THE GOLDEN COMPASS
Book One in the His Dark
Materials trilogy
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New softcover book, 412 pages. Includes bonus material - Secret files of Lord Asriel.
In The Golden Compass, readers meet for the first
time 11-year-old Lyra Belacqua, a precocious orphan growing up within the
precincts of Jordan College in Oxford, England. It quickly becomes clear that
Lyra's Oxford is not precisely like our own - nor is her world. In Lyra's world,
everyone has a personal daemon, a lifelong animal familiar. This is a world in
which science, theology and magic are closely intertwined.
These ideas are of little concern to Lyra, who at the outset of the story,
spends most of her time with her friend Roger, a kitchen boy. Together, they
share a carefree existence scampering across the roofs of the college, racing
through the streets of Oxford, or waging war with the other children in town.
But that life changes forever when Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon, prevent an
assassination attempt on her uncle, the powerful Lord Asriel, and then overhear
a secret discussion about a mysterious entity known as Dust.
It is at this time that children mysteriously began to disappear. Children, and
only the children, are vanishing at the hands of what become known as the
"Gobblers." Who the Gobblers are and what they want is unknown, but
soon, children from far and wide are disappearing with out a trace, even Lyra's
good friend, Roger.
But before she can begin her search for Roger, Lyra is introduced to Mrs.
Coulter, a beautiful and bewitching woman. Mrs. Coulter is a scholar and an
explorer - seemingly everything that Lyra could ever hope to be. Mrs. Coulter
takes Lyra under her wing and employs her as an assistant to help in the next
expedition to explore the Arctic North. On the morning she is to leave Jordan
College, the Master of the school gives Lyra an alethiometer, a rare and
powerful instrument with the power to reveal the truth in all things.
While under Mrs. Coulter's guidance, Lyra learns of her mentor's critical role
in Church's General Oblation Board, a.k.a. the Gobblers, the party responsible
for the disappearing children. It is revealed that these kidnapped children are
taken to Bolvangar, a place in the far North, to participate in Dust experiments
whereby they are severed from their daemons through a process called intercision.
Lyra also learns that the Church has captured and imprisoned Lord Asriel in the
Arctic region of Bolvanger where he has undertaken Dust experiments of his own.
Horrified at what she has learned, Lyra and Pantalaimon flee Mrs. Coulter's home
in the middle of the night and are rescued through the kindness of two gyptian
men. The gyptians are a gypsy group of boat-people who live a harsh life on the
water tempered by their unwavering sense of family, loyalty and love. It is the
gyptians' children who have suffered most at the hands of the Gobblers, and they
have vowed to travel North to rescue them. Lyra pledges to share what she knows,
rescue her dear friend Roger, and ultimately find her imprisoned father. Through
the gyptian elders, Lord Faa and Farder Coram, Lyra is bewildered to learn that
her parents are Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter. Despite this shock, Lyra quickly
learns to read the alethiometer and understand its messages. Although her
alethiometer enables her to discover the truth in everything around her, Lyra is
unaware of the incredible role her own life plays in the fate of the universe.
Lyra is the subject of a great prophecy in which she is destined to commit a
fateful betrayal that will determine the future of all worlds.
To succeed in the rescue mission for the children, the gyptians enlist the
alliances of three people who come to regard Lyra dearly: Serafina Pekkala, the
witch queen who reveals that the fate of universe lies in Lyra's future; Lee
Scoresby, a Texan aeronaut and commander of a hot air balloon; and Iorek
Byrnison, a renegade armored polar bear, deposed as king of his clan by a
deceitful brother. While on their long, hard journey in the far North, Lyra and
Pantalaimon are kidnapped by hunters who take them to Bolvangar, the place where
all the kidnapped children have been brought. At long last, Lyra is happily
reunited with Roger, but to her horror, she witnesses intercision, the gruesome
Dust experiment that separates child and daemon. Banding together, the children
and their daemons escape the terrors of Bolvangar, fleeing into the safety of
the gyptians, Serafina Pekkala's witches, Lee Scoreby's balloon, and Iorek
Byrnison.
Although the children are rescued, the journey for Lyra and Roger is far from
over. They travel further north and finally find Lyra's father, Lord Asriel.
Lord Asriel has experimented with Dust as well, and has discovered its role in
crossing the barriers into other worlds. He has constructed a bridge to another
world, but crossing that bridge requires the energy released in an intercision.
Unable to sacrifice his own child, Lord Asriel makes Roger his prey and escapes
to another world. The universe has been broken and Lyra's friend lies dead, but
she vows get revenge and discover the secret of Dust.
About the Author
Philip Pullman CBE (born October 19, 1946) is an
English writer. He is the best-selling author of His Dark Materials, a trilogy
of fantasy novels, and a number of other books.
Biography
Pullman was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England, to RAF pilot Alfred Outram and
Audrey Evelyn Merrifield. The family travelled with his father's job, including
to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where he spent time at school. His father
was killed in a plane crash in 1953 when Pullman was seven. His mother remarried
and with a move to Australia came Pullman's discovery of comic books including
Superman and Batman, a medium which he continues to espouse. From 1957 he was
educated at Ysgol Ardudwy school in Harlech, Gwynedd and spent time in Norfolk
with his grandfather, a clergyman. Around this time Pullman discovered John
Milton's Paradise Lost, which would become a major influence for His Dark
Materials.
From 1963 Pullman attended Exeter College, Oxford, receiving a Third class BA in
1968, in an interview with the Oxford Student he stated that "he did not
really enjoy the English course" and that "I thought I was doing quite
well until I came out with my third class degree and then I realised that I
wasn't - it was the year they stopped giving fourth class degrees otherwise
I'd have got one of those". He discovered William Blake's illustrations
around 1970, which would also later influence him greatly
Pullman married Judith Speller in 1970 and began teaching children and writing
school plays. His first published work was The Haunted Storm, which joint-won
the New English Library's Young Writer's Award in 1972. He nevertheless refuses
to discuss it. Galatea, an adult fantasy-fiction novel, followed in 1978, but it
was his school plays which inspired his first children's book, Count Karlstein,
in 1982. He stopped teaching around the publication of The Ruby in the Smoke
(1986), his second children's book, whose Victorian setting is indicative of
Pullman's interest in that era.
Pullman taught part-time at Westminster College, Oxford between 1988 and 1996,
continuing to write children's stories. He began His Dark Materials about 1993.
Northern Lights (published as The Golden Compass in the US) was published in
1996 and won the Carnegie Medal, one of the most prestigious British children's
fiction awards, and the Guardian Children's Fiction Award.
Pullman has been writing full-time since 1996, but continues to deliver talks
and writes occasionally for The Guardian. He was awarded a CBE in the New Year's
Honours list in 2004. Pullman also began lecturing at a seminar in English at
his alma mater, Exeter College, Oxford, in 2004. He is currently working on The
Book of Dust, a sequel to his completed His Dark Materials trilogy.
His Dark Materials
His Dark Materials consists of Northern Lights (titled The Golden Compass in
North America), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass (see also 2 short
companion pieces, Lyra's Oxford
and Once Upon a Time in the North, as well as the yet-unpublished prequel, The Book of Dust ).
The first volume of the trilogy, Northern Lights, won the Carnegie Medal for
children's fiction in the UK in 1995. The Amber Spyglass, the last volume, was
awarded both 2001 Whitbread Prize for best children's book and the Whitbread
Book of the Year prize in January 2002, the first children's book to receive
that award. The trilogy won popular acclaim in late 2003, taking third place in
the BBC's Big Read poll.
In 2005 Pullman was announced as joint winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial
Award for children's literature.
Philosophical and religious perspective
Pullman is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association and an
Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.
The His Dark Materials books have been at the heart of controversy, especially
with certain Christian groups. Some, including Peter Hitchens, claim that he
actively pursues an anti-Christian agenda. Proponents of this view cite the
critical articles he has written regarding C. S. Lewis' series The Chronicles of
Narnia (which Pullman denounces as religious propaganda), and the usually
negative portrayal of the "Church" in His Dark Materials.
The two series have some resemblance. Both feature children facing adult moral
choices, talking animals, religious allegories, parallel worlds, and concern the
ultimate fate of those worlds. The first published Narnia book, The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe, begins with a young girl hiding in a wardrobe, as does
the first His Dark Materials book, Northern Lights (published as The Golden
Compass in North America).
Some, including Hitchens again, have seen the His Dark Materials series as a
direct rebuttal of C. S. Lewis's series.Pullman has also criticised the way
Lewis excludes the character Susan from the final 'heaven' scenes in The Last
Battle, saying she is rejected for her growing worldliness. Lewis devotees argue
that Pullman has read too deeply into this; Lewis made no statement about
Susan's ultimate destiny, and never excluded the possibility of her rejoining
her friends in heaven later, as they are dead and she is still alive.
However, Pullman has found support from other Christians, most notably Rowan
Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. These groups and individuals point out
that Pullman's attacks are focused on the constraints of dogmatism and the use
of religion to oppress, not on Christianity itself. Dr. Williams has gone so far
as to propose that His Dark Materials be taught as part of religious education
in schools. Moreover, even authors of works dedicated to critical appraisals of
religious themes in his writing have described Pullman as a friendly and
generous debating partner.
Screen adaptations
* A film adaptation of The Butterfly Tattoo is set to film in 2007. It is
a Philip Pullman supported project to allow young artists a chance to get film
industry experience.
* A co-produced BBC and WGBH Boston television adaptation of The Ruby in the
Smoke, starring Billie Piper and Julie Walters, was screened in the UK on BBC
One on 27 December 2006 and premiered on PBS Masterpiece Theatre in America on
February 4, 2007. The BBC and WGBH have plans to adapt the other three Sally
Lockhart novels, The Shadow in the North, The Tiger in the Well, and The Tin
Princess, for television.
* A film adaptation, titled His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass, was
released in December 2007 by New Line Cinema, starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel
Craig and Dakota Blue Richards.
Bibliography
Non-series books
* 1972 The Haunted Storm
* 1976 Galatea
* 1982 Count Karlstein
* 1987 How to be Cool
* 1989 Spring-Heeled Jack
* 1990 The Broken Bridge
* 1992 The White Mercedes
* 1993 The Wonderful Story of Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp
* 1995 Clockwork, or, All Wound Up
* 1995 The Firework-Maker's Daughter
* 1998 Mossycoat
* 1998 The Butterfly Tattoo (re-issue of The White Mercedes)
* 1999 I was a Rat! or The Scarlet Slippers
* 2000 Puss in Boots: The Adventures of That Most Enterprising Feline
* 2004 The Scarecrow and his Servant
The New-Cut Gang
* 1994 Thunderbolt's Waxwork
* 1995 The Gasfitter's Ball
Sally Lockhart
* 1985 The Ruby in the Smoke
* 1986 The Shadow in the North (first published as The Shadow in the Plate)
* 1990 The Tiger in the Well
* 1994 The Tin Princess
His Dark Materials
* 1995 Northern Lights, retitled The Golden Compass in the US
* 1997 The Subtle Knife
* 2000 The Amber Spyglass
Companion Books
* 2003 Lyra's Oxford
* 2008 Once Upon a Time in the North
* 2009(According to Pullman himself, although this could change) The Book of Dust (not yet published)
Plays
* 1990 Frankenstein
* 1992 Sherlock Holmes and the Limehouse Horror
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Trilogy, click here to visit The
House of Oojah
See other books in the His Dark Materials trilogy and more Philip Pullman books click here
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
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