Philip Pullman discussed his secret childhood love of The Moomins
On Friday evening I went with a friend to hear Philip Pullman's talk as part of the Liverpool Literary Festival 'Shipping Lines.'
We had a fabulous evening, Mr Pullman was a fantastic (and funny) speaker and the audience was spellbound. My friend and I certainly had plenty to chat about afterwards.
Anyway for those of you who couldn't make it I've done tmy best to capture most of it.
Philip Pullman, who was dressed in a dark suit teamed with an open-necked white shirt and poppy, began by saying he had decided to change his talk's subject!
He explained that he often picks a subject well in advance, then forgets about it for months and months.
He had planned to talk about tiny bits of narrative and how they build up, but in the last couple of weeks he had started to become more interested in an interview Professor Richard Dawkins had given.
Dawkins has said he would like to write a children's book, and Pullman joked that when a celebrity expresses that desire the first thing it means a publisher gives them a lot of money and then give a ghostwriter a lot less money - mentioning David Beckham, before pointing out that Dawkins did not come into that category before praising him and saying he had a profound sense of wonder which was most important of all. (In fact Dawkins has also praised Pullman - saying he loves his books.)
His talk was inspired by a More4news interview with Dawkins interview. Pullman looked at the following quote: "I don't know what to think about magic and fairy tales... I would like to know whether there is any evidence that bringing children up to believe in spells and wizards and magic wands and things turning into other things... it is unscientific, I think it's anti-scientific... whether that has a pernicious effect I don't know." (More4News)
Do fairy tales do damage children's understanding and what evidence is there for this? Pullman wondered, and how could evidence be gathered?
Pullman then went on to ask if children believe what they read in stories and decided it was like play, make believe. He also pointed out that belief could be in things that were true or otherwise.
Lightening the mood, he then described how he used to pretend to be Davy Crockett (apparently he even had the hat) or his friend when he was a boy growing up in Adelaide, Australia.
He joked that Davy Crockett had a high opinion of him, oh and King Arthur too.
He also said that acting out develops a moral understanding and imagination.
Pullman also explained how when he reads a book now his writer head stops him from being completely caught up in that world.
He said he thinks the author has got too close to the action and needs to pull back, or wonders why they changed point of view at a certain point.
Sometimes he thinks that's a beautiful paragraph and reads it again, or, he joked, "I think that's good ... I'll steal it."
He then went on to talk about an Arthur Ransome book called 'We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea.' Pullman said of Ransome "beautiful clarity, a lovely writer, honest."
Next he talked about how much he had loved a comic strip called Mandrake the Magician, which he also used to act out with friends.
He joked that he would gesture hypnotically at friends who'd stand still and pretend to be transformed into a mouse.
Other books he talked about were Tove Jannsen's Moomins series, an Australian book called The Magic Pudding and the Just So stories, explaining that he understood that the story about the elephant's trunk was just that and he would have liked to have been told the scientific reason for it being so just as much.
He said how he had a secret love for the Moomin family, one he would have been embarrassed to share. "I would never say to friends let's play Moomins. I knew they weren't real, but I pretended they were real."
He pointed out the Dawkins quote says "bring children up to believe," and said that actually wasn't the case, except when it came to those with strong religious beliefs.
He ended the evening by answering a series of questions, including ones on Father Christmas (he felt there was nothing wrong with believing in him, unless you'd reached the age of 17!), the importance of reading nursery rhymes to little children and John Milton.
After that he faced a long queue of fans as he had kindly offered to sign copies of his books. (I'm too starstruck to approach author's so I shocked myself when I came face-to-face with him momentarily as he asked aloud where he was supposed to be.
"Over in the corner, top left," I said before heading for home.)
Philip Pullman is currently working on The Book of Dust which visits again the world of His Dark Materials.
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