His Dark Materials: On Death and Life

Alan Jacobs takes issue with author Philip Pullman, who insists that the message of Lewis' book is: "Death is better than life; boys are better than girls; light-coloured people are better than dark-coloured people; and so on. There is no shortage of such nauseating drivel in Narnia, if you can face it."

I quite liked the Narnian tales. I also quite liked His Dark Materials, though I have obviously not put enough reflection into how, why and in what ways these tales reflect the existential squabble of Lewis and Pullman - and their respective worlds.

In this, however, I think Jacobs makes a salient criticism. Having read Pullman's books (several times) it is ironic to find him accusing another author of celebrating death, especially when compared against his own idea of death as eternal release to rejoin the cosmos. Indeed - if God is to have one cardinal sin (of which the Angel masquerading as God in Pullman's series has many) it would be his inability to face death, and that ecstatic reunion with the universe. It is his insistence to continue to live, which leads to his need to dominate, and to suppress all that is vibrant and good.

Racism and sexism Narnia may have, but not - I think - this kind of necrotism.