Alethiometer: Representations of Knowledge in Pullman's 'His Dark Materials'

by Emma Henderson

A literary criticism of Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy including 'Northern Lights' also known as 'The Golden Compass', 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass.'
Comparing how Pullman's series represents knowledge and truth with Jung, Plato and post-modernist ideas of epistemology.

This dissertation explores the theme of knowledge in Pullman’s His Dark Materials, an important topic so far under recognised in the critical field. The argument found herein is that within Pullman’s work, singular authoritative, dogmatic knowledge is renounced and a plural, shifting vision of knowledge replaces it.

The introduction familiarises the reader with Pullman the author, including his literary influences and a brief summary of the trilogy’s plot. Key concepts from the trilogy such as Dust, dæmons and the alethiometer are explained as these are crucial to understanding the representations of knowledge in the primary text. The philosophical field of epistemology, or theory of knowledge, is also introduced.

The first chapter shows how His Dark Materials alludes to great minds such as Plato, Jung and Nietzsche. Jung’s influence has been discussed before but only in aligning the dæmon with the anima – we shall take this a step further, exploring Dust and the Alethiometer’s symbols in terms of the Collective Unconscious and archetypes.

The second chapter introduces approaches which will unlock new readings of the trilogy using post-structural and post-modern theorists such as Saussure, Lyotard, Baudrillard, Barthes and McHale. Pullman’s epistemology is revealed to bear a striking resemblance to post-modern, post-structuralist epistemology as both adhere to a subjective, shifting vision of knowledge.

The third chapter will deal with the question of eudemonia: does knowledge create happiness or is ignorance bliss? The negative effects of accumulating and applying knowledge will be discussed, especially the environmental hazards of applied science and the cruel representations of curiosity in the character Mrs. Coulter.

The conclusion postulates what the impact of this study would be if applied to Pullman’s entire oeuvre.

61 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 31, 2019

About the author

Emma Henderson went to school in London and studied at Somerville College, Oxford and Yale University. She wrote blurbs for Penguin Books for two years, then spent a decade teaching English in comprehensive schools and further education colleges, before moving to the French Alps where, for six years, she ran a ski and snowboard lodge. She now lives in Derbyshire and is a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Keele University. Emma Henderson’s debut novel, Grace Williams Says It Loud, was published in 2010. It won the McKitterick Prize and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, the Commonwealth Writers’ First Book Award, the Authors’ Club First Novel Award, the Wellcome Book Prize and was runner-up for the Mind Book of the Year. Her second novel, published in April 2017, The Valentine House, has its roots in a remote valley in the French Alps, where she lived for six years. The Times says it is “beautifully written” and the Daily Mail describes it as “gripping and poignant.”