and his view of the city is not like lyra's view.a's view as we saw it in "his dark materials" is a scholarly place, full of ancient rituals and libraries and books and learning and so on. malcolm's is different from that. he sees it from the perspective of someone who works on the river. he knows the river and the canals very well. oxford is laced through and through with streams and canals and tributaries. it's a very watery place, and malcolm sees it from this point of view and he sees different kinds of things in oxford from the things we saw in "his dark materials." >> it's obviously very inspiring for you. but you also once said "i am religious. i'm an atheist." aren't those two in conflict? what do you mean by that? >> i think what i meant by saying that was the questions that religion asks, questions like why are we here, why does the world exist at all, what must we do to be good,why dowe feel not at ease in the world as if we don't belon here, those questions are part of being a human being. and we all ask them, especially