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Lush · 08-05-2006, 01:53 PM

My picture is depressing? I encourage you to travel to Moscow and observe how these people pummel each other in the streets, especially if the weather is nice, or the grand way they embezzle money. My picture is realistic. Back in the Soviet Union, religion actually meant something to its clandestine followers. These days, most of it's been reduced to a platform for political posturing, something that I detest. Oh, there are people doing good together, even the slim inter-faith crowd that, for example, quietly runs shelters for thousands of trafficked women, but the overall situation is grim. This isn't a Rennaissance, it's more of a Dark Age with mobile phones.

I think Pullman (lest anyone thought I was getting horribly off-topic) sees all this on a larger scale, and is aghast. He was very vehement toward the Slavs & their Church in HDM (Interesting that you should bring up Russia, which by, the way, is only a part of what was behind the Iron Curtain), using the old "vodka" cliche left and right. This was something I didn't appreciate, but I could relate to his frustration with barbarism disguised as spirituality. Pullman engages the ugly quite nicely, maybe too nicely (hence the obvious break with the lyrical Tolkien, in my opinion). He knows what these little religious spats can amount to - blood and gore.

His attitude toward Tolkien doesn't sit well with me, but I agree with him more on Lewis, the man who denied a female character Salvation for cultivating an interest in "grown-up" things like stockings and the like. It seems odd to me that Pullman should reserve his harshest criticism for Tolkien, so far.

Furthermore, I don't think Pullman is doing this because, as you said, "the lady doth protest too much." I think he's onto something. His categorical nature prevents me from agreeing with him on everything. I think the tradition his insults is the tradition he owes a lot to, including Tolkien & Christianity. However, the way he shatters old taboos is a good lesson for any aspiring writer wanting to do his or her own thing.

08-05-2006, 01:53 PM	#59
Lush Fair and Cold Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: the big onion Posts: 1,803	My picture is depressing? I encourage you to travel to Moscow and observe how these people pummel each other in the streets, especially if the weather is nice, or the grand way they embezzle money. My picture is realistic. Back in the Soviet Union, religion actually meant something to its clandestine followers. These days, most of it's been reduced to a platform for political posturing, something that I detest. Oh, there are people doing good together, even the slim inter-faith crowd that, for example, quietly runs shelters for thousands of trafficked women, but the overall situation is grim. This isn't a Rennaissance, it's more of a Dark Age with mobile phones. I think Pullman (lest anyone thought I was getting horribly off-topic) sees all this on a larger scale, and is aghast. He was very vehement toward the Slavs & their Church in HDM (Interesting that you should bring up Russia, which by, the way, is only a part of what was behind the Iron Curtain), using the old "vodka" cliche left and right. This was something I didn't appreciate, but I could relate to his frustration with barbarism disguised as spirituality. Pullman engages the ugly quite nicely, maybe too nicely (hence the obvious break with the lyrical Tolkien, in my opinion). He knows what these little religious spats can amount to - blood and gore. His attitude toward Tolkien doesn't sit well with me, but I agree with him more on Lewis, the man who denied a female character Salvation for cultivating an interest in "grown-up" things like stockings and the like. It seems odd to me that Pullman should reserve his harshest criticism for Tolkien, so far. Furthermore, I don't think Pullman is doing this because, as you said, "the lady doth protest too much." I think he's onto something. His categorical nature prevents me from agreeing with him on everything. I think the tradition his insults is the tradition he owes a lot to, including Tolkien & Christianity. However, the way he shatters old taboos is a good lesson for any aspiring writer wanting to do his or her own thing. __________________ ~The beginning is the word and the end is silence. And in between are all the stories. This is one of mine~ Last edited by Lush; 08-05-2006 at 01:55 PM. Reason: clarity!