something to read (i.e. His Dark Materials)

[Monika Huebner]

Penny said:

> Monika voiced my issues with HDM rather better than I might have, 
> but I just wanted to add to something that she mentioned:

I'm glad I'm not all alone with my opinion. Now I remember HDM has
been discussed a bit a (long) while ago over at HPFGU when I was still
active on that list. I remember someone saying that Book 1 was about
torturing children, and this is just how I perceived it myself. It's
not that I want my characters to be always happy and live happily ever
after, but I found that what Mrs Coulter and her minions did to those
children was gratuitous cruelty and reminded me a bit of experiments
done by ruthless doctors in the Third Reich. Along the lines of: let's
just try this and see what happens. There's violence in the HP series,
too, but of a different quality IMHO.

> I find this to be rather amusing on one hand.  It's so clear that 
> the Christian fundamentalist objections to HP are founded on what 
> they *heard* through the media due to the media heavily 
> saturating the American market with HP pieces for so many years.  
> If they were actually *reading* children's literature in the 
> main, they'd know that HDM presents a far greater threat to their 
> interests than HP.  

Very good point. I am convinced that most of those declaring the HP
books to be dangerous have never read them. There was a case like that
in the German press not long ago (some time before Christmas), where
someone had taken sentences out of context to "prove" that the HP
books encourage criminal behavior and are thus dangerous for young
readers. For example, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Of
course the author of this pamphlet didn't say it was the incantation
for the Marauder's map, and someone who hasn't read the books might
very well conclude that his children should not read them.
 
> I didn't actually know much about Pullman until I had finished 
> HDM.  I read all 3 books on a beach vacation a couple of years 
> ago and came back to see in general what was being said on the 
> internet.  Being a Christian, I found Pullman's world view and 
> anti-organized religion message in these books to be unsettling, 
> and though I'm by no means the kind of person who avoids 
> literature that challenges me to think about my viewpoints, I 
> just couldn't shake the feeling of unease as I was reading them.  

I am not a religious person, but I still found his message jarring. I
don't mind religious overtones in SF or fantasy if the author handles
it well, but Pullman didn't. And since I didn't find the overall world
or the characters to my taste, it added to my dislike of the series.

> I then of course found out that he is vehemently anti-organized 
> religion.  I'm still glad I read the series for myself, but I'd 
> never re-read it.  

It's still on my shelf, but I don't think I'll re-read it either. At
least not as long as I have hundreds of books that look more
interesting, but of course reading tastes vary from person to person.

Monika