Author's note: I couldn't find a good question title for this… Any suggestions?
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Is Lyra's Oxford set in Victorian times?
by E. C. Florek
Lyra's Oxford is set in the Victorian Times. If you do not know what that era is, pay attention in History. Or "Google" it, which ever one you prefer. There have four credible reasons to say and believe so.
First and foremost, the astonishing place religion takes in every day, in their world is quite comparable to the fervor which was felt in the previous centuries. In those times, priests controlled every institute of learning, quite like in Lyra's world. I even find the Scholars to be much like monks.
My second shred of proof is the condition of women in their world. As it clearly said in the first book (there's one key sentence for this paragraph, yet I can't find it), women in Lyra's world, such as Mrs. Coulter, could only gain power by marriage, or by joining the church as a sister. Remind you of something? What's more, there is a complete absence of feminism: women do not seem to notice or care for the inequity of the sexes. When asked by Will to wear pants, Lyra calls him crazy.
Something else, not necessarily proof, but something relevant: Pullman's immediately previous series, the Sally Lockhart's, are set in the Victorian Times. Though I do not recommend them, they are worth reading for a HDM fan for the huge similarities between Sally and Lyra.
Another detail, largely overlooked, but critical to this essay: the power of the British Empire. Now crumbled, it seems to maintain its glorious status in Lyra's world. Might I add that in her world, the United States does not have its independence, or in any case has lost the war. Although I cannot be sure, it does not seem like India has its independence either, whether it was because Gandhi was left to die of hunger or because he simply never existed.
Last but not least, have you noticed that there is a complete absence of modern technology in her world? There are no telephones, televisions, spaceships, computers, or anything else that is remotely from the twentieth century. All they have is anbaric (electric) power, zeppelins and gyropters (helicopters).
All in all, we can assume that the connections between Lyra's world and the actual era are too great to be ignored or belittled.
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I felt obligated to write this after too manyexasperating fanfics in which Lyra's Oxford was portrayed as a modern day American type of world.