George MacDonald, Victorian Faerie Author, Pre-Dracula Vampire Classic, etc.

[hitmouse]

If you dont mind electronic editions, I think Project Gutenburg has lots of Macdonald. I downloaded a compendium onto my Kindle for free a few years ago. I have not checked for missing works: the well-known stuff was all there.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

My preference is for a book, but I also really struggle to read in digital format. I actually tried to read Macdonald's The Portent on a screen some time ago and just couldn't stick with it. I also feel like some of the magic is lost for me when I don't have a physical book in hand.

In fairness I do not own a kindle, and that kind of screen I may fare better with. It's never really felt like something that I would use enough to buy though.

 

[Extollager]

Thanks, @Extollager! From my experience with trying to get other things over from America, postage normally breaks the bank. I will take a look though, both at the editions you've recommended and in general. It's been a little while since I've properly tried to seek a MacDonald book out.

I currently have a nice paperback copy of Phantastes, which contains an introduction, short biography and detailed annotations on the text by writer and historian Nick Page. I believe a similar edition was meant to be published for Lilith (it's advertised at the back of the book), but I could never find a word about it anywhere online, so I've wondered if it was planned but never released (again, it's been long enough that I should probably have another explore!). I do own a copy of Lilith, but I enjoyed Page's unpacking so much that I would love to reread it in a similar manner.

I think I have one non-fantasy work of McDonald's on my to-read... David Elgenbrond it might be called? I've never hear of the two you've mentioned though, so I'll look into them too! Thank you for the recommendations

I have that Nick Page edition, and have given away several copies of it! I don’t know of a comparable Lilith edition. When I get the chance I can check and see if the Lilith notes by me that someone posted online are still there, for what they might be worth.

I wonder if you couldn’t find the American edition of The Portent with a Maurice Sendak frontispiece for a decent price somewhere. Do you check abebooks.com? I’ve had good experiences with them. There are some UK sellers there, btw.

I enjoyed David Elginbrod many years ago. It was perhaps his first realistic novel.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

Thank you! If you find the notes then I'd be interested in seeing them for sure.

I have checked abebooks on occasion. I will look into that edition you mentioned, thanks

 

[The Scribbling Man]

Just looking now and there appear to be a number of different prints of The Portent available in the UK, so clearly things have changed since I last looked. The edition you mention is available, but not the cheapest (though I am a sucker for old hardbacks!). I'll have a further look and a think about which might be best for me. Thanks again!

 

[Extollager]

The Portent is likeable short novel. Of his Victorian three-decker novels, in addition to the ones I've mentioned, I can speak with some fondness of Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood, which I've read twice. I believe I found Malcolm and its sequel The Marquis of Lossie interesting -- it's a long time ago since I read those.

 

[Extollager]

That edition of The Portent with the Sendak frontispiece, by the way, was notable for a book published as late as 1979 in having full cloth; but as far as I could tell just now the pages are not sewn signatures, but just glue-bound. My copy has held up over 41 years' use including reading by one or two of my kids.

The Johannesen editions are, I should think, more sturdy.

Michael Phillips, who published abridged and rewritten ("edited") versions of a number of MacDonald's books under new titles, issued reprints of a bunch of MacDonald books in a "Sunrise" edition using a bright faux leather. These seem to me well-made.

 

[Extollager]

The latest Unexpected Journal is on MacDonald. I haven't read any of these articles yet -- but thought this might be of interest.

Phantastes: Enchanting Beauty and Sacrificial Love | An Unexpected Journal

 

[Extollager]

Thank you! If you find the notes then I'd be interested in seeing them for sure.

I have checked abebooks on occasion. I will look into that edition you mentioned, thanks

Here you go:

Lilith Study Guide | The George MacDonald WWW Page (george-macdonald.com)

These were put up years ago, I think by Joshua Pong, from a document I prepared for students taking a one-shot course on fantasy from me; that was back in 1996! I don't suppose I have read the notes in many years, let alone corrected them. If you use them and happen to see anything that could be fixed, I might be able to get the MacDonald page folks to see to that.

The course was on the Golden Age of Fantasy, 1887-1912. The long works were Haggard's She (1887) and Doyle's The Lost World (1912) as the bookends, with Wells's War of the Worlds, MacDonald's Lilith, and Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday coming in between. Short works and excerpts by William Morris, M. R. James, Lord Dunsany, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, & c. were provided.

Starting on page 5, you will find here

Microsoft Word - FADEAWAY #50.doc (efanzines.com)

an article about the Golden Age.

These really were classic works. It's vexatious when people misuse "classic" to mean "a recent book that is popular and that I, Me, Myself, Like a Lot."

What would you Class as Classic Fantasy | Page 2 | Science Fiction & Fantasy forums (sffchronicles.com)

Lilith is a classic work of fantasy. My course included works that now are considered science fiction; but at that time (1887-1912) "fantasy" included what we still think of as fantasy, and what we now call science fiction, and what many people now call horror.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

^^ fantastic! Thank you I look forward to read through these

 

[Extollager]

Here are 15 delightful minutes:

I'm a little rusty on my Lovecraft, but I know he read and approved of MacDonald's Lilith, and I wondered if he didn't have some kind of mirror-portal in one of his stories too.

I like all of MacDonald's Lilith story, but the opening pages, from which Guite reads, are of imperishable fascination for me. Just listen to him read, especially if you have never read the great romance.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

^^ what a wonderful observation. I've actually just arrived to visit family, and my copy of Lilith resides here (the same edition in the video). Maybe I should take this opportunity to reread it.

 

[Extollager]

This picture and next... most of my George MacDonald books... The cat is Sachiko, age 18.

 

[Extollager]

 

[Extollager]

2024 is the bicentenary of George MacDonald's birth. Would there be interest in reading a bunch of MacDonald to lead up to celebrating that occasion?

I toyed with the idea of letting my beard grow till 10 December 1824. But I don't suppose the missus would like that.

 

[Extollager]

I (we?) might start with At the Back of the North Wind, which combines a fantasy element featuring one of MacDonald's wise and powerful women with his capacity also to write realistic fiction.

I might start with Sir Gibbie. If I remember accurately, Mark Twain read that book and then suggested that he and MacDonald could collaborate on a novel. Of course, it's for his fully fantastic stories that MacDonald is best known today. I've read North Wind a couple of times, but Gibbie just once & that was over 30 years ago. As I recall the story gets going with a murder when the hero is a rather wild Scottish peasant boy who's seen as developmentally disabled. It's been held that Twain's Huckleberry Finn was somewhat inspired by Gibbie.

 

[Bick]

I toyed with the idea of letting my beard grow till 10 December 1824.

Quite the feat

Thanks for mentioning MacDonald though - I should read some of his work.

 

[The Big Peat]

I think if I were to read any of MacDonald's work any time soon, it'd be Phantastes. Maybe this year. I've done The Princess and the Goblin, and that was nice enough, but would like to try his other major fantasy works.

Ironically I stumbled across this when trying to research some of the claims about the breadth of MacDonald's influence. His influence on Tolkien and Lewis is well documented, but claims he influenced Dunsany and RE Howard as well are deeply interesting and not really at all cited.

 

[Extollager]

Hmmm -- without citation, those claims about Dunsany and Howard evidently rest on the assumption that the influence is "obvious." Oh really?

I admire most of MacDonald's fantasy, but I wouldn't dream of making the case that people should read it because it influenced Dunsany and Howard!

 

[hitmouse]

I admire most of MacDonald's fantasy, but I wouldn't dream of making the case that people should read it because it influenced Dunsany and Howard!

I agree. It is much better than that and deserves to be read in its own merits.