HisDarkMaterials.org

We have been informed that there is an alethiometer for sale in an eBay auction.

The seller says that it is an Lord of the Rings movie prop, and describes it as:

Real alethiometer given at movie premier as a gift.

Even though a bit further down he/she writes:

[On] the Back it says: Northern Lights* The Subtle Knife*His Dark Materials *The Amber Spyglass

However, it is probably an alethiometer that belonged to the few that were produced by Randomhouse some time ago as a way of promoting His Dark Materials.

Bidding has ended with $405.00 being paid for the alethiometer.

A West End musical based on the poems of the Archbishop of Canterbury has been thrown into disarray in a row over royalties and the casting of the leading lady.

Leading theatre bosses were due to meet today with Sir Cliff Richard, who was writing the musical, but the pop star is believed to have withdrawn from the project, which was being kept top secret until negotiations were finalised.

The popularity of the Archbishop’s conversations with Philip Pullman at the National Theatre, and the success of his friend, Mike Read, in putting the poems of Sir John Betjeman to music inspired Sir Cliff to do the same.

After reading this article I realised that it would probably be a good idea to raise the price of the HDM books...

J. K. Rowling continues to be the most lucrative children's author even though Jacqueline Wilson and Philip Pullman are now selling more copies.

The latest figures from Nielsen Bookscan reveal that, in the 26 weeks ending February 14, the various adventures of Harry Potter generated £4,732,804. Sales of Ms Wilson's works generated £4,393,608 and Mr Pullman, who came third in the BBC's ridiculous "The Big Read" poll, generated £4,122,585 from his Dark Materials trilogy and Lyra's Oxford.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has surprised observers by describing as "vastly encouraging" the sight of large school parties watching Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials at the National Theatre. His Dark Materials is immensely dark; a charge through worlds of good and evil in which children suffer loneliness and betrayal, and love and courage are relentlessly challenged by death, separation and deceit. More complex than The Lord of the Rings and harsher than Harry Potter, the Pullman trilogy also confronts religion: in a clash between the forces of Heaven and Earth, the dead are freed while a withdrawn and decrepit God-like figure known as The Authority is killed. The bright side? Life is here, on Earth, and there is no point waiting for a better one.

Adrian Mole author Sue Townsend is one of the latest writers to offer fans a role in her new novel.

She is selling the name of one of the characters in her next book in a charity auction.

Philip Pullman, recently voted the third greatest author ever, and Will Self, are also taking part in the third Immortality Auction for victims of torture.

Winning bids secure their own name, or that of a relative or friend. in the forthcoming novels by 20 of Britain’s best-selling authors.

The report of Dr Rowan Williams recommending the work of Philip Pullman to children (The Western Mail, March 10) roused me to read The Dark Materials trilogy. I but very rarely read a novel. Since the Archbishop of Canterbury gave his encouragement to delve it took12 hours solid to read the books.

My sad response to the attitude of the Archbishop is mainly very negative. He is quite frankly wrong. Technically in his philosophy of modern literary theory, if he has one, one could throw the whole polemic which surrounds Beckett's novels or Joyce. I assume these are part of modern curricula? Is it, however, for a religious leader to advocate these?

Before a packed, and appreciative, audience at the National Theatre on Monday night, Dr Rowan Williams and best-selling author Philip Pullman clearly revealed their mutual respect for one another. Both are prolific writers, both are academics with a strong awareness of popular culture, both have Welsh roots and Oxbridge education, and, both are figures of some controversy. They passionately agree about the power of the story. But, for one, this has led to being the modern spokesman for intelligent atheists, for the other, the titular head of worldwide Anglicanism.

Their wide-ranging conversation flowed from Religious Education to popular books, from The Matrix and The X Files to Mel Gibson’s latest blockbuster The Passion of the Christ (which, they joked, because neither had seen it, meant they could speak authoritively!).

John Milton's Paradise Lost has an established influence on His Dark Materials and so have a few other pieces of classical literature.

But we can't stop there. This article will discuss a modern novelist artwork which has most probably had an impact on His Dark Materials.

Dr Williams is a rarity - a leader who reads

Books are sometimes said to furnish a room. But in the age of spin, they are also used to furnish a personality and are now a vital accessory for public figures projecting an image.

So Major has his Trollope and Blair his Walter Scott. Occasionally, even the Queen lets it be known which of her subjects' fascinating novels she will be taking to Balmoral for the summer holidays. In state circles, to paraphrase Joe Orton, reading is not an occupation for busy people who need to keep the paperwork to a minimum. But having a trophy book on the go is one way to indicate you have a 'hinterland'.

On March 10th 2004 an article (click here to read it) was written in The Guardian newspaper by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams praising Philip Pullman and Nicholas Wright on creating the His Dark Materials Trilogy and bringing them to life on stage (respectively). This has caused many raised eyebrows and whispers behind hands due to the books anti-religious themes. Especially as he has gone so far as to call it "a near-miraculous triumph" and suggest it be part of the country's RE studies.

Yet Dr. Williams has spotted something that many of the book's critics have not and that is the non-existence of Jesus Christ in Lyra's world. Therefore in religious terms there has been no salvation, no holy trinity and so has lost the main basis of Christianity. But that is no Dr. William's main point, it is just something to ponder, if you will. What he really asks us is that if we are believers, is the God wew see or read about getting unwittingly killed by Lyra and Will the God that we believe in? Williams sees the books as a warning or another outlook on religion: What if the God we worshipped was real but mortal? Then, that would form a church full of anxiety forever waging a war to keep God safe from any who sought to harm him. That added to the loss of Christ then we have a church violent and ruthless in all it's doings. And so it is, in Lyra's world.

Philip Pullman's controversial novels should form part of pupils' religious education, the Archbishop of Canterbury said in a speech released today.

Dr Rowan Williams said that it is sometimes easier to clarify what religion is about by first confronting those who are hostile to it.

His remarks were made last night in a private Downing Street address to religious leaders and academics hosted by Tony Blair.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said Philip Pullman's controversial novels should form part of school RE lessons. Dr Rowan Williams said there was a place for critics of Christianity in lessons on religion.

Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials has been attacked by some Christian teachers and by the Catholic press as blasphemy.

But the leader of the Anglican church suggests such books can be a useful part of discussions about faith.

Philip Pullman, the best-selling author with a widely advertised contempt for organised religion, has found an unlikely champion in the Archbishop of Canterbury who has risked the wrath of fundamentalists by praising the National Theatre's adaptation of the author's His Dark Materials as a "near miraculous triumph".

Rowan Williams, already regarded with some suspicion by conservative evangelicals for his liberal social views, writes in today's Guardian: "This extraordinary theatrical adventure sets a creative religious agenda in a way hard to parallel in recent literature and performance."

Novels branded anti-Christian propaganda by critics should form part of pupils' religious education, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

Philip Pullman's controversial His Dark Materials trilogy was condemned by the Catholic Herald as '"fit for the bonfire", despite the novels bagging Pullman a Whitbread award and being staged by the National Theatre.

Rupert Kaye, chief executive of the Association of Christian Teachers, said Pullman's "blasphemy is shameless".

The first decent review since longI It covers all books and it quite long!

1.
Pity those—adventurers, adolescents, authors of young adult fiction—who make their way in the borderland between worlds. It is at worst an invisible and at best an inhospitable place. Build your literary house on the borderlands, as the English writer Philip Pullman has done, and you may find that your work is recommended by booksellers, as a stopgap between installments of Harry Potter, to children who cannot (one hopes) fully appreciate it, and to adults, disdainful or baffled, who "don't read fantasy." Yet all mystery resides there, in the margins, between life and death, childhood and adulthood, Newtonian and quantum, "serious" and "genre" literature. And it is from the confrontation with mystery that the truest stories have always drawn their power.