Philip Pullman and "The Golden Compass"

There are many great modern British authors today. One such author is Philip Pullman. His fantasies have been captivating readers in England for several years, and have been filtering there way across the pond and worldwide. Pullman was born on the 19 of October 1946 in Norwich. Because his father was in the Royal Air Force Philip spent much of his childhood traveling. His father died at age seven and he and his brother Francis were moved back to Norfolk to live with his grandfather while his mother went to London to find work. At eight years old his mother remarried another RAF soldier and Philip was forced to move once again. During a short stint in Australia he was introduced to comic books, which would become a strong influence on his writing as well as illustrating. Then at ten, his stepfather would retire and the family would move back to Britain to focus on the growing family. This time to North Wales, where Pullman would study at a prep school. From the prep school he went to a state school where he would meet Miss

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Enid Jones. She was an English teacher who would play a large role in inspiring Philip to write. He even sends her copies of his books to this day.

Philip Pullman entered college as an enthusiastic teenager. Because of his prowess in English he was awarded a scholarship to study at Exeter College in Oxford. However, his education was “largely unenthusiastic”(1). Even to the point that he attacks the National Curriculum saying it “crushes imagination in students”(1). Upon graduation he participated in several medial jobs before landing back in Oxford to become a teacher. During this period he wrote several plays that would be preformed by students and would later be a platform for his children’s boo...

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...ust only accumulating on adults shows that experience is worth volumes in their world.

The Golden Compass is a great literary adventure led by Philip Pullman. His crazy ideas and twisted logic send the reader on a roller coaster through out. However, not only is it just entertaining, it also has the literary aspects necessary to be considered a good novel. For these reasons and others Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass is a great example of theme, diction, and motif’s in literature.

Works Cited

Pullman, Philip. The Golden Compass. New York:

Ballentine, 1997. Print.

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on His Dark Materials.” SparkNotes.com

SparkNotes LLC. N.d.. Web. 29 Mar. 2011

Anonymous. “Author Profile: Philip Pullman.” Teenreads.com. Web.

29 Mar. 2011

Anonymous. “Philip Pullman’s Biography.” HisDarkMaterial.org. 2 Nov. 2008

Web. 29 Mar. 2011