MacDonald, George
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1824-1905) Scottish author and editor, father of Ronald MacDonald and grandfather of Philip MacDonald, perhaps now best known for his fantasies for children and his fairy tales [see Checklist]. His former occupation as a clergyman was reflected in his allegorical fantasies: Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women (1858), comprising a Pilgrim's Progress through a secondary world in search of adulthood; and Lilith: A Romance (1895; rev vt Lilith: A Romance: With Introductory Key, a Paraphrase of an Earlier Manuscript-Version, and Explanation of Notes 1924), the latter work being his closest to sf. Based on the premise that an infinite number of three-dimensional universes can exist in a four-dimensional frame (see Dimensions; Parallel Worlds), Lilith draws heavily from the Talmud in its enigmatic description of a quest, set in both this Universe and another, for the self. Mirrors and Doppelgangers are common in both tales. Lilith compares interestingly with David Lindsay's more outlandish A Voyage to Arcturus (1920). A posthumous assembly, The Visionary Novels: Phantastes: Lilith (omni 1954), contains a useful introduction by W H Auden.
After MacDonald's death, his son Greville wrote three fantasy novels as well as the biographical George MacDonald and His Wife (1924). [JE/JC]
see also: Adam and Eve; Fantasy Entries; SF Music.
George MacDonald
born Huntley, Aberdeenshire, Scotland: 10 December 1824
died Ashtead, Surrey: 18 September 1905
works
for children (selected)
- At the Back of the North Wind (London: Strahan and Co, 1870) [hb/]
- The Princess and the Goblin (New York: Routledge, 1871) [hb/]
- The Wise Woman: A Parable (London: Strahan and Co, 1875) [hb/]
- A Double Story (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1876) [vt of the above: hb/]
- The Lost Princess (London: Wells Gardner, Darton, 1895) [vt of the above: hb/]
- The Princess and Curdie (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: J B Lippincott, 1882) [hb/]
collections for children
- The Gifts of the Christ Child and Other Tales (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1882) [coll: published in two volumes: hb/]
- Stephen Archer and Other Tales (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1883) [coll: vt of the above: hb/]
- The Gifts of the Child Christ: Fairy Tales and Stories for the Childlike (London: A R Mowbray, 1973) [coll: vt of the above: published in two volumes: hb/nonpictorial]
- The Fairy Tales of George MacDonald (London: A C Fifield, 1904) [coll: published in five volumes: hb/]
- The Complete Fairy Tales of George MacDonald (New York: Schocken, 1977) [coll: hb/]
for adults (selected)
- Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women (London: Smith, Elder, 1858) [hb/]
- The Portent: A Story of the Inner Vision of the Highlanders, Commonly Called the Second Sight (London: Smith, Elder, 1864) [hb/]
- The Portent and Other Stories (London: A C Fifield, 1909) [rev as coll with six added stories: vt of the above: hb/]
- Lady of the Mansion: Originally Published as The Portent (San Francisco, California: Harper and Row, 1979) [vt of the above: hb/]
- The Flight of the Shadow (London: Kegan Paul, 1891) [hb/]
- Lilith: A Romance (London: Chatto and Windus, 1895) [hb/]
- Lilith, a Romance: With Introductory Key, a Paraphrase of an Earlier Manuscript-Version, and Explanation of Notes (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1924) [rev as described in subtitle: vt of the above: hb/]
- The Visionary Novels: Phantastes: Lilith (New York: The Noonday Press, 1954) [omni of the above plus Phantastes: introduction by W H Auden: hb/Leo Manso]
- Phantastes and Lilith (London: Gollancz, 1962) [vt of the above: introduction by C S Lewis: hb/nonpictorial]
collections
- Adela Cathcart (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1864) [coll: published in three volumes: hb/]
- Adela Cathcart (New York: Munro, 1882) [rev: with title novel alone, all other stories cut: hb/]
- Far Above Rubies (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1899) [coll: hb/]
about the author
There is a mass of critical studies of MacDonald, of which we list only a small sample. Few attempts are made to describe his work as sf.
- Marion Lochhead. The Renaissance of Wonder in Children's Literature (New York: Harper and Row, 1977) [nonfiction: C S Lewis; E Nesbit; George MacDonald; J R R Tolkien: hb/]
- Renaissance of Wonder: The Fantasy Worlds of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, George MacDonald, E. Nesbit and Others (New York: Harper and Row, 1980) [nonfiction: vt of the above: hb/]
- William Raeper. George MacDonald (Tring, Hertfordshire: Lion Publishing, 1987) [nonfiction: hb/photo of MacDonald possibly by Lewis Carroll]
- Raphael B Shaberman. George MacDonald: A Bibliographical Study (Winchester, Hampshire: St Paul's Bibliographies, 1990) [nonfiction: hb/Arthur Hughes]
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