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A labour of loathing

Peter Hitchens

Saturday, 18th January 2003

Peter Hitchens on the worship of Philip Pullman, who has set out to destroy Narnia

Whatever the atheist equivalent of canonisation is, they are doing it to the children's author Philip Pullman. The full power of secular liberalism is being deployed to magnify his glorious name. Last year he won the Whitbread Prize, normally reserved for adult authors. Now Radio Four is handing over three of its precious Saturday afternoons for an adaptation of his trilogy, His Dark Materials. Nicholas Hytner is preparing Pullman's works for the stage of the National Theatre, and Hollywood is hoping to do for him what it did for Tolkien. In early March he will be beatified through an interview with Melvyn Bragg on the South Bank Show. Why is he suddenly so important?

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