Two years ago, Philip Pullman met the challenge of returning to the world of His Dark Materials by going back in time. Malcolm, whose help Lyra soon recruits, has grown into an eccentric young academic with a tendresse for Lyra, his former student, that is distinctly adult. Imagination, the mysterious power celebrated by the Romantic poets, is the holy spirit of this bookThus, the importance of “the secret commonwealth”, which is the world beyond rationality. If rationality can’t see things like the secret commonwealth, it’s because rationality’s vision is limited … We need to imagine as well as measure …” This is Lyra thinking, but it is also rather too clearly Pullman speaking to us. • The Secret Commonwealth is published by Penguin/David Fickling (£20).

Source: The Guardian September 27, 2019 22:52 UTC