My aim is to argue that the acquisition of gnosis (special, liberating knowledge), the central item of Gnostic mythology, inevitably functions as the plot-organizing device of Pullman’s narrative set in several parallel universes. I focus my attention to the trilogy’s second and third books, The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000), to explore how the British author shaped particular Gnostic elements (self-development, emancipation and dualism) to his own liking instead of a slavish loyalty to Gnostic mythology. On this basis, the connecting link between the pre-modern Gnostics and the contemporary Pullman seems to be the heretical William Blake (1757-1827), the successful (pre) Romantic transmitter of Gnosticism in English literature.
In this paper I will rely on Renate Lachmann’s hypothesis according to which Romantic literature of the fantastic served to preserve unofficial or forbidden philosophical-theological knowledge. Philip Pullman (1946- ) incorporated the alternative memories of the formerly repressed Gnostic traditions into the mythopoesis of His Dark Materials (1995-2000) fantasy trilogy so as to express his antipathy for dogmatized and organized Christianity.
In Western culture Judeo-Christianity as the mainstream and Gnosticism with Hellenistic-Jewish roots as its rivalling counter-religion have had different approaches to the Tempter, the Temptation and the Fall of Man.
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