Northern Light (known as The Golden Compass in North America and some other countries) is a young adult fantasy novel masterpiece Philip Pullman, published by Scholastic UK in 1995. Set in a parallel universe, he displays Lyra Belacqua's journey to the Arctic to find his lost friend, Roger Parslow, and his imprisoned uncle, Lord Asriel, who has experimented with a mysterious substance known as "Dust".
Northern Lights is the first book of the trilogy, His Dark Materials (1995 to 2000). Alfred A. Knopf published the first US edition of April 1996, titled The Golden Compass . Under the title it has been adapted as a feature film 2007 by Hollywood and as a companion video game.
Pullman won the 1995 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognizing UK children's books circulating this year. For the 70th anniversary of the Medal, it was named one of the top ten award winning papers by the panel, which compiles ballot papers for all-time favorite elections. Northern Lights won the public vote from the shortlist and was named "Carnegie of Carnegies" on June 21, 2007.
Video Northern Lights (novel)
Synopsis
Settings
The novel is organized in a world dominated by international theocracy, the Magisterium (also called "the Church"), which actively suppresses heresy. In this world, the human soul naturally exists outside their bodies in the form of "living beings", talking about animal spirits who always accompany, help, and comfort their human beings. The choice of children can freely and instantly change their appearance into real or fairy tales; once people reach puberty, however, their donmer settles into a permanent form.
Plot
Lyra Belacqua, 12, ran wildly with Pantalaimon's dormitory around Jordan College, Oxford, under the campus master's guardianship. One day, he witnessed Master's poison grapes aimed at Lord Asriel, rebel daughter and adventure of Lyra. He warns Asriel, then spies on his lecture on "dust", the mysterious elementary particles that attract adults more than children, and images of the parallel universe visible through the northern light. Oxford scholars agree to fund his research, which is considered heretical by the oppressive Church.
Lyra's friend, Roger, disappeared, allegedly kidnapped by kidnappers kid, the boys call "Gobblers". Lyra was adopted by a charming socialite, Mrs. Coulter. Before Lyra left Jordan, Master secretly entrusted him with the alethiometer, a rare truth-telling tool, which he quickly learned to use intuitively. After a few weeks, Lyra discovers that Coulter is the head of the Gobblers, or General Oblation Board, a secret project funded by the Church. Horrified, Lyra fled to the gypsy, wandering-canal faring, many of her children who have also been kidnapped. They reveal to Lyra that Asriel and Coulter are his parents.
The Gypsies formed an expedition to the Arctic with Lyra, where they believed the Eaters were holding their children. They stop at Trollesund, where Lyra meets with lorek Byrnison, the heir of the panserbjÃÆ'¸rne royal war bear. Lyra used her alethiometer to find Iorek's missing armor; in return, he and his aeronautical friend, Lee Scoresby, joined the group. He also learned that Lord Asriel had been exiled, guarded by panserbjÃÆ'¸rne in Svalbard. The wizard consul Trollesund told the Gypsies about the prophecies Lyra was not allowed to know, and that the wizard clan was picking the party for war.
The party continues towards Bolvangar, Gobbler research station. Guided by the alethiometer, Lyra twisted in a village and found a abandoned child who had been cut from dÃÆ'Â|mon and who soon died. He realizes the Gobblers are experimenting on children by breaking the bond between man and dÃÆ'Â|mon, a process of secession called intercision. Lyra and her friends were attacked by a hunter, and Lyra was arrested and taken to Bolvangar, where she reunited with Roger.
Coulter arrives and stops the intercision process because Lyra and Pantalaimon will be separated. She tells Lyra that joints prevent the emergence of adult emotional distress. Lyra involves Bolvangar's emergency alarm, setting the station on fire, and leading the children outside, where they are rescued by Scoresby, Iorek, Gyptians, and the flying witch clan of Serafina Pekkala. Lyra, Roger, and lorek escaped in a Scoresby hot balloon as the battle erupted. Lyra directed the magicians to draw balloons to Asriel at Svalbard, but she fell and was taken by panserbjÃÆ'¸rne to their fugitive king's castle, Iofur Raknison. He tricked Iofur against Iorek, who came with the others to save Lyra. Iorek kills Iofur and replaces him as the rightful king.
Lyra, lorek, and Roger traveled to Svalbard, where Asriel continued his research on Dust in exile. He told Lyra everything he knew about Dust: that he had given birth to a parallel world, somehow connected with death and misery, and that the Church believed it was the physical basis of sin. He plans to visit another universe and destroy the source of Dust. Suddenly, he seals Roger from dÃÆ'Â|mon, kills Roger, releases enormous amounts of energy, and tears a hole in the northern light into the parallel universe, where he runs. Lyra, who was devastated, decided that Dust could be a good power rather than evil. Vowing to stop Asriel, he and Pantalaimon pass through a crack in the sky.
Maps Northern Lights (novel)
Character
All humans in the Northern Lights and witches have dÃÆ'Â|mon (pronounced "devil") , which is a physical manifestation of the "being" of a person, soul, or spirit. It takes the form of creatures (moths, birds, dogs, monkeys, snakes, etc.) and is usually the opposite sex to its human peers. Children have the ability to change shape - from one being to another - but towards the end of puberty the children, their habit of "settling" into a permanent form, reflecting the personality of a person. When a person dies, the dose will die as well. Armored bears, ghost cliffs and other creatures do not have dÃÆ'Â|mons. Armor bear armor is his soul.
- Lyra Belacqua and Pantalaimon : The main character. Lyra is described as having blue eyes and blond hair, as well as short for her age and quite thin but still quite attractive. He is also brave, curious, and cunning. His DÃÆ'Â|mon is Pantalaimon, nicknamed Pan. Since Lyra is still a child, Pan can still turn into any form she wants (often a brown moth, a wild cat, a white mink, or a mouse) . Lyra has been prophesied by magicians to help balance life, but must do so without realizing her fate.
- Roger Parslow : One of Lyra's friends, a child whose family works at Jordan College. When he was kidnapped and taken to the north, Lyra pursued him in the hope of rescuing her, meeting her again at Bolvangar.
- Lord Asriel : Lyra's uncle opera, though it later revealed that he was actually his father. Its DÃÆ'Â|mon is Stelmaria, the mad leopard of Morocco.
- Marisa Coulter : The Magisterium Agent, who does not hesitate to manipulate the Church to raise funds for his projects. She is intelligent and beautiful, but also cruel and heartless. She was revealed to be Lyra's mother; as a result, he was suddenly nice to Lyra. Its DÃÆ'Â|mon is a golden monkey that, unusually, is not mentioned throughout the trilogy.
- Iorek Byrnison : The legitimate king of panserbjÃÆ'¸rne, an armored bear with human-level intelligence, Iorek has been deceived out of his armor and reduced to the slave of the Trollesund human village. After Lyra helped her recover her armor, she became very protective of him and joined the expedition to find children seized by the Gobblers. She gave him the name "Lyra Silvertongue" after he tricked the usurper Iofur Raknison to fight him.
- Iofur Raknison : A panserbjÃÆ'¸rn who has seized the power of Iorek Byrnison as king. Iofur wanted dÃÆ'Â|mon and Lyra tricked him into fighting with Iorek who was exiled by pretending to be Iorek's momon, and promised that when Iofur won the fight he would be his.
- Serafina Pekkala : A close wizard follows Lyra on her way. He was aware of Lyra's fate. Dames Serafina is Kaisa, a snow geese, capable of physically moving separately from Serafina in long distances, a quality that only witches have. He and Farder Coram had a son together, before the trilogy.
- Lee Scoresby : A Texas aeronaut who carried Lyra into his balloon. He and lorek Byrnison were good friends and Lee came to see Lyra as a surrogate daughter. Its DÃÆ'Â|mon is Hester, the polar snow bunny.
- Ma Costa : A Gypsy woman whose son, Billy Costa, was kidnapped by "Gobblers". She saved Lyra from Mrs. Coulter and took her to John Faa. We later found out that Ma Costa took care of Lyra, when she was a baby.
- John Faa : King of all Gypsies. She traveled with Lyra to the North with her friend, Farder Coram.
Title
During the pre-publication of the novel, a prospective trilogy was known in England as The Golden Compasses, a reference to God's poetic portrayal of the world. The term is derived from the line at Milton Paradise Lost, where it shows the compass of God's arrangement used to establish and set the circular boundary of all creation:
- Book 7, line 224-229
In the United States, Knopf publishers have phoned the first book of The Golden Compass (singular), mistakenly understood as a reference for Lyra's alethiometer (pictured on the front cover shown in the head of this article), because of the similarity of the device with the navigation compass. By the time Pullman had replaced The Golden Compasses with His His Dark Materials as the trilogy's name, the US publisher had become deeply bound by the original title insisting on publishing the first book as The Golden Compass than Northern Lights , the titles used in the UK and Australia.
Critical reception
Awards
For Northern Lights Pullman won the annual Carnegie Medal for the children's book of England and the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Award, a similar award that probably will not win twice. Six books have won both awards in 45 years to 2011.
In the US, The Golden Compass is named Booklist Editor's Choice - Top of the List, Weekly Publishers Book of the Year, Horn Fanfare Honor Book, and Blue Ribbon Book Bulletin .
Religion
Some critics have asserted that trilogy and films depict negatively organized churches and religions, while others - notably Dr Rowan Williams, formerly Archbishop of Canterbury - argue that Pullman's works should be included in religious education courses. Peter Hitchens saw the series His Dark Materials as a direct rebuttal of The S. Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The literary critic Alan Jacobs of Wheaton College in Illinois suggests that Pullman repeats the Narnia series, replacing the theist world view with a Rousseauist.
Adaptations and video games
A film adaptation of the novel, named The Golden Compass , was released in December 2007. The novel was adapted by Chris Weitz, who also directed the film. Dakota Blue Richards, in his film debut, plays Lyra. The players include Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Ian McKellen, Sam Elliott, Derek Jacobi, and Christopher Lee.
In 1996, Natasha Richardson narrated the audiobook version of Northern Lights . The trilogy, Dark Material , is summarized in a dramatization by BBC Worldwide, published on January 1, 2003. It was also fully adapted and released by BBC Audiobooks, narrated by Philip Pullman. The players included Joanna Wyatt as Lyra, Alison Dowling as Mrs. Coulter, SeÃÆ'¡n Barrett as Lord Asriel and Iorek Byrnison and Stephen Thorne as Master and Farder Coram.
The National Theater in London held a two-part adaptation of the trilogy in 2003-2004.
A video game from the film adaptation of the book, titled The Golden Compass , published by Sega and developed by Shiny Entertainment, was released December 4, 2007. Players take Lyra's role as she travels through frozen waste from the North in an effort to save his friend who was kidnapped by a mysterious organization known as the Gobblers. Traveling with him is a steel-polar bear and he's Pantalaimon (Pan). Together, they must use an alethiometer that tells the truth and other objects to explore the land and fight through confrontation to help Lyra's friends. The Golden Compass features a mix of battle and puzzle solving with three characters.
It was announced in November 2015 by the BBC that it will make an adaptation of the new TV series from the book series, with production of Bad Wolf and New Line Cinema.
See also
- Dark Material
- List Dark Characters characters
- Races and creatures in Dark Materials
- Locations in Dark Material
Note
References
- Quote Lenz, Millicent (2005). Dark Material Illuminated: Critical Essay at Phillip Pullman's Trilogy . Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3207-2.
- Gold Compass in library (WorldCat catalog) - soon, first US edition
- Philip Pullman: His Dark Materials, special website at Random House publisher
- The Golden Compass on IMDb
- Philip Pullman on Internet Speculative Fantasy Internet
- Philip Pullman Author's Website
- Scholastic: Dark Material the British publisher website
- The BBC Radio 4 His Dark Materials site inc. His Dark Materials Dictionary and web Q & amp; A with Philip Pullman
- BridgetotheStars.net Fansite for His Dark Materials and Philip Pullman
- HisDarkMaterials.org His Dark Materials fansite
- Cittagazze.com French Dark Material fansite
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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