Amongst Harry Potter fervour it often upsets ArtsWom that more is not written about the absolute, but understated genius of Phillip Pullman, arguably author of the greatest trilogy ever published. His Dark Materials comprises of the three novels, The Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass that follow the epic journey and coming of age of central characters Lyra and Will.

Pullman’s sprawling tale has a backdrop of parallel universes, diverse characters of phantasmagorical heritage and is heavily influenced by Milton, Blake and an essay by a man named von Kleist! Before continuing, there is a real danger of this article growing to a disproportionate size as ArtsWom gets lost among daemons, warrior bears and gyptians. So, instead of writing reams of one-sided praise let’s just point you in the direction of this Literary Review interview with Pullman that came via the Guardian arts blog. Pullman is one of those remarkable people who when he speaks makes impeccable sense due to his ability to make even the most complex of subjects seem relevantly simple.

As an aside, there is also a brief mention of his current work The Book of Dust that will have readers rejoining Lyra a couple of years on and will deal with theological issues raised by the previous novels, plus the film The Golden Compass based on The Northern Lights is due out before the year end. ArtsWom literally can’t wait!