“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”
“We don’t need a list of rights and wrongs, tables of dos and don’ts: we need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not be soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever.”
Here we go. Straight up diving into the mind of the legendary Philip Nicholas Pullman. The importance of books, imagination and creativity goes a long way. Mr Pullman, born on October 19, 1946 in Norwich, England, reassured us time and again with his prolific stories, thus making him one of the most significant literary figures in British literature. Pullman has written children’s novels, young adult novels, short stories, picture books, comic books and non-fiction books.
Mastering the fantasy genre, Pullman once quoted “The writers we call the greatest of all – Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Proust, George Eliot herself, are those who have created the most lifelike simulacra of real human beings in real human situations. In fact the more profound and powerful the imagination, the closer to reality are the forms it dreams up.”
Pullman’s most acclaimed work ‘His Dark Materials trilogy’ went on to become one of the most celebrated pieces of literature. It’s a coming of age story with two children wandering through parallel universes. The trilogy consists of books ‘Northern Lights’, ‘The Subtle Knife’ and ‘The Amber Spyglass’. His other quite recently published trilogy ‘The Book of dust’ borrowed elements from ‘His Dark Materials’.
Other books of Pullman include the likes of ‘The Haunted storm’, ‘Clockwork or all wound up’, ‘The firework maker’s daughter’, ‘The Good man Jesus and the scoundrel Christ’; the list goes on and on.
Pullman has actively initiated campaigns against library closures and went out of his way to endorse the merits of reading and literature in general. He also believed that children shouldn’t be spoon-fed and shouldn’t be specifically made to read a particular thing at a particular age necessarily. Instead he firmly held an opinion that kids should have the freedom and liberty to explore their world at their own pace and in their own ways. Simply put, Pullman is to be hugely credited for popularizing the act of reading and celebrating books and it’s significance across the globe.
Pullman’s books possess a philosophical touch, with themes spanning across God, religion, society, worldview, purpose of life, etc finding a mention on a recurring basis.
His books have been translated into numerous languages globally, making him an internationally renowned name in the field of literature worldwide. He has been bestowed upon with prestigious laurels like ‘Carnegie Medal’, ‘Astrid Lindgren Award’, ‘Guardian Prize’ to name a few.
“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” Pullman left no stone unturned to promote and celebrate books and the humongous role literature has played in the intellectual development of kids.
It’s time to revisit that feeling, that emotion, that childlike innocence which introduced us to the world and made us imagine and realize a lot of things in the most joyous possible manner.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)