The Pullman and McGilchrist Event is Now Available!

 

Greetings Shadow Chasers and Dust Makers. 

As noted last time, Eventbrite hosted a wonderful hour long discussion between Philip Pullman and Iain McGilchrist to promote the release of the latter's new book, The Matter with Things. This is an epic tome, though one that can be explored at a leisurely pace, with a focus on whatever interests you. It is available for Kindle as an e-book here, and as a hardcover at the Book Depository here. 

My only real complaint about the discussion is that it, indeed, only lasted an hour. As the host consistently commented, any area of conversation touched upon could have easily led to a few hours of fascinating commentary. I have been waiting for a very long time for these two poetic souls to come together and spark ideas and inspiration off each other, as both have delivered beautiful addresses to the Blake Society. 

This talk mostly highlights McGilchrist's revolutionary work on the brain hemispheres, with a little dovetailing into Pullman's novels. As I knew they would, the two meet in the middle as McGilchrist's ideas on the right hemisphere is so eloquently brought to life throughout Pullman's prose. These are two generous, insightful, passionate, inspired, luminous talkers, and if anyone is interested in one or the other's work, please check this out. 

(I should also mention that I personally would have loved to hear McGilchrist talk specifically about Pullman's work, if he is indeed familiar with it, but alas.)

Thanks to the How To Academy for making this available on YouTube.  

And as Always 

Stay Dusty My Friends

#HisDarkMaterials #TheBookOfDust  #PhilipPullman 

#BuildingTheRepublic  #PullmanStudies  #JordanScholarship

#IainMcGilchrist  #TheMasterAndHisEmissary   #TheMatterWithThings

Philip Pullman Meets Iain McGilchrist

 

Greetings Shadow Chasers and Dust Makers.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Jenna Coleman = my celebrity crush. Philip Pullman = my literary one. Iain McGilchrist = my intellectual one. So imagine my absolute philosophical thrill upon receiving notice of the above event in my Channel McGilchrist email right before an interview Tuesday morning. 

Okay, if I was a real fanboy I suppose I would be trekking to London to see this firsthand, global health crisis or no. As it is, I tripped over myself ordering tickets to the livestream event. Perhaps it's just best to simply say - this is Republic of Heaven stuff right here. 

The amount of Dust that will be generated on November 9th is awe-inspiring to think about. Perhaps there's hope for the world yet. It will easily be enough to power a solar system or two when these two great hearts and minds and poets and imaginations finally meet. 

I've been encouraging Channel McGilchrist on this for some time, with all the online winks and nudges I could manage. I originally learned of McGilchrist from this article written on William Blake by Philip Pullman. Both men have delivered stellar addresses to the Blake Society, though I daresay McGilchrist was my favorite of the two, and it can be seen on YouTube here. If you want powerful insights into the ongoing Book of Dust, look no further than here. 

As I'm finally putting together my book on His Dark Materials, I admit I couldn't make it more than 30 pages without quoting McGilchrist. Notes will be taken, and I can't even imagine the soaring inspiration of this discussion. Just follow this link to order both live or livestream tickets! 

P.S. I emailed Channel McGilchrist about whether or not the livestream would be archived somewhere, and mentioned I was writing a book on His Dark Materials complete with McGilchrist quotes and notes. The person who intercepted it not only answered my question in quick order, but forwarded my email to McGilchrist himself!

And as Always 

Stay Dusty My Friends

#HisDarkMaterials #TheBookOfDust  #PhilipPullman 

#BuildingTheRepublic  #PullmanStudies  #JordanScholarship

#IainMcGilchrist  #TheMasterAndHisEmissary   #TheMatterWithThings

My Jordan Library: Northern Lights Edition

 

Greetings Shadow Chasers and Dust Makers. 

One thing is for certain, I am quite sure I have never owned so many copies of the same novel before. On the other hand, just check out the Potter Collector over on YouTube. I continue to look remarkably pale by comparison. I guess I could be the Pullman Collector, but I've got a long way to go. 

Plus, sadly, not nearly enough merchandise. 

Anyway, this is my Northern Lights/The Golden Compass collection, complete with dramatic northern backdrop. These have been acquired over a span of about fifteen or twenty years, and actually my very first copy of The Golden Compass was this mass market paperback edition with the Terry Brooks intro. It would be quite worn and torn at this point, and I donated it to a significant other along the way. Still, I kind of wish I had it for nostalgia's sake. 

So from left to right -  the Illustrated Edition of Northern Lights courtesy of Amazon UK; the quality paperback version of Northern Lights I found used at 2nd and Charles; my most recent purchase of The Golden Compass I snagged a week ago simply because I needed an extra copy to be careless with and possibly mark up while writing my book; my original quality paperback of The Golden Compass and the oldest in the collection; next comes the Tenth Anniversary edition complete with those lost papers from Lord Asriel; and finally the Twentieth Anniversary edition with slip cover I scored on sale at a local Books-A-Million. 

So does anyone else out there collect different editions of His Dark Materials or The Book of Dust? 

And as Always 

Stay Dusty My Friends

#HisDarkMaterials #TheBookOfDust  #PhilipPullman 

#BuildingTheRepublic  #PullmanStudies  #JordanScholarship

#InDustWeTrust  #DownAndDusty   #TheGreatProject

Epigrams and Anniversaries

 

Salutations Shadow Chasers and Dust Makers. 

Yes, I know the witch Serafina Pekkala said we must all act as though we are not subject to the fates lest we die of despair, but this could conceivably seem pretty fated. 

After a year of reading and researching on and off, I finally began writing my much hinted at scholarly book based on His Dark Materials yesterday. In point of fact, I wrote the entire ten page preface by hand, though I am going to have to do some editing and amending today. While my schedule is still up in the air and I plan on writing the entire first part before formally submitting it anywhere, that was a solid start, to be sure. 

The fated part didn't hit me until I briefly checked Instagram after midnight, only to find the Official Philip Pullman page celebrating the 26th anniversary of Northern Lights. Apparently it was first published in the UK on July 9, 1995, and the rest is literary. history. While beginning work on my own book on the 25th anniversary would have been pretty sweet, I do have to stand back and kind of appreciate the completely poetic synchronicity of the whole event nonetheless. Dust indeed works in mysterious ways ...

Though much of my book is loosely mapped out, I'm not saying much about it here, as there is an incomprehensibly long way to go. However, here is a treat. Straight out of Joseph Campbell's classic The Power of Myth, and it was just too good to not use as an epigram to kick my whole thesis off. 

So here's the quote the whole thing opens with - 

"It's whether you're going to say 'no' to the serpent or

'yes' to the serpent, as easy as that."

Mary Malone much? 

And as Always 

Stay Dusty My Friends

#HisDarkMaterials #TheBookOfDust  #PhilipPullman 

#BuildingTheRepublic  #PullmanStudies  #JordanScholarship

#InDustWeTrust  #DownAndDusty   #TheGreatProject

BBC HDM Special

Salutations Shadow Chasers and Dust Makers. 

Okay, this hails all the way back from 2001. But it was only recently uploaded to YouTube (Thank you Toby Clayton whoever you are!).

Anyway, lots of good Oxford talk, including the deep literary roots of the cities. Some more scholarly bits and analysis of His Dark Materials, and interviews with Pullman himself. I always enjoy the biographical stuff. There is also some discussion of his other stories like Sally Lockhart and Clockwork and I was a Rat!, and just storytelling and narrative in general. 

As I had a time ferreting it out, it seemed prudent to post a link and draw more attention to it. 

And as Always 

Stay Dusty My Friends

#HisDarkMaterials #TheBookOfDust  #PhilipPullman 

#BuildingTheRepublic  #PullmanStudies  #JordanScholarship

#InDustWeTrust  #DownAndDusty   #TheGreatProject

New Philip Pullman Interview!

If anyone perusing this blog is unaware, Philip Pullman was on Vimeo this past week. He was interviewed by another writer, Charles Rosen, and the talk is well worth your time. As always, Pullman proves a wonderful storyteller, whether he is actually telling stories or simply recounting memories from his childhood, expounding on writing, or musing on literature. 

Tragically, we came very close to hearing a reading from the third volume in The Book of Dust series, but alas, Pullman forgot to bring it with him for the interview. He does talk about the final book a little however, and I found it intriguing that he classifies The Book of Dust trilogy as a "Romance" rather than an "Epic," like His Dark Materials (a Romance in the style of something like "The Faerie Queene"). 

As he has alluded to during other interviews, his composition schedule is down to writing a single page a day as opposed to the three he once was able to produce. So we still have a wait ahead of us, though he was happily confident the quality of his writing hasn't substantially decreased, which is of course the most important thing in the long run. 

The interview is about 90 minutes long, and features questions from a select group of students at the end as well. One quote in particular that stuck with me was regarding his issue with writers who feel that they have to denigrate men and boys in their stories to elevate women and girls. He rightfully calls them writers with "more dogma than inspiration" in their pens. Indeed. In these increasingly toxic, politically-drenched times, that was good to hear. 

Of course, he has given us one of the most wonderful, fearless, inventive, brave, and loyal girl protagonists of all time in Lyra Silvertongue, but let us not forget he did the same with her male counterpart, Will Parry, the boy protagonist who is by equal turns loving, caring, gentle, courteous, but also strong and dangerous and capable. 

Any young boy could do far worse than model himself on such an amazing character, and that is something that is becoming something of a rarity these days. 

Anyway, you should be able to watch the whole event here for free even if you don't have a Vimeo account. 

Thanks to the Centre for Language, Culture, and Learning for hosting the event! 

And as Always 

Stay Dusty My Friends

#HisDarkMaterials #TheBookOfDust  #PhilipPullman 

#BuildingTheRepublic  #PullmanStudies  #JordanScholarship

#InDustWeTrust  #DownAndDusty   #TheGreatProject

The Subtle Knife: Illustrated Edition

While I really and truly don't spend much time on social media (I actually had a thought while rereading The Amber Spyglass that it bears a striking resemblance to the Land of the Dead, cold and disembodied with digital harpies shrieking at all the horrible things you've ever said or thought), I nonetheless started following Christopher Wormell on Instagram. 

In case you didn't know, this is the gentleman who did such an excellent job on the Illustrated Edition of The Golden Compass, complimenting Philip Pullman's poetic prose with poetic images. I suppose this was inspired by the likes of Harry Potter and such, though much like with the later books in that series, wow The Amber Spyglass is going to be one thick and formidable book. 

At any rate, I hope no one objects if I post a few great drawings and prints of the illustrated Subtle Knife from his Instagram page. They are quite tantalizing, and I would certainly advise any Dust-lovers to order their own copy whenever it becomes available. I for one am thrilled that they are continuing the whole of His Dark Materials. Who knows, we might even get The Book of Dust trilogy one day! 

Incidentally, the US version of the illustrated Golden Compass is debuting next month, and here is a link to the Amazon page. In the meantime, check out these awesome images from TSK. 

A very familiar cat checking out some very familiar hornbeam trees. 

Our new hero Will Parry taking his first tentative steps into that window in the air. 

Will discovering the world of Cittagazze, complete with surf, sun, and of course, Spectres. 

Will has his legendary first encounter with Lyra and Pantalamion, and thus begins their inexorable trek toward that bench in the Botanic Gardens. 

An airborne Serafina Pekkala flying toward the captured witch with her goose-daemon Kaisa. 

There are more on Christopher Wormell's page, so go follow him on Instagram! 

And if any of you want to check out the very loosely edited video of me opening up my own copy of the Northern Lights Illustrated Edition, a few people on YouTube have actually watched, so enjoy here. Hey, at least I'm enthusiastic.

And as Always 

Stay Dusty My Friends

#HisDarkMaterials #TheSubtleKnife  #PhilipPullman 

#BuildingTheRepublic  #PullmanStudies  #JordanScholarship

#InDustWeTrust  #DownAndDusty   #TheGreatProject