When it comes to human affairs, a billion invisible filaments connect us to our own pasts, as well as to the most remote things we can imagine; and I hope that, above all, these books are about being alive and being human.โ
โ Philip Pullmanโ
I began this year by reading Philip Pullmanโs ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ, so I only thought it fitting that I would end it by reading yet another of his fantastic expeditions into human nature. ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ is a brief excursion into Lyraโs world, and actually acts as a sort of thematic prequel to ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ, the second entry in ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต series. โ
๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ tells a small, intimate story in which Lyra Belacqua joins some colleagues at an archaeological site that happens to be near the home of a past acquaintance โ someone who just might be able to answer some of the many burning questions Lyra has been carrying ever since the events related in ๐๐ช๐ด ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ด. She and her dรฆmon, Pan, have been growing apart in the aftermath of these earlier exploits, a predicament they canโt seem to be able to solve, causing them both great emotional turmoil. Lyra, true to her curious nature, is determined to decipher this dilemma. She gets some clarification by the end of this novella, but the relationship between humans and their inner-selves is something that will preoccupy Lyra well into her adulthood. Indeed this concern forms the central theme in ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ (and, I suspect, ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต as a whole).โ
I was well into my twenties when I first read ๐๐ช๐ด ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ด, but the series still ended up being acutely formative. It’s a story that spoke to me on a host of different levels (not least of which a spiritual one) and even though I’ve never sat down and revisited the novels, they still, to this day, live rent-free in my head and heart.โ
This makes every subsequent glimpse into this world feel like a privilege and a homecoming. There’s something intensely warm and comforting about these novels โ probably due to the fact that despite them being mostly dark, serious tomes of the fantastic, they are also some of the most human books out there.โ โ
Which is a roundabout way of saying that each return visit to Pullmanโs world has felt like coming home. Like visiting old friends. Like gaining some fresh, new insightโ however small โ into what it means to be human and alive. And the experience of reading ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ was no different.