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The author of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy shares insights into the art of writing while exploring how education, religion, and science, as well as his favorite classics, helped shaped his literary life. "From the internationally best-selling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, a spellbinding journey into the secrets of his art--the narratives that shaped his vision, his experience of writing and understanding the magic of storytelling. Philip Pullman is one of our greatest storytellers--and in this collection of more than thirty essays written over twenty years, he meditates on storytelling. Warm, funny, generous, entertaining and above all, deeply considered, these essays offer thoughts on a variety of topics, including the origin and composition of Pullman's own stories, the craft of writing and the storytellers who have meant the most to him. The art of storytelling is everywhere present in the essays themselves, in the instantly engaging tone, the vivid imagery and striking phrases, the resonant anecdotes, the humor and learnedness. Together they are greater than the sum of their parts: a single, sustained engagement with stories and storytelling."--Dust jacket.… (more)
User reviews
Very philosophical and scholarly. However: oh-so-worthy. As an informative chronicle on writing, the book failed in that specific narrative.
The references to authors such as Milton, Blake, and so forth came across
I suspect that some of the glaring flaws in this book are editorial faults. The essays drew heavily on a wide variety of lectures, speeches and short non-fiction articles that were published elsewhere. As a compendium, this arrangement did not make for an interesting insight on writing or storytelling.
I suspect that, individually, the public-speaking material was probably very engaging for the live audience. These were not essays penned for a book, and made for too much repetition gathered together. An additional aspect which the editor(s) seem to have ignored: a combination of the different talks and lectures brought forward a feeling that Philip Pullman is rather full of himself. And that perception may very well reflect reading so many 'essays' on his opinions.