With the first of the Narnia films hitting theaters next Friday, Pullman's comments about the books have frequently been mentioned. The Chronicle of Higher Education just ran an article attempting to refute Pullman's claim that the Narnia books are racist and sexist (among other things) by comparing them to His Dark Materials. Read More.
For the Love of Narnia
December 4, 2005
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They were the Guardian Review, too. I don't see that they are terribly sexist, given that, say, Lucy is the only one whose faith in Jesus… Aslan never wavers, which Lewis surely esteems above all else. And the books make it clear, I think, that the Calormenes themselves are not innately inferior: it's just their culture. Criticising 'Middle Eastern' culture is not racist, any more than criticising the consumerism of the West is racist. Anyway, I doubt The Chronicle of Higher Education were just -attempting-, as certainly Pullman's right to declaim against Lewis's Christian propaganda is rendered very questionable by the fact His Dark Materials are humanist propaganda.
For the love of Oxford I can't really have an opinion since I last read Chronicles 4 years ago. However, I take one huge offence in one thing that the author said. "He knew, in a way that Pullman  who riddles His Dark Materials with scenes of murder and torture as well as of battle  does not, what violence entails.
…
there's nothing romantic about it. "Peter did not feel very brave; he felt he was going to be sick," Lewis writes."
Okay, I have a problem with this. In TAS after Will kills for a second time he and Lyra escape into another world Will promptly vomits in horror of what he had done.
"And the first thing Will did was to hold his stomach and retch, heaving with a mortal horror. That was two men now that he'd killed, not to mention the youth in the Tower of the Angels… Will (italics) did not want (end italics) this. His body revolted at what his instinct had made him do, and the result was a dry, sour, agonizing spell of keeling and vomiting until his stomach and his heart were empty."
So, Mr. Nelson, does that make violence seem "romantic"?
I think both Pullman and Mr. Nelson are heavily guilty of being extremely biased on the matter. Pullman looks for negative aspects in Narnia and Nelson looks for them in HDM, and they're totally blinded to the realities of it by their own prejudices.
I think you slightly misread that part too, Alewyn. Mr. Nelson didn't say he thought Pullman's treatment of violence was 'romantic,' he said that Pullman had said that about Lewis, which Nelson then went on to try to refute. Still, it was a little off to then insinuate that Pullman hypocritically revels in violence himself, whereas as you have pointed out, this is most certainly not the case.
I never really thought of the Chronicles as sexist or racist…i mean, susan gets to use a bow and arrow… but then again it's been YEARS since i've read them…
My problem with the Narnia books was the same as my problem with TAB:
Both were annoyingly preachy.
However, I found Pullman's views more agreeable and his presentation more convincing than C.S. Lewis'.
Personally, I had trouble appreciating CoN for the sole reason that Lewis made it obvious that he was writing for children.
Let's contrast this with the Hobbit, in which, rather than preaching, Tolkien provides witty asides that you can interperet as you will.
Let's contrast Lewis with Pullman as well. Yes, Pullman does get far too preachy throughout the second half of the third book, but for the rest of the book, he subtly and masterfully adresses mature themes such as sex, death, and religion without being too blatant. He moves his characters in certain ways to prove his point.
C.S. Lewis does the same to some extent, but he dresses it up so tightly in narration about how 'this person is bad because they did this,' this person is good because they did this', etc.
that it almost chokes the vitality out of the story.
The difference between Pulllman and Lewis is that Pullman shows, whereas Lewis tells.
Right, that does make it a bit better, Will. However, then in comes the hypocrisy matter, so just leave out my last sentence to the last post and I'll stick to that.
It's a bit hard to follow all your comments up there; looks like people feel very strongly about this topic and I'm happy about that, because I do to. Like Alewyn, it's been a long time since I've read the Chronicles of Narnia , but I surely have never felt that they were ever sexist or racist. I simply don't agree with Pullman about this one. It's kinda funny actually, since I showed my Mom an article concerning Pullman's feelings about Lewis, and she was the epitome of indignation for a long time afterwards. Lewis is one of her favorite authors, as he is one of mine, and she reads his books regularly, especially his autobiography. I think the most important aspect of this debate is the fact that authors like Pullman and Lewis (both of whom I put on par with Tolkien as truly great authors)are presenting ideas and ideologies that many young people would not find anywhere else in thier environments. I feel that such authors provide an effective alternative to today's mainstream media (which can be very assiduous in presenting and perserving certain points of view), and the most important outcome of such a situation has to be raising awarness of such issues. Whatever people may feel about such topics and whatever conclusions they may draw, the fact that it is out in the open and being discussed and thought about is better then letting it lie down. So kudos to Pullman for at least voicing his opinion.
I'm still gonna watch the movie, if for nothing but the s.e. (special effects) and how well they render the book on the screen. 🙂
I skimmed over most of the article, since Narnia really isn\\\'t the big deal to me.. but the writer\\\'s attempt to show that it was Pullman instead who valued death > life went terribly.
That article was deplorable: That guy is so insecure about his beliefs and ideologies that he tries to reverse what Pullman says and use it against him instead of actually upholding the strenghts of the Chronicles (the only one I can think of being that it was a reasonably riveting tale when i was a child). He also tries to make Pullman seem unaccomplished by undermining his Oxford degree. Guess what jackass, academia should be a means to an end, not an end in itself, that is unless you are infact a complete retard with no life and are constantly looking for ways to validate yourself. Mostly this debacle of an attempt to denounce Pullman doesn't work, because unlike the Chronicles, HDM is a work of love and passion that has touched me and so many others in much more profound a way than Narnia ever has and will.
His Dark Materials is a fictional account at looking at the large events in life. The Narnia Chronicles is yet another way. I personally lean towards the HDM version. But this in fighting in silly and childish (not child-like, childish) and Mr Pullman himself should rise above it all. As for Mr Lewis, well, he is now gone, his atoms 'gone, leaving behind such a vivid little burst of happiness. . .'.
And that;s all there is to it!
^ Last time I checked Narnia doesn't look "at the large events in life," that is unless, you know, The Chronicles of Narnia just so happens to be a sarcastic milestone in peoples lives making them realise that Theism is infact a complete joke, while (ironically) making a mockery of the very principles it's trying to prove. Peace out, I off to watch some Scrubs.
Narnia Isnt sexsisr or racist nor is hdm but pullman probaly got
angrysome ideas from the chronicles of narnia so why does he insult he insult it?right im off to kill some critics and lawyers (\’:angry:\’,\’short\’)
angry bloody things :angry:
i always wanted to be a writer, bet i'll never say such things about other books. :angry:
the HDM are great, but i must say that philip pulman is very jealos.