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Philip Pullman, author of the fabulous trilogy His Dark Materials, was interviewed tonight by Charles McGrath before an avid and eager audience about writing, about stories, and about the upcoming Golden Compass movie.
The New York Times Center is a fine space: and you can see some of how fine here http://thetimescenter.com/ Chip McGrath, writer at large (what a lovely title) for the NYTimes interviewed Philip Pullman for about an hour and then Philip took questions from the audience. I cannot guess numbers of those present, but the range of ages was great: children from Lyra’s and Will’s age to Philip’s age (which is also mine, that is, early 60s). It was easy and funny and wise. “The story begins” said Philip, “when you realize you have been born into the wrong family.” And he went on to talk about story, the one long story that is His Dark Materials. Chip said he thought daemons were the best idea, but Philip noted he thought how daemons settle was “the best idea I ever had.” He promised us not only a book about the backstory of Iorek and Lee Scoresby (Once Upon a Time in the North, coming in Spring 2008) but a book about a somewhat older Lyra, The Book of Dust. “The most private space” is between the reader and the book, Philip said, and railed, rather gently, against those with no understanding of metaphor who think a story can only be read one way. He talked about that wondrous first scene in the first book, and how we get “from this world where we are to the other world where the story is.” He talked a little bit about his years of teaching, and how in writing he got from here to there, and how some characters just came to him, like Lyra, walking into his mind. He credited the city of Oxford and the Ashomolean Museum and the Bodleian Library, Milton, Blake, Whitman and Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop and The Magnificent Seven among his many sources of inspiration. We got to see a perfectly splendid trailer for the Golden Compass movie, which if you have not seen online I urge you to go right now and search for. It’s breathtaking. Philip was asked by members of the audience what his daemon is, and he said a sort of bird that is attracted by shiny, sparkly things – and steals them. He was asked his favorite piece of his own writing, and he mentioned the delicious and very subversive trial scene in The Scarecrow and His Servant. He called true education the marriage of delight and responsibility – what could be better than that? |
