Phillip Pullman, One of our Overrated Fantasy Authors

regurgitates old lies. A reader writes:

Philip Pullman, author of the Dark Materials trilogy, has had another cheap shot at Christianity.

In the course of an article about government cuts closing libraries, he tries to pump up some erudition by referring to the destruction of ‘hundreds and thousands of books’ on the orders of Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria in AD 391. As a matter of fact, most genuine historians date the destruction of the Serapeum to the war between Cato and Pompey some 450 years earlier. But that hasn’t stopped the trope from being propagated by anyone with Christianity issues.

James Hannam, author of God’s Philosophers, has a trenchant comment here.

It’s too bad Pullman isn’t familiar with the work of a truly great science fiction author, Mike Flynn, who actually knows what he’s talking about when he discusses the Library at Alexandria.

Much of Pullman’s (and Dawkins’) reputation for being intelligent seems to be based largely on the reflexive American tendency to regard a British accent as conferring extra IQ points. Whenever these men speak about matters outside their narrow field of competence, they are complete ninnies and ignorami.