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111Moudle2Period 1: ReadingThe Cat That VanishedGoals To learn about fantasy literature To learn to read with strategiesProcedures Warming up by learning about “fantasy” Hello, class! We have come to Module 2 Fantasy LiteraturePhilip Pullman. But what is fantasy? Who is Philip Pullman?Fantasy is a genre of art, literature, film, television, and music that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of either plot, theme, setting, or all three. The genre is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by overall look, feel, and theme of the individual work, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three (collectively known as speculative fiction). In its broadest sense, fantasy covers works by many writers, artists, and musicians, from ancient myths and legends, to many recent works embraced by a wide audience today. As with other forms of speculative fiction, actions and events in fantasy very often differ from those possible in consensus reality. In many cases, especially in older works of fantasy but in many modern works as well, this is explained by means of divine intervention, magic, or other supernatural forces. In other cases, most frequently in works of modern fantasy in the high fantasy subgenre, the story might take place in a fantasy world that is wholly different from our own, complete with distinct laws of nature that permit magic.Warming up by learning about “Philip Pullman” Philip Pullman was born in Norwich on 19th October 1946. The early part of his life was spent travelling all over the world, because his father and then his stepfather were both in the Royal Air Force. He spent part of his childhood in Australia, where he first met the wonders of comics, and grew to love Superman and Batman in particular. From the age of 11, he lived in North Wales, having moved back to Britain. It was a time when children were allowed to roam anywhere, to play in the streets, to wander over the hills, and he took full advantage of it. His English teacher, Miss Enid Jones, was a big influence on him, and he still sends her copies of his books. After he left school he went to Exeter College, Oxford, to read English. He did a number of odd jobs for a while, and then moved back to Oxford to become a teacher. He taught at various middle schools for twelve years, and then moved to Westminster College, Oxford, to be a part-time lecturer. He taught courses on the Victorian novel and on the folk tale, and also a course examining how words and pictures fit together. He eventually left teaching in order to write full-time. His first published novel was for adults, but he began writing for children when he was a teacher. Some of his novels were based on plays he wrote for his school pupils, such as The Ruby In The Smoke. Philip still lives in Oxford, and he writes in a shed at the bottom of his garden. The shed contains two comfortable chairs (one for writing in, one for sitting at the computer in), several hundred books, a six-foot-long stuffed rat which took a part in his play Sherlock Holmes and the Limehouse Horror, a guitar, a saxophone, as well as the computer, decorated with dozens of brightly coloured artificial flowers attached to it by Blu-Tack. Blu-Tack plays a big part in Philip Pullmans writing process. With it he sticks to the wall pictures, notes, posters, reminders, postcards, book jackets, anything that will stay there. Another product of technology that Philip cant do without is Post-it Notes, the smallest yellow ones in particular. They are very useful for planning the shape of a story: he writes a brief sentence summarising a scene on one of them, and then puts them on a very big piece of paper which he can fill with up to sixty or more different scenes, moving them around to get the best order. Philip Pullman believes firmly in the virtues of healthy exercise and a moderate diet - for other people. It makes them feel virtuous, and makes them feel good if not happy. The most exercise he normally takes is unscrewing the top of the whisky bottle. If he liked the taste of tobacco, he would smoke vigorously. He is fond of sport, and plays it by watching television. He is a big fan of Neighbours, but that is the only soap he watches, as Neighbours gives him quite enough to think about. He is married to Jude. Their son Jamie is a viola player, and their younger son Tom studies music at university. As far as he can tell, Philip Pullman is moderately harmless and useful. He would like to carry on doing what hes doing now, and there seems no reason why he shouldnt, but if it suddenly became against the law to write stories, he would break the law without a seconds hesitation.Before you readNow lets go to page 11 to read first His Dark Materials and The Cat That Vanished.But first please go over the word list for this module, paying attention to the pronunciation of the word, the relationship between its pronunciation and its spelling.While you readWhile reading try to cut/ the sentences into thought groups, blacken the predicates, underline the useful expressions and darken the connectives.After you readCopy all the useful expressions into your Expression Book and make your own sentences with them.Useful expressions fromHis Dark Materialsby Philip Pullmanone of the greatest fantasy novels ever written, take place in several different worlds, a young girl called, in the first book, enter other worlds, have many extraordinary adventures, play an important part in, destroy the universe, an exciting novelUseful expressions from The Cat That vanishedat this time of night, very little traffic，comfortable houses，, along both sides of, think clearly, come out of a garden, put down, hold out, come up to, turn away, go across, behave strangely, put out, patin the air, in front of her，be invisible to, leap back，watch carefully, approachagain, an empty patch of, with less fear, this time, step forward，stand still，close to, pass by, cross the road, keep ones eyes on, see from some positions, cutout of , about two metres from, square in shape, a metre across, invisible from behind, see from the side nearest,on the other side of, a patch of, know without any doubt that, in a different world, know as strongly as, for that reason only, bend down, look through, pushthrough, climb through the hole in the walls, stand under a line of tall trees, in a line, along the road, the centre of a wide road, at the side of , under a dark sky, hot night, have the scent of flowers, look around carefully, shine down over, houses with rich gardens and an open park, look through, turn quickly away, know nothing at all about, dream but awake at the same time Reading the text again to fill in the necessary informationThe Cat That vanishedWhat did Will see one night?Will saw a catWhere did the cat stop?A cat stopped where Will was standingHow did Will see the cat behave?Will saw the cat behave strangely. What did the cat do then?The cat stepped forward，and vanishedWhat did Will do then?Will looked more closely, he saw it.Where could Will see it?Will could only see it from a patch of grass.What did Will know about that patch of grass?Will knew that patch of grass was in a different world.What was Will looking at?He was looking at something that was very alien.What did Will do then?He climbed through the hole in the walls of this world and into another.Where was Will standing? He was standing under a line of tall trees. What did Will do then?Will looked around carefully. What was beside him in the air?Just beside him was that patch in the air. What did Will do then?Feeling that he was dreaming but awake at the same time, he stood up and looked around for the cat, his guide. Closing down by reading about “The Cat That Vanished”The Subtle Knife is the second part of the trilogy that began with The Golden Compass. That first book was set in a world like ours, but different. This book begins in our own world. * * * * * In The Subtle Knife, readers are introduced to Will Parry, a young boy living in modern-day Oxford, England. Will is only twelve years old, but he bears the responsibilities of an adult. Following the disappearance of his explorer-father, John Parry, during an expedition in the North, Will became parent, provider and protector to his frail, confused mother. And its in protecting her that he becomes a murderer, too: he accidentally kills a man who breaks into their home to steal valuable letters written by John Parry. After placing his mother in the care of a kind friend, Will takes those letters and sets off to discover the truth about his father. Will does indeed make an astonishing discovery, but its not about his father. Along a busy road, he happens upon an extraordinary window in the air. Almost invisible to the eye, it opens into an entirely different world. Anxious to remain hidden, Will ventures through this window into the shimmering, haunted city of Cittgazze, where he meets Lyra Belacqua and her dmon, Pantalaimon, who have also wandered into Cittgazze from yet another world while searching for the answers behind Dust. Aside from Will and his new companions, this city is eerie, empty and silent. The people have fled to the hills to escape the Specters, phantom-like beings that feed on the consciousness of grown-ups, leaving them zombie-like and void forever after. Only the children, who are safe from the Specters, venture out to scavenge for food. Although safe in Cittgazze, the two pass through the window to Wills Oxford knowing that answers to their questions lie therein. Will inquires about his fathers expedition to the North and learns that it included a study of atmospheric particles. And meanwhile, Lyra seeks out a scholar who can tell her more about Dust. The scholar Lyra finds is a certain scientist named Dr. Mary Malone, a member of the Dark Matter Research Unit, who has discovered the existence of Shadows, the very same mysterious entity as the Dust of Lyras world. But even more startling is that Mary Malone has found that in these Shadows, or Dark Matter, or Dust, there is consciousness. These particles are conscious, and their awareness is what powers Lyras alethiometer, and what surrounds all human thought and matter. Mary Malones next task is to find a way to communicate with these particles, for they will tell her about the vital role she plays in the fate of the universe. When Lyra and Will return to Cittgazze, Will reads the letters his father wrote during his final expedition in the North, and he learns that his father knew about the windows between worlds. His father planned to travel through a window to explore another world - just as Will had done himself. For Will, this was finally something both father and son could share, but more importantly, it meant that his father could be alive. Had he ventured through that window, John Parry could be worlds away, but somewhere he was alive. And Will resolves to find him. Lyra, meanwhile, pays a second visit to Dr. Mary Malone, and this time there are authorities waiting to question Lyra about her interest in Shadow particles and Dark Matter. She inadvertently reveals her involvement with Will, immediately flees the lab, and runs straight into Sir Charles Latrom, a deceiving man who has seen Lyra work the alethiometer and realizes its value. Flustered by her escape from the lab, Lyra discovers too late that Sir Charles has stolen her alethiometer. When Will and Lyra try to get it back, they learn its ransom: a certain knife located in the high tower of Cittgazze. The two young friends enter the tower together and climb to the very top, where Will faces a ferocious fight for the knife. Will ultimately triumphs, making him the rightful bearer of the knife. This is the Subtle Knife, and it is an object of extraordinary and devastating power. There is nothing sharper or more deadly, and its bearer is capable of cutting entries into countless other worlds. Armed with the subtle knife, Will and Lyra retrieve her alethiometer by outsmarting Sir Charles, who they discover has been conspiring with Lyras own mother, Mrs. Coulter. With knife and alethiometer in hand, Will and Lyra return to Cittgazze to resume the search for Wills father. In the meantime, Lyras old friend, Lee Scoresby, the Texan aeronaut, has located a certain explorer, Stanislaus Grumman, a man with a legendary following. Grumman was a renowned explorer from the far North immersed in investigating Dust. He is rumored to have the most unusual osprey daemon, and it was said that he once rejected the love of a witch. Now a shaman, his tribal Tartar name is Jopari, a.k.a. John Parry. He is Wills very own father. While on his last expedition, John Parry stumbled through a window into another world. He found himself in the world of Specters, witnessed their horror, and fled into yet another world. Unable to find his way back to the window that led to home, he adopted the persona of Stanislaus Grumman and endeavored to learn everything he could about this Dust and its impact on the universe. Most importantly, Grumman learned of the subtle knife and the critical role its bearer plays in the fate of the entire universe. Grummans task, with the help of Lee Scoresby, is to find the bearer of the subtle knife and inform him of the road that lies ahead. What neither Will nor Grumman realizes is that this ultimate meeting is not between knife bearer and shaman, but rather between father and son. High on a mountaintop in the total blackness of the night, Will encounters Grumman who tells Will that he, with his knife, stands in the balance between the forces of Good and Evil and that his destiny lies in finding Lord Asriel. Curious to see this knife bearers face, Grumman lights a match and the moment of light is enough for each to realize whom he is facing. In the next instant, Wills father is killed by the scorned witch, intent on revenge, and once again, Will loses the father hes never known. Will climbs down from the mountain to return to Lyra, but instead finds two angels awaiting him. Lyra is gone; her alethiometer remains behind. Clearly, she has been taken away against her will. Friendless, fatherless and confused, Will has yet another journey ahead of him, a journey that will finally fulfill his destiny and reveal the secret of Dust. 111
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