The “Profound” Northern Lights

The release of The Golden Compass makes me weep. As much as I’m loving the idea of having Nicole Kidman playing Mrs Coulter, and the lulz that comes from people declaring the movie anti-Christian (my favourite part is when they flip out after hearing people’s souls being referred to as ‘demons‘ – when if they’d done their our research, they’d know it was actually ‘daemon‘, hahaha you guys ♥ ♥)… the way it was approached, well…

Let’s just say: I (probably) could have done it better.

Anyway, I decided to reread the His Dark Materials a while back. Then the more I heard about the movie, the more I read it out of protest…. and then the book itself, which I’ve liked since childhood… It got to me.

How many times do things have to be described as “profound”, Philip Pullman?

I’ve never seen it used outside of this novel, but within it… it’s everywhere. Every so many pages it’ll pop up. Lyra will read the alethiometer and her concentration will be profound. Then it’ll be nighttime, and of course, that nothing less than profound. It’s inescapable!

I’m started on the second book now, The Subtle Knife, and I’ve realised such use of ‘profound’ isn’t a quirk solely in Northern Lights. Ohhh no. Thirty pages in, and I’ve counted around four to five “profound”s.

I love this book. It’s undeniably good – the style is simple, it doesn’t try to impress with overly elaborate sentences, which makes its plot that much more real. I like reading about Christianity-related stuff too, I’ve noticed.
          …It’s just that everytime I come across that stupid word I want to hurl it across my room.