In a recent appearance on Alex O’Connor’s Within Reason podcast, Philip Pullman expressed his distaste for the works of AA Milne and CS Lewis. Singling out Milne for special criticism, Pullman accused his fellow writer of peddling a maudlin nostalgia for childhood.
Spelling out his critique, the author of His Dark Materials took issue with the idea “that children are innocent… and therefore holy and, you know, they’re nearer God than we are… they’re little angels”. Pullman complains: “It’s so anti-natural, so anti the whole process of growing up. What children want to be when they’re young is grown up.”
