Philip Pullman: Life Imitates Art | #67

Critical Edge hosts and best mates Ollie and Lukas sit down with Philip Pullman, renowned author of His Dark Materials.We drew on everything from Milton's Paradise Lost to Superman to William Blake. This episode was about the power of literature to change the way we see ourselves and the way we live our lives, as well as the way storytelling can light up our imaginations. Lukas told Philip about how the concept of the daemon changed the way he saw his own personality, and the souls of those people around him. Philip also shared how Philip Goff's book Galileo's Error, which argued for pansychism, was the non-fiction book that most profoundly shaped his view of the world. Consciousness now seeps everywhere through his literary work. Philip said he doesn't like fantasy, at least not if it doesn't deal with fundamental questions of human psychology. This is why he loved Paradise Lost: the three of us bonded over Gustave Doré's famous illustrations for Paradise Lost, and William Blake's Illuminations.We finished with a discussion about how basic structures of thought can seep into the way we think, even at a young age. Ollie argued that Sleeping Beauty can make us see the man as the active desirer and the woman as the passive desired, although of course Philip thought better stories could plug this gap.Is it impossible to live without narrative structures? Ollie argued that the heads of people who don't read are simply filled with worse narratives, like the American Dream, which prizes money above all. Philip finished by recommending one of his favourite works of political thought for our next guest. Critical Edge is a multi-media community started by two friends seeking to learn how to think, not what to think. Subscribe or check out our other platforms to join the team :)

0:00 - Introduction0:33 - Fiction as a Guide to Life1:44 - The Art of Storytelling3:21 - Growing Up in Australia9:42 - What Daemon Would You Have?16:02 - Books That Shaped Pullman24:01 - Panpsychism and Consciousness30:28 - Fantasy, Paradise Lost, and His Dark Materials42:49 - How Does Fiction Shape our Psychology?51:33 - Stories, Gender Roles, and Fairytales1:01:03 - Outro and Recommendation