Abstraction, diffraction, experimentation: the making of ‘The Amber Spyglass’ in Philip Pullman’s trilogy His Dark Materials

This article traces the construction of ‘The Amber Spyglass’ (2015[2000]) from Philip Pullman’s homonymous children’s novel, to explore two interrelated conceptual issues. These are the problem of abstraction as a productive and experimental practice, and that of vision as something materially mediated rather than pre-given. The author’s contention is that the making of ‘The Amber Spyglass’ dramatizes the situated character of knowledge production in a compelling way, allowing us to grasp experimentation as an ethically grounded and politically committed practice. The article offers a ‘diffractive’ reading of an episode narrating the construction of this fictitious visualization technology, by putting the story in conversation with writings by AN Whitehead and Félix Guattari, as well as feminist writers Karen Barad, Maria Puig de la Bellacasa and Donna Haraway. This is done in order to lay bare the materially and socially generative character of knowledge practices for crafting alternative visions of the world in times of ecological collapse.