Final instalment in Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust ends an era

Is this really the end of Lyra Belacqua? Thirty years after readers first encountered Philip Pullman’s messy, determined waif. Northern Lightsfirst installment Dark Materials In the trilogy, the British author lets him go.

Publication Rose Field – third and final installment Book of DustExpanding the story of Lyra and her cosmic struggle against a theocratic organization known as the Magisterium, the second trilogy is billed as the 79-year-old Pullman’s farewell to his hero, now in his 20s.

If you haven’t read the books, watch the 2007 movie Golden Compass Starring Nicole Kidman or being part of the acclaimed TV adaptation Dark Materials, “So what?” You’d be forgiven for thinking. But for the millions of readers who have lived in Lyra’s world (or rather, parallel worlds) since 1995 Rose Field It is a literary big bang. Most of them were children when they read the first book; now they are adults with children of their own.

Dark Materials And Book of Dust has sold more than 49 million copies worldwide. Pullman insists that he does not write for a specific audience, but it worked to his advantage that his work was initially classified as children’s fiction. He explains: “If Dark Materials If it had been published as a book for adults – which it might have been – it would have hit the shelves with the “fantasy” label. This means that no ordinary adult reader will touch it. People know what they like and they won’t try anything different.”

On the contrary, he argues that children are “living creatures that eat everything literary.” As young readers devoured Pullman’s books, they asked their parents to join them in discussing the thorny questions Lyra’s quest raises about faith, authority, and growth. A multi-generational publishing phenomenon was born.

Now this phenomenon is reaching its peak. Speaking from his home in Oxfordshire, a rambling house he shares with wife Judith Speller and Cockapoos Coco and Mixie, he admits he’s a bit “worn out” by all the attention. “But I enjoy it; it’s not something I endure grudgingly,” he says.

Is this really the end of his literary interest in Lyra? “Yes, I’m done with this story,” he says in the smooth, polished voice of an Oxford-educated former secondary school teacher. “It’s a beautiful world to be in, and I know my way around. I can talk to people there, I have friends there, and it’s a nice place. But Lyra’s story is over, it’s over.”

But wait, there is hope. The story of Lyra and her demonic Pan (every human character in the books is accompanied by a demon, an animal-shaped manifestation of their soul or inner self) has run its course, but the author has trouble breaking ties with other key characters. For example, Will Parry, whose fledgling love affair with Lyra is cut short by the difficulties of navigating parallel worlds. “I hinted that Will could be a doctor,” Pullman says. “I can imagine how a doctor would diagnose a patient. He would have insights that an ordinary medical student would not have.”

Pullman also became fond of the merchant and guide Abdel Ionides, who was Lyra’s companion most of the time. Rose Field. “I like him,” he says. “I want to see more of what you do.” I suggest Pullman leaves the door open to more stories from The World of, as movie studios call it. The Book of Dust. “Yes,” he says, seemingly pleased with the idea.

For now, the books about Will and Abdel will have to wait. Pullman began working on a memoir called. Before I Forget. Born in 1946, he is a child of the British Empire; The son of an RAF pilot who traveled the world from airbase to airbase. In 1954, his father died in a plane crash in Kenya. “I remember the telegram coming and my mother crying,” she says. “All I knew about it was that he died fighting the Mau Mau. [an insurgent group seeking Kenya’s independence from British rule]. “I didn’t know what that meant.”

Alfred Outram Pullman was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), allowing his young son to see him as a dashing hero. However, in 2008, Philip learned that his father had died not in war, but in a training accident. His death still remains a mystery.

Pullman’s mother married another RAF pilot – “he was one of my father’s friends, I liked him” – and the peripatetic lifestyle continued. He has clear memories of the 18 months he spent in Adelaide. “We lived in Glenelg for a while and I loved it because it was a palindrome,” he says. “I remember it was 1956 because there were Olympics in Melbourne and we heard it on the radio.”

His love of storytelling was shaped by his grandfather, a Church of England rector who regaled him with stories from the Bible. Then an English teacher introduced him. Paradise Lost. He called Milton’s epic poem about the fall of man “charming”. As a young man he retained a love of liturgical poetry and prose, but developed an antipathy towards organized religion. Dark Materials is a kind of literary inversion Paradise LostWhere original sin transforms from humanity’s great mistake into something miraculous: a way to achieve consciousness and all that comes with it.

In Pullman’s books, consciousness is represented by a mysterious particle called Dust. It is drawn to all sentient beings, especially after adolescence, and is connected to basic senses such as curiosity and love. Lyra tries to understand this; Seeing Dust as a manifestation of original sin, the Magisterium seeks to demonize him. Pullman said one of his goals Rose Field It is to provide a more comprehensive explanation of the nature of dust and its relationship to consciousness. If this sounds a little complicated, it is.

‘I’ve always felt that what is pejoratively called political correctness is just another term for being polite.’

“Matter is an extraordinary thing; it’s much stranger than we thought,” says Pullman. “My head is made entirely of matter; you can cut it and pierce it, but you won’t find anything but matter. When you die, you won’t find a soul or a tiny thing flying out the window. But I am conscious; I am conscious of this glass of water in my hand. Where does this consciousness come from?”

Where?

“One of the answers that intrigues me and that I would like to think more about is the idea of ​​panpsychism – the idea that everything is conscious. It is the idea that the fundamental particles of matter have a conscious nature. There is consciousness everywhere – it is like a field that encompasses the entire universe. Dust is our perception, it is our imagination looking at the Rose Field.”

“Yeah, it’s not easy,” he says, sensing my confusion. “This is a philosophical topic; what is consciousness, how do we become conscious, and what does that mean? I think I may not have explained that.” [in The Rose Field] exactly as much as necessary. But Lyra and Pan are still trying to figure this out. Scientists and philosophers don’t stop talking just because they made a discovery.”

The depth of Pullman’s fascination with science and philosophy is matched by his distaste for religious institutions. He was once quoted as saying, “my books are about killing God.” Such bold statements led to him being labeled “Britain’s most dangerous writer” by a right-wing British columnist.

I ask him if, in these polarized, intolerant times, he feels threatened by bigots who are offended by his views. He shrugs. “When I went to America for the premiere Golden Compass “I was given a bodyguard,” he says, “a big, well-built man named Gary. But I never felt like I needed a protection here [in the UK]. People say bad things to you on Twitter or yell at you during a speech. But no one has ever thrown anything at me or threatened my life.”

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Remarkably, for a high-profile writer who is not shy about sharing his views on social media, he has mostly avoided controversy. The closest he came to that was in 2022, when he resigned as president of the Writers’ Guild after openly supporting British poet and author Kate Clanchy, who penned her memoir. Some of the Children I Taught and What They Taught Me He was accused of using “racial tropes”.

Pullman doesn’t even blink when I mention this episode. “I thought about it [Clanchy] “He was unfairly criticized and I came to his defense on Twitter,” he says. “I was treated so badly that I felt I had to resign the presidency because there was so much excitement and they [the society] “They did not defend me properly.” He no longer uses Twitter (aka X) as he defected to Bluesky.

He insists the Clanchy incident hasn’t made him any more careful about speaking his mind. “I have always felt that what is pejoratively called political correctness is just another term for being polite. I have always tried to be polite and have never felt vulnerable to being accused of being rude, inconsiderate or offensive. If you speak politely and treat people with kindness, you are much less likely to upset them.”

The Rose Field: The Book of Dust Volume Three is out now via Penguin.

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