Sidewise in Time
Residents of the upper Northern Hemisphere were dazzled by a light show. The night turned green, yellow, and other colors, as the aurora borealis, or the northern lights, was sparked by a powerful solar flare erupting from the sun. The stunning images were posted in Twitter.
"Iceland's the place to be tonight. See a volcano erupting and the Northern Lights at the same time," tweeted David Throup.
Skywatchers were in full force in Northern Ireland, as the the coastlines became otherworldly. (The panorama of Dunluce Castle on the north Antrim coast was spectacular, said one watcher.) Don't be surprised if there were students who were up all night. The term just started, and they may be thinking of the reading list.
There are other worlds
"Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compasses, prepared
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe, and all created things:
One foot he centred, and the other turned
Round through the vast profundity obscure"
- "Paradise Lost" (John Milton, 1667)
John Milton, one of the greatest poets of his time, had a huge influence on Philip Pullman. He was eleven when he first read "Paradise Lost", which inspired him to pen a children's book. "Northern Lights", like most titles under Children's literature, was about other worlds. But Pullman, a native of Norwich, Norfolk, wanted to rationalize it. So he talked about religious tyranny, the corruption of mankind, and history and geography. It was too complicated, but Pullman made it simple.
Lyra Belacqua, a young girl on the cusp of puberty, was contented of running wild in the hollowed grounds of Jordan College. In her world, body and soul were separated. The soul took form of a dæmon, who could be any animal. In Lyra's case, it was Pantalaimon, who was often in a form of a white-furred ermine. Then her sheltered world was shattered when Lord Asriel, her uncle, arrived. She was curious about his lectures, so she (and Pantalaimon) hid inside the wardrobe. He talked about Dust, a particle that was said to be the origin of the universe. He believed the northern lights to be the portal leading to other worlds and he wanted to go to the Arctic region to find out. But it didn't sit well with the academicians. It was intellectually daring. It would affect the balance of power. Lyra was curious and fascinated, wanting to know more. Little did she knew there was no turning back.
The Arctic reveals its secret
Lyra find her way to the Arctic. She befriended flying witches. She encountered warring polar bears. She learned about other children, broken after being separated from their dæmons. They were stolen for a reason. They were all connected to a prophecy, where Lyra would play an important role. The young girl couldn't figure it out, but she was drawn to the aurora borealis. It might be a force of good. She would discover a man who was tempted, fell from grace, and left paradise. Before crying out Milton, you might want to know how Pullman came up with this.
"I had a rough idea of where it was all going, and I knew a few things about some places I wanted to stop at on the way. I knew it had to end in a garden; I wanted to bring in the hornbeam trees along Sunderland Avenue in Oxford, where I live," he said.
How about his tips for aspiring novelists?
"One: work every day. Get into the habit of it. Two: find out what way of working (place, time, writing instrument, desk light, and so on) suits you, and insist that you get it. Three: don't listen to anyone who tells you you should study what the public wants, and give it to them. They don't know what they want, or they'd be writing it themselves."
