George Macdonald S Children S Fantasies And The Divine Imagination

The great Victorian Christian author George MacDonald is the well-spring of the modern fantasy genre. In this book Colin Manlove offers explorations of MacDonald's eight shorter fairy tales and his longer stories At the Back of the North Wind, The Princess and the Goblin, The Wise Woman, and The Princess and Curdie. MacDonald saw the imagination as the source of fairy tales and of divine truth together. For he believed that God lives in the depths of the human mind and “sends up from thence wonderful gifts into the light of the understanding.” This makes MacDonald that very rare thing: a writer of mystical fiction whose work can give us experience of the divine. Throughout his children’s fantasy stories MacDonald is describing the human and divine imagination. In the shorter tales he shows how the imagination has different regions and depths, each able to shift into the other. With the longer stories we see the imagination in relation to other aspects of the self and to its position in the world. Here the imagination is portrayed as often embattled in relation to empiricism, egotism, and greed.

George MacDonald (1824-1905) is perhaps best remembered as one of the greatest and most enduringly influential of the Victorian writers for children. Sixteen essays analyze his work for children.

George MacDonald's 'Fairy Tales & Fantasy: George MacDonald Collection' is a timeless classic filled with enchanting stories that transport readers to magical worlds. With complete original illustrations, this collection showcases MacDonald's imaginative literary style, characterized by vivid imagery and captivating narratives. Each tale is steeped in moral lessons and Christian allegory, making it a valuable contribution to the literary canon of fairy tales and fantasy. MacDonald's influence on beloved authors like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien is evident in his ability to weave profound truths into whimsical stories. George MacDonald, a Scottish author and poet, drew inspiration from his Christian faith and pastoral experiences to create these enchanting tales. His deep understanding of human nature and spirituality shines through in his storytelling, making his works both entertaining and thought-provoking. MacDonald's ability to blend fantasy with moral teachings has earned him a place among the pioneers of the fantasy genre. I highly recommend 'Fairy Tales & Fantasy: George MacDonald Collection' to anyone who appreciates rich storytelling, moral allegory, and the enduring power of imagination. This collection is a must-read for fans of classic fairy tales and fantasy literature, offering a glimpse into the creative mind of a master storyteller.

George MacDonald (1824 - 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence". Table of Contents: Novels The Princess and the Goblin The Princess and Curdie Phantastes At the Back of the North Wind The Lost Princess: A Double Story The Day Boy and the Night Girl The Flight of the Shadow Lilith: A Romance Short stories Adela Cathcart CHRISTMAS EVE CHURCH THE CHRISTMAS DINNER THE NEW DOCTOR THE LIGHT PRINCESS THE BELL THE SCHOOLMASTER'S STORY SONG THE CURATE AND HIS WIFE THE SHADOWS THE EVENING AT THE CURATE'S PERCY AND HIS MOTHER THE BROKEN SWORDS MY UNCLE PETER THE GIANT'S HEART A CHILD'S HOLIDAY INTERRUPTION PERCY THE CRUEL PAINTER THE CASTLE WHAT NEXT? GENERALSHIP AN UNFORESEEN FORESIGHT The Portent and Other Stories THE PORTENT THE CRUEL PAINTER THE CASTLE THE WOW O'RIVEN THE BROKEN SWORDS THE GRAY WOLF UNCLE CORNELIUS HIS STORY Dealings with the Fairies THE LIGHT PRINCESS THE GIANT'S HEART THE GOLDEN KEY THE CROSS PURPOSES THE SHADOWS Stephen Archer and Other Tales STEPHEN ARCHER THE GIFTS OF THE CHILD CHRIST THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGEN AND NYCTERIS THE BUTCHER'S BILLS PORT IN A STORM IF I HAD A FATHER

The Christian Goddess: Archetype and Theology in the Fantasies of George MacDonald, examines this British Victorian writer's employment of female figures to represent Deity. Such symbolism is extremely unusual for a Christian author of this period and anticipates the efforts of many modern theologians to develop an image of God as Mother. Bonnie Gaarden reads the goddess-figures in MacDonald's fantasies as both archetypes of the collective unconscious and as emblems articulating MacDonald's unique Christian theology, which is Trinitarian, Neo-Platonic, mystical and universalist. The goddesses become the central figures around which the author develops her interpretations of MacDonald's adult fantasy-novels, his children's books and some of his fairy tales. These readings discover MacDonald's ideas about God and the nature of good and evil, models of spiritual and psychological development that foreshadow the theories of Carl Jung and Eric Neumann, and acerbic commentary on the values and customs of Victorian society and religion. According to The Christian Goddess, MacDonald's Romantic belief in God's self-revelation in Nature led him to create Nature-mothers (such as the Green Lady in 'The Golden Key' and Lilith's Eve) which evoke both the Great Mother archetype described by Eric Neumann, and the modern neopagan Great Mother as developed in the works of James Frazer, Robert Graves, and Marija Gimutas. MacDonald dramatized his view of evil and its cure in the title character of Lilith, a Terrible Mother archetype historically embodied in the Hindu goddess Kali. MacDonald's notion of the world as Keat's 'vale of Soulmaking,' also elaborated by religious philosopher John Hick, is conveyed by Magic Cauldron archetypes in The Wise Woman, 'The Gray Wolf,' and Lilith. Muse-figures in Phantastes and At the Back of the North Wind express MacDonald's conviction that a 'right imagination' is the voice of God, while Divine Children in The Wise Woman and 'The Golden Key' communicate his belief that 'true childhood' is the Divine nature. The great-grandmother in the Princess books, a personification of the multi-dimensional activity of Divine Wisdom, springs from the Judeo-Christian Sophia and the classical Athena, while Kore figures in The Princess and the Goblin, Lilith, and Phantastes re-present the transforming descents of Persephone and Christ. This book shows MacDonald's fantasies as a chronological bridge, anchored in the traditions of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, incorporating the teachings of Christian mysticism and theistic Romanticism, and linking to the contemporary concerns in Western society that have given birth to the New Age. The Christian goddess portrayed in these fantasies may strike the reader as a Deity whose time has come.

George MacDonald's classic fantasies, fairy tales, and supernatural stories are collected in three volumes. This volume includes Phantastes, The Carasoyn, The Wise Woman, and Lilith.

At the Back of the North Wind is a children's book by George MacDonald. It is a fantasy centered on a boy named Diamond and his adventures with the North Wind. Diamond is a very sweet little boy who makes joy everywhere he goes. He fights despair and gloom and brings peace to his family. One night, as he is trying to sleep, Diamond repeatedly plugs up a hole in the loft wall to stop the wind from blowing in. However, he soon finds out that this is stopping the North Wind from seeing through her window. Diamond befriends her, and North Wind lets him ride on her back, taking him on several adventures. Though the North Wind does good deeds and helps people, she also does seemingly terrible things. On one of her assignments, she must sink a ship. Yet everything she does that seems bad leads to something good. The North Wind seems to be a representation of Pain and Death working according to God's will for something good. George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence".