Phillip Pullman- Grimm Tales

Grimm Tales

Penguin Classics

Phillip Pullman

2012

“The fairy tale is in a perpetual state of becoming and alteration. To keep to one version or one translation alone is to put robin redbreast in a cage.”

I have the greatest respect for Phillip Pullman, almost entirely thanks to the brilliance of his YA fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials (my favourite trilogy of any), and so anything new by the author is an instant must read. The aforementioned trilogy built Pullman's reputation as a man who revels in incorporating aspects of classic literature (particularly romanticism such as the poetry of William Blake, or Paradise Lost) to shock and captivate his contemporary audience, which is why I was so intrigued by his last novel, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ where he endeavored to reshape the origins of Christianity itself. Unfortunately for me and, it seems, most other critics, that book ended up as a bit of a mess; self-absorbed, meandering, and not particularly interesting. Pullman's next project (and I use that word specifically, since this definitely isn't a novel) was a very similar proposition, only this time avoiding the multilayered controversy of Jesus for a different kind of human belief system; fairy tales.

Grimm Tales for Young and Old, to give it its full title, was a project offered to Pullman by book publishers Pelican, one that he simply couldn't resist; the opportunity to rewrite (or, as Pullman himself puts it, 'curate') a new edition of the definitive piece of children's literature, brothers Jacob and Wilhelm's Grimm's Fairy Tales. As Pullman explains in the entertaining introduction, his task consisted of first picking a selection of favourite and most relevant stories from the original Grimm collections, then comparing and contrasting each one to similar archetypes published across world literature, and finally writing the purest version of the tale possible. Pullman's stated goal was to deconstruct the elements of each fairy tale, tidy up some of the messier, nonsensical plot details, and put it back all together in such a manner as to embrace the basic, most important features of the genre, and that's exactly what he does.

As a result, Phillip Pullman fans (including myself) likely can't help but feel a little disappointed that his Grimm Tales aren't quite what they could have been; in an ideal world this would be Pullman using his own imagination to take these stories in wild directions and it would've been fabulous etc., but that's not what he was trying to do. There are fifty different Grimm's tales, each of them curtly narrated in a traditional style that's only occasionally betrayed by the author's personality. They're all by nature short, and of varying degrees of interest and fame. After each one Pullman gives a paragraph or two of his thoughts about the story structure and morality aspects. Initially I attempted to read through the book as I would any novel, but after two hundred pages (roughly half way) my tolerance for fairy tales fell to basically nothing, and I had to put it down and read something else (which led to The Country of Last Things). When I resumed it, it became a struggle to pay attention to the later tales, such was their apparant repetition and general demeanor.

At the crux of it is this; despite having Phillip Pullman's name in big letters on the cover, and despite it being entirely written by Phillip Pullman, Grimm Tales is a perfuntory rewrite that essentially looks nice on your bookshelf without offering much of its own substance; if a reader wants to read the classic Grimm's stories then the originals are not hard to come by, and there's just nowhere near enough original input from Pullman to justify buying it to enjoy his writing. It's probably quite a nifty reference tool, but beyond that doesn't offer much more as a vanity project. In its defence I was amused by some of the stories thanks to the well-constructed prose, but it wasn't enough for me to enjoy the experience overall. Having said that, I'll probably keep it since it looks nice on my bookshelf.\

Phillip Pullman- The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

Canongate

Phillip Pullman

2010

'"But he did heal someone," said the lame man. "Old Hiram. You remember that. He told him to take up his bed and walk."
"Bloody rubbish," said the blind man. "Hiram went as far as the temple gate, then he lay down and went on begging. Old Sarah told me. He said what was the use of taking his living away? Begging was the only thing he knew how to do. You and your blether about goodness," he said, turning to Christ, "where's the goodness in throwing an old man out into the street without a trade, without a home, without a penny? Eh? That Jesus is asking too much of people."'

Before I say anything about Phillip Pullman's The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ I must emphatically tell you, dear reader who doesn't care, that I have an undying love and appreciation for Pullman's well-known magnum opus (for some reason it's been ingrained in me that you have to italicize Latin, so I do it at least some of the time... never mind) the His Dark Materials trilogy. Comprising of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass- the former of which was adapted into an extremely disappointing Hollywood film as The Golden Compass. I love and respect these books as much as any classics, and so I will always respect Pullman as an author of the highest regard.

The Dark Materials books gained strong and somewhat inevitable criticism from religious groups, which wasn't surprising seeing as the fundamental premise of the trilogy was essentially an all-out attack on organized religion (though much more complex, creative and wonderful than my clumbsy descriptions could possibly indicate). Pullman was treated as an admittedly less-famous Richard Dawkins by some, though it's clear to anyone who actually read the books that Pullman's style and message resonates much stronger with the genre of romanticism and the poetry, prose and artwork of Blake, Byron, Shelly, Wordsworth and similar contemporaries. While all are obviously very distinctive figures, the key themes are solid, and Pullman strikes me very much as a twentieth century incarnation.

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, if we may finally get to it, seems to be a more direct attempt at poking the wounded bear of Christianity. It is nothing less than a rewrite of the New Testament and the life and times of Jesus Christ. On the surface of it this seems like a bit of a dick move, but it's quantified somewhat by the fact that this is part of a dedicated series by publishers Cannongate Books entitled the Cannongate Myth Series, where contemporary authors re-imagine classic mythological stories- though the fact that the Bible is included alongside ancient Greek and Roman myth is probably a careful slap in the face too. Also I can't wait to see who gets to re imagine Islam. Has to be Salmon Rushdie.

When I first heard the title of the book I assumed that it was going to relate somehow to the varying positive and negative viewpoints of Jesus Christ as a symbol and character, but it's initially much more direct than that; Pullman literally (is that a pun?) splits the man in twain, creating the twin brothers Jesus and Christ. Following the pattern of the New Testament, Pullman briefly details the lives of this now family of four, slowly exploring the varying aspects of the titular characters. It is Jesus who displays the magical power of his absent father and eventually becomes an important figure in society, while Christ exists as a more thoughtful, analytical and concerned brother who watches on.

As the story moves through several plot points that you may have heard of before, Pullman's aims become clearer, as this novel tries to define the separation between the church and its god. By this point I'm afraid to say that I was somewhat bored. I'm not sure if I was expecting or wanting a more vindictive, God Delusion-esque attack on the logistics of the Bible but I was hoping for something with the vaguest hint of excitement. Sticking closer to the original stories than you might think, Pullman's thoughtful, even faintly respectable tone towards his subject matter left a lot to be desired. By the point (spoiler warning) Jesus dies and is reborn and such I didn't really care anymore.

I suppose the real problem with this book is that Phillip Pullman already taught his legion of fans to expect more from him. The Dark Materials books connected with millions of people, many of whom grew up with the series and felt a serious attachment to the author. Compared to the power of those books, The Good Man Jesus... falls very flat. The premise of the Cannongate myth series gave Pullman the opportunity to somewhat repeat his prior feats by capturing the attention of readers with the topic and then dazzling them with insight, remixing classical myth with potentially high-end concept religious fantasy, but instead the subdued, lecturing tone cancels this potential out. Obviously I was disappointed, but hopefully this says less about what Pullman seriously might be thinking about writing next, and more about how he approaches lower-profile vanity projects.