The secular angel in contemporary children's literature: David ...

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The Book of Job, to Emily Dickinson, Edmund Spencer and John Keats. Their significance lies in the way they contextualize and introduce each chapter, as well as in the way they prepare the reader by offering them an insight into what will follow. Marko Juvan explains in History and Poetics of Intertextuality that this is indeed the function and purpose of epigraphs or mottos: A motto’s function is to interpret and predict. It awakens expectations about the text’s or its parts’ thematics, meaning, and even structural scope. Using the motto, an author indicates the context in which the reader should construct the work’s meaning or aesthetic profile; she can also evoke complex analogies or contrasts between her literary work and the antecedent cited. (Juvan, 2008, 27, emphasis added) The word ‘predict’ was emphasized because in AS the epigraphs clearly assume this role, one of the most powerful examples—analysed further in the chapter—being two excerpts by Milton which predict and identify Mary Malone and Lord Asriel as Devil figures. Another such prediction occurs in Chapter 37 of AS with the words of Pindar who urges his soul to not “seek eternal life, but exhaust the realm of the possible” (AS, 2000, 485). The significance of this epigraph, as well as its power of foresight, is possibly the most fundamental theme Pullman offers the trilogy: the concept that instead of constantly seeking to ensure the ‘comfort’ of the afterlife—an arguable, problematic, and dubious notion in itself—people should attempt to live and seek happiness and fulfilment, within realistic means, in their everyday life. The epigraphs in general, however, create both intertextual and intra-textual frameworks of meaning in that they work both in isolation and as a whole. Despite the wide variety of sources, their diversity being both temporal and pertaining to content, they create an 108
intertextual umbrella under which the narrative can ‘act’ both independently and in relation to the quotations. This section aims to highlight and discuss some of the intertextual elements within the trilogy, not all of which are related to Milton or Scripture, as well as their use and significance. 14 More specifically, the section will analyse Pullman’s use of Blake, the extent to which Pullman’s use of intertextuality defines the trilogy and the purpose it serves. Moreover, it will compare and contrast some key scenes from the story of Genesis and explore Pullman’s version of these; it will also collectively look at and discuss the chapter epigraphs in AS, a few examples of which will be analysed in greater detail. Intertextuality in HDM is especially potent in the 34 chapter epigraphs of the AS. Surprisingly, out of these 34, only six are from Milton and they are all from Book I of Paradise Lost. In Chapter 5, the epigraph is especially significant since Asriel is identified as, or compared to, Lucifer whose “aim against the Throne and monarchy” was ambitious (Milton, 2005, ll. 41-42). It is not surprising then that the quotation from Chapter 17, the protagonist of which is Mary Malone, speaks of the Serpent that “was more Subtil than any Beast of the Field” (Genesis). Therefore, the author identifies two Devil figures while destroying two God figures: the Authority and Metatron. As will be seen further in the chapter, the role of the Devil is ultimately played by Dr. Mary Malone, as she is the one seen tempting the children; yet Asriel also assumes this role when he wages war against the Authority, not so that he may rule in his place, but so as to rid the worlds of a false Authority 14 For example, in an interview for Intelligent Life Robert Butler explains how the idea of the daemon came to be. “The daemons are the single most brilliant idea in the books. Pullman got the idea from paintings by Leonardo da Vinci (The Lady with the Ermine), Holbein (The Lady and the Squirrel) and Tiepolo (Young Woman with a Macaw), where there seems to be a psychological link between the person and the creature” (Butler, 2007, 71). Colbert suggests another element of intertextuality which is apparent in one of the books’ name. “Another title inspired by Milton appears on the American edition of the trilogy’s first volume, The Golden Compass. The title began as a plural: The Golden Compasses. That was Pullman’s working title for the story, before he thought of His Dark Materials. It referred to circle-drawing compasses, not a compass that shows north, south, east and west. The compasses are mentioned in Paradise Lost when God marks a design for the world” (Colbert, 2006, 19-20). 109
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THE SECULAR ANGEL IN CONTEMPORARY C
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ABSTRACT This thesis explores the r
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I believe this thes
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Faith vs. Science & Innocence vs. E
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INTRODUCTION This thesis explores t
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to one’s morality based on the et
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part-angel, part-human, and through
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subject of angels, is indicative of
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the Book of Enoch (or 1 Enoch) and
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God with the scientific notion of D
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(Keck, 1998, 69). McNish’s angels
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your small existences?’ ‘But yo
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1980, 7). In order to grasp Blake a
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and, in the final analysis, its som
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was the strongest and kindest of al
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This reference to Blake points to o
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deconstruction-, its function “is
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childhood. Almond has mainly used d
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argument, and the heroes of the sto
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act of killing God, to the slow sec
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mentioned, the intertextual element
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meaning of words” (Allen, 2000, 3
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Transformation Transformation is a
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narrative the process is set into m
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secondly, it bears testament to Fre
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the crude awakening of the fact tha
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CHAPTER ONE DAVID ALMOND’S SKELLI
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appalling at first. His first meeti
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him, and serves as a mirror through
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are some of the parallels that can
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Blake & Intertextuality William Bla
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With these verses she is signalling
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and its innocence, as well as the s
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eligious views myself, and therefor
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The issue of intertextuality is not
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style: shining, fully-robed, [their
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fails to pass the first time. Freya
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McNish appears to harbour the idea
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species closer together to the poin
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this point, it is important to atte
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guardian angels was as conscious as
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has created his own moral code and
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where Luke and Tate are standing in
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2011, 100). He writes that the Jewi
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with this everlasting feeling of de
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to assist and comfort each other. W
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Faith vs. Science and Innocence vs.
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education, and social structures wh
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in angels is not out of the convict
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McNish’s portrayal of innocence a
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All this changes when Freya first m
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enters a state of experience which
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The debate between state-school edu
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or strict, he also draws attention
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following peer victimization” (Tr
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Stephanie feel accepted and more se
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house. Furthermore, he has also had
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Stephanie wants to become her frien
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called from the window. ‘It’s n
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elationship with Stephanie and its
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This he exemplifies both in Mestraa
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thesis, however, it was argued and
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increasingly accurate perceptions o
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interesting things” (Franks, 2011
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strength of the book, and I made ea
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225
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227
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Anonymous, “A Dark Agenda?” Sur
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Bleich, D. (1978) Subjective Critic
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Chambers, A. (1985) Booktalk: Occas
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Damon, S.F., Eaves, M. (1988) A Bla
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Fairer, D. (2002) “Experience Rea
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Gibbs, N. (1993) “Angels Among Us
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Hunt, P. (1994) An Introduction to
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Kochenderfer-Ladd, B., Troop-Gordon
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Manlove, C. (1999) The Fantasy Lite
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Mishna, F., Scarcello, I., Pepler,
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Pfeiffer, J. (1999) “‘Dream not
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Rosenblatt, L. M. (1982) “The Lit
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Squires, C. (2004) Philip Pullman
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Warner, N.O. (1982) “The Iconic M
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Yampbell, C. (2005) “Judging a Bo
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