George Macdonald and Victorian Society

University of Dundee DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY George MacDonald and Victorian Society Smith, Jeffrey Wayne Award date: 2013 Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 30. Sep. 2021 GEORGE MACDONALD AND VICTORIAN SOCIETY JEFFREY WAYNE SMITH Doctor of Philosophy University of Dundee September 2013 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements iv Declaration v Abstract vi Abbreviations vii Chapter One: Introduction 1 A Brief Guide to Reading the Thesis 3 Part 1: Critical Assessment 5 MacDonald’s Nonfiction: Writings on the Development of the Imagination and Spiritual Progression 15 Part 2: MacDonald’s Social Views and Ideas 20 MacDonald and the Nineteenth-Century Crisis of Change 20 Transitions between Town and Country in MacDonald’s Novels 28 The Ills of Industrialism in The Princess and Curdie and St. George and St. Michael 39 Chapter Two: The City 46 Introduction 46 Part 1: George MacDonald, Octavia Hill, and the Kyrle Society 49 Octavia Hill 49 The Kyrle Society 58 Part 2: Slums and Urban Philanthropy in London, 1860s-1880s 67 Part 3: Urban Philanthropy in Robert Falconer, The Vicar’s Daughter, and Weighed and Wanting 75 The Philanthropists 84 Housing Reform 92 Charity 99 Spiritual Reformation 103 iii Chapter Three: Nature 115 Introduction 115 Part 1: ‘Prophets of Nature’: George MacDonald and William Wordsworth 118 Part 2: Finding God in Nature 131 The ‘Veil’ of Nature 131 Pantheism in What’s Mine’s Mine 137 ‘Divine Air’ and ‘God’s Steeples’ in ‘A Journey Rejourneyed’ and Wilfrid Cumbermede 150 Part 3: Victorian Environmentalism and Urban Green Space in Guild Court 169 Chapter Four: Animals 187 Introduction 187 Part 1: Animal Care: Representations of Vivisection, Vegetarianism, Hunting, and Animal Discipline and Abuse 192 MacDonald and the Vivisection Debate 192 Vegetarianism in Paul Faber, Surgeon and ‘The Golden Key’ 214 The Ethics of Hunting in What’s Mine’s Mine 219 Animal Discipline and Abuse in MacDonald’s Novels 225 Part 2: The Human Animal: Representations of Evolution and Degeneration 238 Chapter Five: Conclusion 260 Thesis Summation 260 Ideas for Future Research 264 Bibliography 268 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, my gratitude is given to my supervisor, Dr David Robb. Not only was David’s advice and guidance essential to the development of my thesis, but his warm friendship was essential to my overall wellbeing as a PhD student. To the School of English at the University of Dundee, whose members always encouraged me to carry on, I am deeply grateful. For providing me with the resources I needed for research as well as a quiet place to study, I offer my express thanks to the University of Dundee library, British Library, National Library of Scotland, Brander Library in Huntly, King’s College London Library and Archives, and Brunel University Library. My family in the USA, who have patiently endured my uninterrupted absence for the past four years, I thank with all my heart. Lastly, my thanks goes to my loving wife, Sericea Stallings-Smith, who, despite her current work as a DrPH research student at Brunel University, constantly supported me. With a clear head and steady heart, I thank you! v DECLARATION This thesis has been composed by myself, and all references cited have been consulted by me. I have researched the work of which the thesis is a record, and declare that it has not been previously accepted for a higher degree. vi ABSTRACT This thesis approaches the ways George MacDonald viewed and represented Victorian society in his novels by analysing select social issues which he felt compelled to address. Chapter One introduces the thesis. It contains a review of critical commentary on MacDonald’s work, as well as discussions on his non-fictional texts and essays, industrialism, and the great rural-urban divide of the nineteenth century. Chapter Two concentrates on MacDonald’s representations of the city in Robert Falconer (1868), The Vicar’s Daughter (1872), and Weighed and Wanting (1882) by underscoring parallels between Octavia Hill’s housing and environmental schemes and situations which he experienced firsthand. Chapter Three examines the influence of Nature on MacDonald’s theology and social views. Special emphasis is placed on Wordsworth and the development of MacDonald’s unique pantheism in his texts, such as the short story, ‘A Journey Rejourneyed’ (1865-6), Guild Court (1868), Wilfrid Cumbermede (1872), What’s Mine’s Mine (1886), and Home Again (1887). Chapter Four uncovers MacDonald’s involvement with the animal welfare movement during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Discussions on vivisection, vegetarianism, hunting, animal abuse, evolution, and degeneration are provided with a wide range of MacDonald’s texts, such as Alec Forbes of Howglen (1865), Paul Faber, Surgeon (1879), The Marquis of Lossie (1877), A Rough Shaking (1890), and Heather and Snow (1893). Chapter Five offers a short summation of the thesis. It affirms that MacDonald was deeply troubled by certain social issues that were raised within his society and would use his fiction to express his concerns. The conclusion also offers a few suggestive topics for ongoing research in the field of this thesis. vii ABBREVIATIONS There is no standard edition of MacDonald’s works; however, all have been reprinted and published by Johannesen Printing and Publishing. Most references to MacDonald’s work have been taken from these editions. In some instances, Johannesen has reproduced an American edition which, subsequently, offers certain variants in spelling (e.g. ‘labour’ is spelled ‘labor’). First editions are only available in main libraries (such as the British Library and the National Library of Scotland), and other, antique editions may also be found. Thus, the reader is likely to encounter a variety of editions. As pagination can vary from edition to edition, all references from MacDonald’s texts include the main title, chapter number, chapter title, and page number. Finally, some titles by MacDonald and his son, Greville, have been abbreviated if they have been continually repeated. The following is a list of abbreviations used in this thesis. George MacDonald’s Texts: Greville MacDonald’s Texts: AF Alec Forbes of Howglen GMDW George MacDonald and His Wife ABNW At the Back of the North Wind Rems Reminiscences of a Specialist DE David Elginbrod GC Guild Court: A London Story HA Home Again HG The Hope of the Gospel ML The Marquis of Lossie Orts A Dish of Orts PC The Princess and Curdie PFS Paul Faber, Surgeon PW Poetical Works RF Robert Falconer RS A Rough Shaking SGSM St. George and St. Michael US Unspoken Sermons VD The Vicar’s Daughter WC Wilfrid Cumbermede WMM What’s Mine’s Mine WW Weighed and Wanting 1 CHAPTER ONE Introduction To date, George MacDonald has been largely neglected in critical discussions of socially- conscious nineteenth-century British literature. The reason for this oversight may be that MacDonald’s first champions, such as C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and W.H. Auden, have primarily honoured him with accolades for his fantasy fiction and English fairy tales at the expense of his novels. This is unfortunate, and this thesis will go some way to redressing this imbalance. Although some critical attention has been given to the novels, there is a good deal more research to be done, especially regarding the ways in which the events of the nineteenth century informed and shaped MacDonald’s writing with social and political factors. Since the nature of his novels is similar to those written by his contemporaries, like Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Elizabeth Gaskell, a study considering the social issues that were important to this author will have much to offer not only MacDonald scholars, but also scholars of nineteenth-century literature and society who are interested in literary representations of the city, Nature, and the animal welfare movement. MacDonald lived in an era that was undergoing a crisis of change. The first half of the nineteenth century saw the rapid growth of cities and Britain’s metamorphosis into an industrial power. By the middle of the century, advancements in the fields of science and natural history began to collide fiercely with conservative religious attitudes. Eventually, as Queen Victoria’s empire expanded across the globe, the core of Britain’s society was riddled with political debate and plagued by religious doubt. MacDonald struggled to understand the consequences of these 2 large developments and conflicts. Religious debates, especially, played a significant part in MacDonald’s moral and intellectual life. Indeed, having been forced to resign from his first and only pulpit ministry due to allegations of potential heresy, MacDonald expressed his singular theological ideas through lay sermons and, more publically, through spiritually-themed novels. While this thesis would not claim that MacDonald was a socially-conscious novelist, as may be argued with Dickens or Gaskell, it will suggest that he was, indeed, concerned with certain social issues during his day and expressed these concerns with his fiction. As long as the ongoing lack of scholarly interest in MacDonald’s non-fantasy literature remains, there will be an incomplete portrait of MacDonald.

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