I've been reading [Daemon Voices] a few pages at a time for over a year. I've given a workshop on one essay (so far) (on the power of gesture in art), have read several of the essays over and over, had to go find and read books he writes about as having inspired or delighted him . . .. And what are the salient points? That beliefs/imaginings/stories are necessary even though reality, the physical world in which we exist, is a fundamental fact: this present the living live in and that the dead used to be part of is all there is. Accepting this reality as the plane on which we exist doesn't mean that our beliefs, imaginings and stories aren't essential to our well being however. The mistake the hard-core 'sciency' folks make is in not recognizing our absolute need for . . . lack of a better word . . . the fantasy of immortality which art, stories, and imaginings provide along with a connection to and continuity with the past, which in itself offers a kind of immortality. Our 'predicament' -- of self-awareness combined with the brevity of our individual lives -- creates a terrible tension, one so awful that without art, stories, etc reality becomes crushing. The great works of literature recognize this paradigm: Many of the greatest works address this fundamental paradigm. He makes the point that the literal interpretation of the Bible only began in the 19th-20th century as a response to scientific insistence that everything that isn't provably REAL doesn't exist, doesn't matter. No no no, says Pullman. We must, in essence, be allowed to delude ourselves, but we must also at the same time, recognize that we are deluded, but that we must be to survive, to be whole. A paradigm. Contradictory truths. The solace and security of a Republic of Heaven is what he wants as a reader and as a writer to find and create. Along the way he introduces many other ideas, such as the power of gesture (how we are so conditioned to the 'meaning' of certain actions, say, pouring, that we respond viscerally to any suggestion or image). It's a dense and rewarding read if you like this sort of inquiry. Which obviously I do. ***** ( )

Philip Pullman is a master storyteller. Within this tome you'll find the master's voice. The essays contain the man's thoughts and expositions about his motivations, both conscious and intrinsic, behind his words and works.

What I find fascinating is the extent of thought and introspection that Pullman has applied to his craft. In one direction, he has complete control over his work, and in another, he's fully accepting of the fickleness of his muse.

For anyone, who relished His Dark Materials, there is plenty of peeking behind the curtain: the betrayal mentioned at the end of Ch. 2, for instance; the inspiration for the bears; the gestation of the themes; the things he'd change. The list goes on.

For both readers of Philip Pullman's books and for those interested in the art of storytelling, it's a marvellous book. ( )

Caveat: An extremely personal perspective on Pullman's writerly advice and insights.
Very philosophical and scholarly. However: oh-so-worthy. As an informative chronicle on writing, the book failed in that specific narrative.

The references to authors such as Milton, Blake, and so forth came across as preachy and just a bit smug. There were some unattractive overtones where Pullman pulled out what I could only wonder as "unperceptive white privilege", for want of a better descriptor.

Perhaps some of the glaring flaws in this book are editorial faults. The essays drew heavily on a wide variety of lectures, speeches and short non-fiction articles that were published elsewhere. As a compendium, this arrangement did not make for an interesting insight on writing or storytelling.

I suspect that, individually, the public-speaking material was probably very engaging for the live audience. These were not essays penned for a book, and made for too much repetition gathered together. An additional aspect which the editor(s) seem to have ignored: a combination of the different talks and lectures brought forward a feeling that Philip Pullman is rather full of himself. And that perception may very well reflect reading so many 'essays' on his opinions. ( )

Much more scholarly than I was expecting with frequent references to William Blake and Milton. I learned a lot ( )

Loved dipping into this. I decided to purchase if for a class I'm designing on human rights and speculative fiction (title TBA). Pullman is wonderfully insightful about the writer's world and art and the place of fantasy and children's stories in the "real" world. I'm a huge fan of his books, and this one is a very useful compilation of his non-fiction work on writing, fantasy, children's lit, science and religion. ( )