Editing Philip Pullman (section)

==Style, themes and influences==
In an epigraph to ''[[The Amber Spyglass]]'', Pullman writes that "My principle when researching a novel is 'Read like a butterfly, write like a bee', and if this story contains any honey, it is entirely because of the quality of the nectar that I found in the work of better writers. But there are three debts that need to be acknowledged above the rest. One is to the essay 'On the Marionette Theatre' by [[Heinrich von Kleist]], which I first read in translation by Idris Parry in the ''[[Times Literary Supplement]]'' in 1978. The other is to [[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]''. The third is to the works of [[William Blake]]."<ref name=HDM/>{{rp|=1011}} He credits his teacher Enid Jones with "showing him that responsibility and delight can coexist."<ref name=Jones/>

[[Christina Patterson]] writes that "''[[The Firework-Maker's Daughter]]'' is both an adventure story and an extended metaphor for the making of art. ''[[Clockwork, or All Wound Up| Clockwork]]'' is a gothic fantasy with a sinister twist, which draws heavily on [[German Romanticism]]. It's also a philosophical parable, playing with notions of [[free will]], cause and effect. ''[[I Was a Rat!]]'' is a rollicking romp about Roger the rat-boy, but - as the title implies - it's also a brilliant parody of the sleazier reaches of journalism." Pullman says "What I hope is that the stories I write will entertain both the young readers and the older ones. What I don't want to do is to write the sort of book that has silly slapstick for children and clever stuff for the grown-ups. I want them all to enjoy the same bits for the same reason - but maybe see different things in it.<ref>{{cite news| last=Patterson| first=Christina| author-link=Christina Patterson| date=November 11, 2004| url=http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/features/article19814.ece| title=Philip Pullman: Material worlds| work=[[The Independent]]| archive-date=2 August 2013| access-date=20 April 2025| archive-url=https://archive.today/20130802221907/http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/features/article19814.ece| url-status=dead}}</ref>

He has incorporated science into his writing. ''His Dark Materials'' draws on the [[many worlds interpretation]] of quantum theory and the concept of [[dark matter]]. "I found dark matter a very helpful metaphor, and I had my fingers crossed since 1993 that they wouldn't discover what it was before I finished. And they still haven't." Another theme is the nature of [[consciousness]]. He says that "Science is clearly a field where the imagination can be triumphant" but that there are things that lie beyond it:  "I think a lot of the things that science is either dubious about or skeptical about or refuses to have anything to do with are these qualities which are so well expressed in literature or music or poetry or the visual arts. The sort of gung-ho triumphalist proponents of science will say 'That's because we haven't got there yet. We'll measure it, we'll do it one day. ... I'd point out, we've got there already. You read it in [[Percy Shelley| Shelley]] and [[Keats]] and [[Shakespeare]], you hear it in [[Stravinsky]] and [[Debussy]]."<ref>{{cite video| title=Philip Pullman: A story will help us make sense of anything| author=Rowan Hooper| publisher=[[New Scientist]]| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4hnaac7ezs&t=207s}}</ref>