From "naive" To "experience": Self - Transcendence Of Fantasy Children 's Literature

Based on the works of British author Philip Pullman’s fantasy children’s literature His Dark Materials Trilogy, this article will analyze from three aspects:ambitious profound theme, rich layers manifestations and unique children’s literature view, trying to explore if this work of Pullman have transcendence in the history of fantasy children’s literature, or if it is of some significance to children’s literature. The three chapters of this article analyze the source and the connotation of His Dark Materials Trilogy’s theme ideas, the fantastic performance on these theme ideas in the book, as well as the significance of the theme of the book for children and children’s literature. Sought from all aspects of in-depth analysis, this article tries to grasp the whole book’s thread of thought:"from innocence to experience".As children’s literary works, His Dark Materials Trilogy’s theme has very profound and complicated ideological sources; we can recognize some of them, such as John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, William Blake’s writings, as well as other Eastern and Western philosophy, etc. However, Pullman’s theme expressed in the book both inherited and criticized these ideas, formed his own unique way of thinking. Unlike Milton, he believes that the shift from the "Innocence" to "Experience" is the first step leading to the true wisdom; this process is not only necessary, but also beautiful. It is also worth noting that Pullman fully mobilized his imagination and used a lot of fantasy elements appropriately to express his theme in three aspects:the characterization, environmental setting and plot construction. Many fantasy elements in the book, such as "daemon" and "panserbj(?)rne" in characterization;"multiple universes" and Victoria period atmosphere in environment settings; structural props and "underground tour" in the plot construction, strengthen the expression for the theme from all levels, so the theme of the book has showed more fully.Finally, return to the theoretical level of children’s culture and children’s literature, we can look at the book’s originality significance, and answer the questions like why it belongs to children’s literature, how to locate it in the history of children’s literature, whether it has transcendence in the field of children’s literature, or it has any reference of the future creation as well as our understanding of the way of fantasy children’s literature.Through the analysis of the basic concept of children’s literature, we can conclude that the reason why this book still belongs to the category "children’s literature", just because of its subject is child-centered, and the whole book expressed concern for children. At the same time, the value of the book is that its emphasis on "responsibility of growth" and "free will" restated the history of children’s literature, and freed children’s literature from the traditional "entertainment and liberation" perspective, so the book will return the right to grow to the children.From the analysis of all aspects of His Dark Materials Trilogy, we might be able to discern the future of fantasy children’s literature. We argue that this "future" not just exists in the colorful forms of fantasy literature, but also exists in its more and more profound, more and more forward-looking theme, and its deepening concern and grasp of the special group "children". Can help us to discern these problems, it is where the meaning of His Dark Materials Trilogy.