An illuminating lecture full of delight. Philip Pullman is an excellent speaker, I could listen to him for hours! A great writer full of wonder and wisdom. Great readings too. But the Q&A stole the show for me. Pullman answered in a sincere and erudite way. Thank you Blake Society for organising this, and uploading it for those of us who couldn't make it.
You can clearly see his background in teaching children in how he answers the questions asked by children truthfully, not shying away from the facts, just trying to put them into a simpler and more comprehensible language.
Blake Society 2018 Annual Lecture - Philip Pullman 0525am 15.2 22 or is it just me and those with tasked on discussing the man have a certain look about them... akin to the man... ie: is it just his descendants discussing him?
@@geoffreynhill2833 Blake Society 2018 Annual Lecture - Philip Pullman 0124am 18.6.22 i dont suppose their forced to wax about blake. they probably take some aspect of his political or religious nature and create a talk around that upon any theme of their own choosing. i left blake behind at primary school. and there he should have lay... it does surprise me that someone who is not considered high art or even artistically inclined can still be seen as some catalyst within contemporary artistic circles. no one has mused much upon what he was trying to achieve. whether he was trying to create a brotherhood, as the pre raphs did later, of like minded artistes - with a varied but easily defined world view (the conundrum of the artist) or whether he was just a muddled old scrote who allowed his wife to school children in the noble art of religious dogma and allowed them to use blake's prints as a school child would a colouring book... there is nought about blakes work which shines of genius or the highest or art. but i can enjoy him. and i think fear of the artiste's familial ties have more to do with his work being appreciated than a genuine love for his oeuvre... discuss.
I feel so much better since I have resolutely accepted that I came from the creative hand of God: I was created by God in His image! My purpose is to serve Him. I have meaning because He loves me and I mean so much to Him that He provided a Way to enter into an eternal place for me to live; in Heaven. I’m not an accident, I’m not meaningless, I have a mission here, and I have an abode when I die. Blake believed all of this and he accomplished so much in his life. He has provided so much hope for me in my life!!
Phiip Pullman is an embodiment of an English tradition oft overlooked in the modern era, but a vitally important as a counterpoint to industry and science. It is found in Blake and Wordsworth, and is unbroken line of neo-Platonism.
Was Blake really a neo-platonist? Sincere question. I've seen the argument but I have serious doubts, especially given his obvious hostility toward philosophic abstraction and Greek antiquity. From what I can see he thoroughly engages neo-platonism, but that does not make him a neo-platonist.
@@paulrpinson No neo-platonist could have written The Marriage of Heaven and Hell which would not get the approval of Plotinus. He is neither neo-platonist nor gnostic. Blake ridiculed transcendent generalizations. How Blake understood and experienced what we call material reality specifically is still an unanswered question, but for Blake reality never ceases to be experienced as particulars ever more clearly revealed and ever more dissolving of a generalization such as the Good. This is not neo-platonism.
@@k.arlanebel6732 Yeah, I agree. I think people are simply misled by his use of words like "emanation" and certain hermetic concepts. If you see to what end he puts them, it's clear he is undermining the whole neo-platonic project.
Drivel !! He is the epitome of the middle class liberal lefty who wealth and privilege permit to indulge themselves as ". Artists " - rather than doing any productive work. A parasite !!
I read Northern Lights years ago to see why my sons liked it and couldn't get on with it, but did finish it. When I watched the TV show His Dark Materials it made me read the other two books, which I enjoyed. A long talk, but I agree the Q&A is the best bit and very spontaneous.
The way he talks to kids is brilliant. Also, the advice of 'write a load of junk, get pissed and have a man walk in with a gun' makes me feel better about my own efforts!
I have to admit that Pullman induces mixed feelings in me. I don't mean that as pejorative. I mean that I can't really see him as having that much in common with Blake. I think his attraction to Blake is only an attraction to a certain aspect of Blake. Overall, he has more in common with Wordsworth than he does with Blake. The William Blake that he doth spy Appears as Wordsworth to mine eye! Both are William, that is right, But one's like day and the other night. Wordsworth's tears in darkening age Are gleams in fierce Blake's fiery rage. One cries out from his prison cell, The other's wings burst the walls of hell. One protests from the modern cage, The other flies free in flaming rage Into realms beyond the blight Of the sane man's two-fold night. In Pullman's cup I taste the bane Of a brew that is too sane. We know that noble Wordsworth had A fear that Blake was simply mad.
You were a poet but did you know it! That one will quip, as the sadist uses the whip. And though your point might know, the truth is to great to hold. That for in dullard Pullman we see, a bit of you and me.
The story of Jesus and his twin is in the book of Thomas ,,, I'm very confused by this lecture until the end when the guy said he fits the story into what he has written which is why it makes no sense ...
I tried reading Pullman but couldn't get past a page, due to the poor writing and formulaic approach. Best seller fodder. Like others I can't see how he's suitable to talk about Blake, so I suppose he was chosen because he's 'famous'. Listening to him is no better, there's something very ruthless about him and his use of language. Monetises his words, like his books. Not the best explanation, but I'm not a writer.
There's not much about Blake here. Mr Pullman digresses briefly on a bout of pre-migraine scotoma he'd suffered recently, suggesting it might have presaged some mystical experience but in the event didn't, and the perennial problem of "consciousness" is mooted at some length, leaving the impression that, despite everything - private schools, Oxbridge etc. - the middle classes remain happily free of it.
Pullman : the epitome of the privileged middle class elite . He rarely troubles to disguise his contempt for the " plebs '......ie. Anyone NOT privately educated . Goes without saying : he's a Remainer of course.
William Blake ranks 38/100 greatest British men. Blake was a profound Christian and will always be thousands of times more influential than this lecturer who seems to be a self promoting atheist. I’m convinced that Blake would reject this man’s position on who Jesus Christ is; Jesus is not some mythology. It’s unfortunate that the Blake Society has chosen this man to be at the head; he does not represent the wonders of William Blake. Blake was not an atheist! This guy can be an atheist but don’t pretend that you have any similarities with William Blake!
He who doubts from what he sees Will never believe, do what you please ....and then all of this hand wringing about consciousness. And I don't understand how a human can be tied to one daemon, the opposite of forgiveness, and seemingly so English in its need to classify individuals.
HORA DAS BONITA5 LEVANTAREM,PARA LIMPAR PRÉDIO. PEÇO DESCULPA AO AMIGO DELAS ONTEM EU ESTAVA MUITO CANSADA,ANDEI MUITO TIVE QUE PARA PARA DÁ INFORMAÇÕES A DOIS SENHORES QUE QUERIA IR AO CEMITÉRIO ,VOLTANDO AO AMIGO DAD NINFAS NOTEI QUE ELE QUERIA UMA FOTO AMIGUINHO DO FELIPE MEU VIZINHO. FAVOR LAVAR A LIXEIRA, NUNCA FOI LAVADA NA GESTÃO DELAS.
An illuminating lecture full of delight. Philip Pullman is an excellent speaker, I could listen to him for hours! A great writer full of wonder and wisdom. Great readings too. But the Q&A stole the show for me. Pullman answered in a sincere and erudite way. Thank you Blake Society for organising this, and uploading it for those of us who couldn't make it.
You can clearly see his background in teaching children in how he answers the questions asked by children truthfully, not shying away from the facts, just trying to put them into a simpler and more comprehensible language.
Then you will listen to him for hours. This I decree by the power of Zeus.
Blake Society 2018 Annual Lecture - Philip Pullman 0525am 15.2 22 or is it just me and those with tasked on discussing the man have a certain look about them... akin to the man... ie: is it just his descendants discussing him?
@@JJONNYREPP Nothing about Blake, anyway...
@@geoffreynhill2833 Blake Society 2018 Annual Lecture - Philip Pullman 0124am 18.6.22 i dont suppose their forced to wax about blake. they probably take some aspect of his political or religious nature and create a talk around that upon any theme of their own choosing. i left blake behind at primary school. and there he should have lay... it does surprise me that someone who is not considered high art or even artistically inclined can still be seen as some catalyst within contemporary artistic circles. no one has mused much upon what he was trying to achieve. whether he was trying to create a brotherhood, as the pre raphs did later, of like minded artistes - with a varied but easily defined world view (the conundrum of the artist) or whether he was just a muddled old scrote who allowed his wife to school children in the noble art of religious dogma and allowed them to use blake's prints as a school child would a colouring book... there is nought about blakes work which shines of genius or the highest or art. but i can enjoy him. and i think fear of the artiste's familial ties have more to do with his work being appreciated than a genuine love for his oeuvre... discuss.
I feel so much better since I have resolutely accepted that I came from the creative hand of God: I was created by God in His image! My purpose is to serve Him. I have meaning because He loves me and I mean so much to Him that He provided a Way to enter into an eternal place for me to live; in Heaven. I’m not an accident, I’m not meaningless, I have a mission here, and I have an abode when I die. Blake believed all of this and he accomplished so much in his life. He has provided so much hope for me in my life!!
Why do you need god to find meaning? Why not in other people?
@@davidwright8432 to each their own, let's accept and respect their perspective.
Phiip Pullman is an embodiment of an English tradition oft overlooked in the modern era, but a vitally important as a counterpoint to industry and science. It is found in Blake and Wordsworth, and is unbroken line of neo-Platonism.
Was Blake really a neo-platonist? Sincere question. I've seen the argument but I have serious doubts, especially given his obvious hostility toward philosophic abstraction and Greek antiquity. From what I can see he thoroughly engages neo-platonism, but that does not make him a neo-platonist.
@@paulrpinson No neo-platonist could have written The Marriage of Heaven and Hell which would not get the approval of Plotinus. He is neither neo-platonist nor gnostic. Blake ridiculed transcendent generalizations. How Blake understood and experienced what we call material reality specifically is still an unanswered question, but for Blake reality never ceases to be experienced as particulars ever more clearly revealed and ever more dissolving of a generalization such as the Good. This is not neo-platonism.
@@k.arlanebel6732 Yeah, I agree. I think people are simply misled by his use of words like "emanation" and certain hermetic concepts. If you see to what end he puts them, it's clear he is undermining the whole neo-platonic project.
Drivel !! He is the epitome of the middle class liberal lefty who wealth and privilege permit to indulge themselves as ". Artists " -
rather than doing any productive
work. A parasite !!
What a wonderful lecture. Was liquid to my parched soul.
I read Northern Lights years ago to see why my sons liked it and couldn't get on with it, but did finish it. When I watched the TV show His Dark Materials it made me read the other two books, which I enjoyed. A long talk, but I agree the Q&A is the best bit and very spontaneous.
The way he talks to kids is brilliant. Also, the advice of 'write a load of junk, get pissed and have a man walk in with a gun' makes me feel better about my own efforts!
Great presentation. And some of the questions - particularly from kids - were deeply perceptive.
1:05:41 Good question and a lovely answer.
"republic of heaven" is a neat euphemism
I have to admit that Pullman induces mixed feelings in me. I don't mean that as pejorative. I mean that I can't really see him as having that much in common with Blake. I think his attraction to Blake is only an attraction to a certain aspect of Blake. Overall, he has more in common with Wordsworth than he does with Blake.
The William Blake that he doth spy
Appears as Wordsworth to mine eye!
Both are William, that is right,
But one's like day and the other night.
Wordsworth's tears in darkening age
Are gleams in fierce Blake's fiery rage.
One cries out from his prison cell,
The other's wings burst the walls of hell.
One protests from the modern cage,
The other flies free in flaming rage
Into realms beyond the blight
Of the sane man's two-fold night.
In Pullman's cup I taste the bane
Of a brew that is too sane.
We know that noble Wordsworth had
A fear that Blake was simply mad.
Blake felt love - or pity perhaps ?
for his fellow human creatures .
You'll find no trace of that in Pullman ! A misanthropic middle class snob. !
You were a poet but did you know it! That one will quip, as the sadist uses the whip. And though your point might know, the truth is to great to hold.
That for in dullard Pullman we see, a bit of you and me.
❤
Thank you very much.
The story of Jesus and his twin is in the book of Thomas ,,, I'm very confused by this lecture until the end when the guy said he fits the story into what he has written which is why it makes no sense ...
Thank you for this
W. Blake 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🌸
Blake hated the church he hated the crown he hated capitalism. He would of hated this as well, get you're soul at the gift shop.
I tried reading Pullman but couldn't get past a page, due to the poor writing and formulaic approach. Best seller fodder. Like others I can't see how he's suitable to talk about Blake, so I suppose he was chosen because he's 'famous'.
Listening to him is no better, there's something very ruthless about him and his use of language. Monetises his words, like his books. Not the best explanation, but I'm not a writer.
There's not much about Blake here. Mr Pullman digresses briefly on a bout of pre-migraine scotoma he'd suffered recently, suggesting it might have presaged some mystical experience but in the event didn't, and the perennial problem of "consciousness" is mooted at some length, leaving the impression that, despite everything - private schools, Oxbridge etc. - the middle classes remain happily free of it.
PS: I've just learned that Netflix are planning a 32-part biopic of Mr Pullman's life and works set in downtown Cowley with Rod Steiger in the lead!
Pullman : the epitome of the privileged middle class elite .
He rarely troubles to disguise his
contempt for the " plebs '......ie.
Anyone NOT privately educated .
Goes without saying : he's a Remainer of course.
Wonderful speech. Found the readings toe-curling, though. I like everything about Pullman *except* his fiction.
William Blake ranks 38/100 greatest British men. Blake was a profound Christian and will always be thousands of times more influential than this lecturer who seems to be a self promoting atheist. I’m convinced that Blake would reject this man’s position on who Jesus Christ is; Jesus is not some mythology. It’s unfortunate that the Blake Society has chosen this man to be at the head; he does not represent the wonders of William Blake. Blake was not an atheist! This guy can be an atheist but don’t pretend that you have any similarities with William Blake!
According to Thomas Altizer, Blake was "the first Christian atheist."
@@marksmith2701 Jesus was the first Christian atheist!
He who doubts from what he sees
Will never believe, do what you please
....and then all of this hand wringing about consciousness.
And I don't understand how a human can be tied to one daemon, the opposite of forgiveness, and seemingly so English in its need to classify individuals.
HORA DAS BONITA5 LEVANTAREM,PARA LIMPAR PRÉDIO. PEÇO DESCULPA AO AMIGO DELAS ONTEM EU ESTAVA MUITO CANSADA,ANDEI MUITO TIVE QUE PARA PARA DÁ INFORMAÇÕES A DOIS SENHORES QUE QUERIA IR AO CEMITÉRIO ,VOLTANDO AO AMIGO DAD NINFAS NOTEI QUE ELE QUERIA UMA FOTO AMIGUINHO DO FELIPE MEU VIZINHO. FAVOR LAVAR A LIXEIRA, NUNCA FOI LAVADA NA GESTÃO DELAS.
Diamons,verbosity.
Don't read these books,they are to be skimmed through.