Daemon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling

This is a superb collection of speeches and miscellaneous writing, all covering Pullman's reflections on stories and storytelling. As you may expect it is readable and engaging and for the most part...utterly compelling. There are one or two pieces that didn't really engage me, but others were provocation and inspiring. I am a psychologist working with people and groups, as well as a writer, and this collection has given me a well of ideas and to draw from. If you have any interest in the way in which stories are told, then this is the book for you.

The hardback version has colour plates at the centre and is beautifully bound. It contains lectures and articles by Pullman about books and writing. There’s considerable repetition because these talks and essays were intended for different audiences, but rather than becoming boring, the repeated points help to reinforce important and recurring themes. Taken as a whole it is a feel good read for aspiring and accomplished authors. It talks of the importance of literature in people’s lives and the challenges many authors face, then dips into work by giants like Milton, Blake, George Elliot and Lewis Carroll to illustrate salient points. It discusses philosophy, religion, science, paintings, poetry and prose with an intelligent honesty that draws the reader in. The book concludes with the hopeful chapter “The Republic of Heaven” and a plea to all those of a humanist persuasion to keep pushing towards a secular paradise on Earth with acts of kindness, by finding our own connection with the world we are all a part of, and by creating and sharing our own myths and stories to bring truths and facts into alignment.

I've always greatly enjoyed the novels of Philip Pullman, and so I was interested to read this collection of essays and talks he's given over the years on the subject of storytelling. It's a beautifully produced and attractive hardback, well indexed, with material which covers a wide range of topics, from the art and craft of putting a story together to philosophical critique of subjects such as religion and education. Pullman has never made any secret of the fact that he is an atheist, though his original upbringing as an Anglican and grandson of a vicar means he is well-versed in the history and literature of the Christian faith. What marred the book just a little for me was the sometimes overbearing tone. Pullman is always entertaining and is nobody's idea of a zealot - indeed, he is an outspoken critic of fundamentalism in any form, whether religious or political. But he is opinionated, and although I found I could enjoy his insights without always agreeing with them, he can sometimes slip into a bit of a tub-thumping tone on matters he feels strongly about. Whether you agree with him or not - and I do, on many of his hobbyhorses, like his disgust with the National Curriculum in British schools - the forceful repetition can get a little wearying. More importantly, he does sometimes contradict himself without (apparently) noticing. He loves folk- and fairy tale, and happily accepts that the characters we encounter within them are not fully-rounded in the way that characters within a novel usually are. He accepts that this is integral to the working of the form - the characters stand for something rather than being realistic portraits of actual people. However, when moving on to a discussion of fantasy he dismisses much of the genre - including authors such as Tolkien - because their characters are not in his view sufficiently well-rounded psychologically. If that is the case, and I'd dispute it to some extent, it's for much the same reason - because Tolkien is closer to epic, saga and folk tale than he is to, say, the novels of George Eliot or Jane Austen. Despite this, and despite some repetitiveness in subject matter, the book is ultimately both enjoyable and instructive. It's great to have such a window into the workings of a creative mind, and where he's talking about authors he enjoys (Blake and Milton among them) his appreciation and passion are tangible and inspirational.

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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.

This is what I wanted without realising it. Great for new writers. I thought it would be a load of essays about The Dark materials. It was really good insights into the mind of a writer, also thoughts on the responsibilities of the author. Great analysis on Milton, Blake too.. though his opinion only. It was very helpful to me thinking of writing. Maybe I haven't read enough writing manuals, but this group of essays, taught me more about writing than all my creative writing lessons.

What an absolutely fabulous book. Daemon Voices: Essays on Storytelling is a beautifully written book about writing and literature, and how writers, particularly Pullman himself, shape and mould their text to produce such fine works of art that we all enjoy. Writer of the wonderful His Dark Materials, Pullman provides much wisdom about the art of storytelling. And although currently working my way through Daemon Voices, I haven’t come across anything yet that is uninteresting in the text. It is a wonderful book that provides great insights into the writer’s craft. Highly recommended. I hope you find my review helpful.

Dieses Buch enthält interessante Aspekte des "Storytelling" und geht dabei auch auf klassische Werke und Autoren, wie beispielsweise Heinrich von Kleist ein. Für mich als angehender Deutschlehrer, war dieses Buch eine gute Bereicherung auf dem Gebiet des Geschichten erzählen und der Entstehung von Geschichten. Ich würde dieses Buch jedem empfehlen der sich für Literatur, das Schreiben von Geschichten und dem Entstehungsprozess von Geschichten allgemein interessiert. Jedoch sollte man als Rezipient des Buches über gute Englischkenntnisse verfügen.

So, I’ll start by saying that I have not read His Dark Materials, though the trilogy is now sitting on my ever-expanding reading pile. Nor have I read anything else of Philip Pullman’s. I decided to purchase Daemon Voices because, like any good writer, I am trying to get better at my craft. And I thought Mr. Pullman might be able to help. Well, he has—and brilliantly. This collection of essays is rich with storytelling examples taken from literature, art, and science. A former teacher, the author knows how to engage the reader without talking down. My only criticism is that he tends to go off on a tangent from time to time about his lack of belief in God or Satan, as though that has anything to do with the task at hand. That said, I consider this book a must-read for any author who wishes to better understand the difference between story and plot, fantasy and reality in fiction, and why anything beginning with “once upon a time” immediately captures our imagination. Well done, Mr. Pullman.

Cool ! 😉

In telling of his own experiences of writing through a series of invited lectures, I learned unique lessons on how to write. He describes the value of parables and you realize that the lectures are parables in themselves!

I very much enjoyed reading this book and got many good pieces of advice out of it! Very pleasurable!