gyropters for more reason than just to form a distinction between the worlds (like with electricity and anbar..icity(?) which are essentially the same). The gyropters must in fact be similar to the much earlier hellicopters that were propelled either purely by angling the rotor blades, or more likely with the aid of a tractor propellor, in the same way as with the zeppelins.