The Book of Dust Volume 1 – ‘La Belle Sauvage’, was a prequel to Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy. It told how, as a baby, Lyra Belacqua/Silvertongue was saved from the deadly agents of the Magisterium, an authoritarian church that has striking similarities to the Catholic Church.
‘The Secret Commonwealth’ not only follows on from the events of that novel but, since it jumps forward 20 years, it is also a sequel to the original trilogy.
Lyra is now a young adult, which may not necessarily be the case with the readers. Indeed, the website of Waterstones in the UK warns that, despite appearances to the contrary, this book is “Not suitable for younger readers”.
Philip Pullman has noticed that in recent public events his audience has consisted almost entirely of adults. This is hardly surprising when you consider the whole saga began in 1995. If you first entered this fantasy world as a teenager, you would be in your 40s now.
Pullman remains critical of organized religion but his main targets these days are directed more towards failures of imagination and intolerant rationality. Lyra, we are told, “exalted reason over every other faculty” and her mistrust of emotions makes her hard to live with and directly causes a rift with her pine martin dæmon, Pantalaimon (Pan).
Her search for reconnection with Pan is one of several quest themes that take place simultaneously in the novel. Implicitly, these are also searches for fulfillment and meaning in life. As themes go, they don’t get bigger than this!
Although he has made no secret of his atheism, Pullman acknowledges that science based logic alone has severe limitations. In a New Yorker Interview, Pullman says : “Reason points out all the flaws and the snags, and helps us find our way to what we want to do. But, if we lead our life according to reason, we would never fall in love. We wouldn’t look after old people; we’d just let them die. It would be a terrible thing to be governed by reason.”
In this regard he is closely following the passions and teachings of the visionary poet, William Blake. Ironically, Pullman’s imaginary world of the secret commonwealth requires just as much blind faith as the belief in God does since it is inhabited by fairies, ghosts, and witches.
His latest roller coaster, plot-driven novel takes the reader from the sedate, literary setting of Oxford, England to mysterious regions of Central Asia with plenty of stop-offs and diversions along the way. There are murders, terrorist atrocities, an attempted rape and a man who has literarily been turned into a furnace. There are no sex scenes but it’s clear that Lyra now has carnal urges that may come more to the fore in the third and final part of this fresh trilogy.
After over 700 pages, this story is far from complete. If you are looking for closure, be aware that (spoiler alert) this book ends with the line “to be concluded”.
