DOCSLIB.ORG

Download (1MB)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Download (1MB) A COMPLETE IDENTITY: THE IMAGE OF THE HERO IN THE WORK OF G. A. HENTY (1832–1902) AND GEORGE MACDONALD (1824–1905) RACHEL E. JOHNSON A thesis submitted in part fulfilment of the University’s requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy JULY 2008 Coventry University in association with The University of Worcester “I declare that the work in this thesis is my own, except where otherwise stated. It has not been previously submitted to any other university, in total or in part, for the award of a degree.” ii Abstract This study is an examination of the hero image in the work of G.A. Henty (1832-1902) and George MacDonald (1824-1905) and a reassessment of the hitherto oppositional critiques of their writing. The argument driving the reassessment is that their writing is not oppositional but is complementary and that the ideology embedded in their work is communicated through the character of the hero through genre and through their interpretation of their historical period. The central hypothesis is that the reflexive characteristics of the hero image demonstrate a complete identity commensurate with the hero figure of the Victorian ideal. This hypothesis is demonstrated through the analysis of chosen texts from the work of Henty and MacDonald categorised by critics as written for children and by the application of ethical, genre and new historic theory. The relationship between the expansion of the British Empire and youthful heroism is established through investigation of the Victorian political, social and religious milieu, the construct of the child and the construct of the hero. The connection between the exotic geographical space of empire and the unknown psychological space is conducted through examination of the representation of the ‘other' in the work of Henty and MacDonald. The study demonstrates that Henty’s work is more complex than the stereotypically linear, masculine, imperialistic critique of his stories as historical realism allows and that MacDonald’s work displays more evidence of historical embedding and ideological interpellation than the critical focus on his work as fantasy and fairy tale considers. The contribution of this study to existing research on Henty and MacDonald is firstly by an examination of the ideology embedded in the construct of the hero figure as this construct impacted Victorian culture and secondly by reassessing the existing criticism of their work. Greater understanding of the effect of this heroic ideal on nineteenth century society leads to a greater understanding of the implications for subsequent cultures including that of the twenty first century. This aspect is examined in relation to the current reprinting programmes for Henty and MacDonald and is proposed as a subject for continued research. iii Acknowledgements I would like to make not only an acknowledgement but a dedication of this study to my father, Rev. A.B.E. Brown, whose longstanding interest in G. A. Henty has met my interest in George MacDonald in this study. His knowledge of Henty and his enthusiasm for the work has been unwavering. Terry, my husband, has selflessly allowed the study to absorb most of my time outside of work for the last five years which surely qualifies him as the compassionate fairy tale hero. My thanks for his support are infinite. Central to the completion of the study has been the presence of Professor Jean Webb, my Director of Studies. Her confidence in my work, her expert, experienced direction and her everlasting supply of hot chocolate has been a constant encouragement. Thanks Jean. In addition I would like to thank my external supervisors Professor Maria Nikolajeva and Professor Rod McGillis who returned my work promptly and with copious helpful comments and suggestions. My thanks also to other members of the supervisory panel and to members of the Henty Society particularly Ann King and Dennis Butts who were always prepared to share their knowledge with me. I would also like to thank Anne Hannaford (Director of Information and Learning Services at The University of Worcester) Sarah Kennedy and Ann Craig (my line managers), whose interest always amazed me, and other colleagues and friends; notably Catherine and Su who procured inter-library loans with marvellous rapidity, and John and Andy who cheerfully retrieved volumes from the store without complaint. Lastly, thanks to Nat and Mary-Ann, my son and daughter-in-law who were always prepared to discuss ideas or help with computer difficulties despite their own workloads. iv Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv List of illustrations viii Note on Referencing System viii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Methodology and Theoretical Perspectives 3 Ethical Criticism 3 Genre Theory 4 Historicism and New Historicism 6 Choice of Primary Texts 8 G. A. Henty 8 George MacDonald 11 Chapter 2 Historical Context 13 The General Historical Context: an Overview 14 The Growth of Industrial Society 14 Doubt and the Need for a Hero Figure 15 English Imperialist Expansion: Reliance on Youth 17 Global Opportunities Open to the Young 19 ‘An Age of Contradiction’: the Self-Made Hero 23 Concepts Emanating from the period 1880–1900 Which Influenced Domestic and Foreign Policy and Impacted upon the Work of Henty and MacDonald 26 G.A. Henty 1832 -1850: Influences that Shaped his Thinking 32 G.A. Henty 1850 – 1880: War Correspondent, Novelist and Writer for Boys 35 G.A. Henty 1880 – 1900: The Stories, Content and Character 38 George MacDonald 1824 -1860: Intellectual Development 40 v George MacDonald 1860 – 1900: the Magic Mirror 47 Chapter 3 Genre, Form and Ideology 53 The Real and the Imagined in the Work of G.A. Henty 57 The Imagined and the Real in the Work of George MacDonald 72 The Place of the Hero in Relation to the Investigation of Genre and Form 91 Chapter 4 Child and Hero: The Construct of the Child 1850 – 1900 93 Introduction 93 The Innocent Child: a Link to the Youthful Hero 96 Innate Wickedness: Gendered Expectations and the Need for Education 101 ‘The Little Savage’: Boys and Primitivism, the Need for Civilization 103 The Childlike: Innocence and Experience 106 The Childlike ‘Other’: Ruled and Ruler 111 The Child as Victim: Hero as Protector 119 The Redemptive Child: the Hero who Saves 122 Chapter 5 The Construct of the Hero 1850 – 1900 127 The Hero Figure as Exemplar in G.A. Henty and George MacDonald 131 Influences on the 19th Century Construct of the Hero 138 The Classical Hero 139 The Active Hero 143 The Adventure Hero 153 The Flawed Hero 155 The Gendered Hero 159 The Fairy Tale Hero 173 vi Chapter 6 The Ideology of the Hero and Representation of ‘the Other’ 176 The Importance of Being English 176 Henty, Imperialistic Representation and Heroic Characteristics 186 The Occupied 192 The Colonised 194 MacDonald and Imperialistic Representation 200 ‘Us’ turning into the ‘Other’ 204 The ‘Other’ as ‘Us’ 209 Chapter 7 Conclusion 212 References 219 vii Illustrations Lina guards the crown 69 Sam Dickson finds little Willie Gale 114 George MacDonald’s bookplate 140 ‘I wish I had been a boy instead of a girl,’ 162 Charlie encounters Ben Soloman in the wood 190 G. A. Henty and George MacDonald 218 Note on Referencing System The referencing system used is MLA as standardised in Endnote Bibliographic Software. Thus if an author is named before a quotation, he or she is not included in the reference to page number. If a quoted author has written more than one work, the title of the work referred to is included in the reference. The date of a work is not included in the in-text reference. Full bibliographical details appear in the references at the end of the study. Single quotation marks are used in quotations of less than two lines. Double quotation marks are only used where they appear in the text quoted to indicate direct speech. viii Introduction As an investigation into the construct of the hero in the work of G. A. Henty (1832 – 1902) and George MacDonald (1824 – 1905), this study raises questions about the accepted critical position which views the work of these writers as oppositional. Henty and MacDonald were nineteenth century authors who wrote for both children and adults. It is as writers for children that they are examined in this study. I aim to investigate the construct of the hero in their work within the context of the social, political and religious conditions of the second half of the nineteenth century (1850 – 1900) and thereby to re-evaluate the currently oppositional critical view. I start from a position of accepting the stated objective of both Henty and MacDonald that their intention is to educate the reader. Henty began the majority of his stories for boys with a short preface in which he stated his intention ‘to mix instruction with amusement,’ specifying which part of the story was ‘historical fact’ and which part fiction (Young Buglers Preface). As stated by his son Greville, George MacDonald’s ‘message was all in his books’ (George MacDonald and His Wife 2), but his ‘message’ is neither so clearly defined nor so explicit as is Henty’s. MacDonald’s essay on the Fantastic Imagination (G. MacDonald, "The Fantastic Imagination") and his recorded response to a direct question as to the meaning of his work, You may make of it what you like. If you see anything in it, take it and I am glad you have it; but I wrote it for the tale (G. MacDonald, George MacDonald and His Wife 318), suggest a less didactic intention. However, his emphasis on the spiritual development of his protagonists indicates an implicit moral intent. The particularity of the writing of these authors lies in the construction of an essential hero, whose attributes, if combined, exemplify both the physical and the spiritual ideal in one identity.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Unpublished Letters by George Macdonald
    Defining Death as “More Life”: Unpublished Letters by George MacDonald Glenn Edward Sadler Who lives, he dies; who dies, he is alive. Phantastes ch. XIII ost readers of George MacDonald’s fiction, especially of his faerieM romances and fairytales, will recall his penetrating treatment of the subject of death and dying. A classic passage occurs, for example, at the conclusion of The Golden Key, when the Old Man of the Sea finally asks Mossy the ultimate question: [end of page 4] “You have tasted death now,” said the Old Man. “Is it good?” “It is good,” said Mossy. “It is better than life.” “No,” said the Old Man: “it is only more life.”1 Equally moving, in spite of its sentimentality, is the ending of At the Back of the North Wind, which depicts graphically Diamond’s dream-in- sleep death. Similarly, there is the ethereal death of the king, who becomes a sacrifice of “flaming red roses,” viewed by Curdie, at the end ofThe Princess and Curdie. As a writer of parables and fairytales, George MacDonald is at his best when he is seeing death through the eyes of a child. Through the eyes of his fictional children—Mossy, Diamond and Curdie—MacDonald envisions his cardinal belief in the cosmic role of the child, who as a redemptive figure participates in and exemplifies universal love and immortality. Mossy and Tangle become agents of life-giving renewal. Diamond is a source of lasting love. And Curdie is a symbol of universal victory over evil. In each case it is the process of dying-into-life (“more life”) that is MacDonald’s major concern: it is a theme which is to be found in everything he wrote.
    [Show full text]
  • North Wind: a Journal of George Macdonald Studies
    North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies Volume 39 Article 6 1-1-2020 A Personal Reflection on Colin Manlove and Stephen Prickett John Pennington Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/northwind Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Pennington, John (2020) "A Personal Reflection on Colin Manlove and Stephen Prickett," North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies: Vol. 39 , Article 6. Available at: https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/northwind/vol39/iss1/6 This In Memoriam is brought to you for free and open access by the English at Digital Commons @ St. Norbert College. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ St. Norbert College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Personal Reflection on Colin Manlove and Stephen Prickett John Pennington At the end of George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind, the narrator enters Diamond’s bedroom and sees the young boy seemingly asleep on his bed. The narrator states: “I saw at once how it was . I knew that he had gone to the back of the north wind” (298). With utter certitude, I’m sure that Colin and Stephen are also at the back of the north wind. My career as an academic in literature is indebted to Colin and Stephen, for they paved the way for serious academic study of George MacDonald, hardly a household name outside of the devoted readers of fantasy, fairy tales, and theology when I started my PhD program in the mid- 1980’s.
    [Show full text]
  • A Checklist of George Macdonald's Books Published in America, 1855-1930
    North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies Volume 39 Article 2 1-1-2020 A Checklist of George MacDonald's Books Published in America, 1855-1930 Richard I. Johnson Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/northwind Recommended Citation Johnson, Richard I. (2020) "A Checklist of George MacDonald's Books Published in America, 1855-1930," North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies: Vol. 39 , Article 2. Available at: https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/northwind/vol39/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English at Digital Commons @ St. Norbert College. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ St. Norbert College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Checklist of George MacDonald Books Published in America, 1855-1930 Richard I. Johnson Many of George MacDonald’s books were published in the US as well as in the United Kingdom. Bulloch and Shaberman’s bibliographies only provide scanty details of these; the purpose of this article is to provide a more accurate and comprehensive list. Its purpose is to identify each publisher involved, the titles that each of them published, the series (where applicable) within which the title was placed, the date of publication, the number of pages, and the price. It is helpful to look at each of these in more detail. Publishers About 50 publishers were involved in publishing GMD books prior to 1930, although about half of these only published one title.
    [Show full text]
  • Durham E-Theses
    Durham E-Theses The churches and the bomb = an analysis of recent church statements from Roman Catholics, Anglican, Lutherans and Quakers concerning nuclear weapons Holtam, Nicholas How to cite: Holtam, Nicholas (1988) The churches and the bomb = an analysis of recent church statements from Roman Catholics, Anglican, Lutherans and Quakers concerning nuclear weapons, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6423/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 The Churches and the Bomb = An analysis of recent Church statements from Roman Catholics, Anglican, Lutherans and Quakers concerning nuclear weapons. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Nicholas Holtam M„Ae Thesis Submitted to the University of Durham November 1988.
    [Show full text]
  • Lewis Carroll: Author, Mathematician, and Christian
    Lewis Carroll: Author, Mathematician, and Christian David L. Neuhouser Mathematics Department Taylor University Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), better known as Lewis Carroll, is best known as the creative and imaginative author of the Alice stories, but he was also a mathematician at Christ Church College, Oxford University and a devout Christian. His mathematics, especially mathematical logic, contributed much to the charming “nonsense” in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. However, his Christian thought is not evident in those books. In fact, they contain many parodies of morality poems for children. As a result of reading just these books, one might conclude that he was not even interested in morality. But to those who knew him personally, he seemed to be a rather pious, stodgy person. Also, he wrote essays and letters in defense of morality and Christianity as well as books and articles on mathematics. His writings on morality showed little of his literary imagination and his writings on mathematics give no indication of his Christianity. Only in Sylvie and Bruno and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded did Dodgson attempt to bring his literary creativity, mathematics, and Christianity all together in one artistic creation. This paper will attempt to answer the following questions. What motivated him to make this attempt and how successful was it? The Alice stories were the first really successful children’s stories which did not have obvious moral teachings. They were just for fun. However he wrote articles and letters against “indecent literature,” joking about sacred things, and immorality in plays. Some projects that he planned but never completed were: selections from the Bible to be memorized, selections from the Bible with pictures for children, and selections from Shakespeare with inappropriate content for young girls deleted.
    [Show full text]
  • Time for Reflection
    All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group TIME FOR REFLECTION A REPORT OF THE ALL-PARTY PARLIAMENTARY HUMANIST GROUP ON RELIGION OR BELIEF IN THE UK PARLIAMENT The All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group acts to bring together non-religious MPs and peers to discuss matters of shared interests. More details of the group can be found at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/190508/humanist.htm. This report was written by Cordelia Tucker O’Sullivan with assistance from Richy Thompson and David Pollock, both of Humanists UK. Layout and design by Laura Reid. This is not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees. All-Party Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in this report are those of the Group. © All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, 2019-20. TIME FOR REFLECTION CONTENTS FOREWORD 4 INTRODUCTION 6 Recommendations 7 THE CHAPLAIN TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 8 BISHOPS IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS 10 Cost of the Lords Spiritual 12 Retired Lords Spiritual 12 Other religious leaders in the Lords 12 Influence of the bishops on the outcome of votes 13 Arguments made for retaining the Lords Spiritual 14 Arguments against retaining the Lords Spiritual 15 House of Lords reform proposals 15 PRAYERS IN PARLIAMENT 18 PARLIAMENT’S ROLE IN GOVERNING THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 20 Parliamentary oversight of the Church Commissioners 21 ANNEX 1: FORMER LORDS SPIRITUAL IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS 22 ANNEX 2: THE INFLUENCE OF LORDS SPIRITUAL ON THE OUTCOME OF VOTES IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS 24 Votes decided by the Lords Spiritual 24 Votes decided by current and former bishops 28 3 All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group FOREWORD The UK is more diverse than ever before.
    [Show full text]
  • The David Nicholls Memorial Lectures No. 1 1999 “STEPPING out OF
    The David Nicholls Memorial Lectures No. 1 1999 “STEPPING OUT OF BABYLON: THEOLOGY AND POLITICS IN THE THOUGHT OF DAVID NICHOLLS” Kenneth Leech “STEPPING OUT OF BABYLON: THEOLOGY AND POLITICS IN THE THOUGHT OF DAVID NICHOLLS” The first David Nicholls Memorial Lecture, given at Regents Park College, Oxford, on 9th October 1999 by KENNETH LEECH On hearing the news of David’s death, his dear friend Fr Percy Coleman commented: ‘David did not care about the world -yet he cared passionately about the world.’ In this Zen-like, typically ‘Percyan’ utterance, he captured the heart, the dialectical core, of David Nicholls’s thought: worldly and otherworldly, caring nothing for worldly power and status, caring deeply about justice and mercy in the world. David Nicholls was both a political theorist and a theologian. His political work involved the study of pluralism in the thought of JN Figgis, the political history of Haiti from Dessalines to Duvalier, and, in the years before his death, the relationship between political structures and images of God, the subject of his Hulsean Lectures. Two volumes, Deity and Domination and God and Government, have appeared. He was a polymath: the political scientist; the theologian; the humble and caring parish priest in Littlemore; the polemical pamphleteer; the historian of the Caribbean; and so much else. Chris Rowland, in a talk given shortly after David’s death, said that, while he was never part of the ‘inner circle’ of Oxford theology, he ‘embodied in his life and writing all that is best in Oxford theology’. Many people knew only one or two sides of his life and work.
    [Show full text]
  • Download (2260Kb)
    University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/4527 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. God and Mrs Thatcher: Religion and Politics in 1980s Britain Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2010 Liza Filby University of Warwick University ID Number: 0558769 1 I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. ……………………………………………… Date………… 2 Abstract The core theme of this thesis explores the evolving position of religion in the British public realm in the 1980s. Recent scholarship on modern religious history has sought to relocate Britain‟s „secularization moment‟ from the industrialization of the nineteenth century to the social and cultural upheavals of the 1960s. My thesis seeks to add to this debate by examining the way in which the established Church and Christian doctrine continued to play a central role in the politics of the 1980s. More specifically it analyses the conflict between the Conservative party and the once labelled „Tory party at Prayer‟, the Church of England. Both Church and state during this period were at loggerheads, projecting contrasting visions of the Christian underpinnings of the nation‟s political values. The first part of this thesis addresses the established Church.
    [Show full text]
  • Lewis Carroll, George Macdonald and Charles Dickens
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-theses Repository FANTASTICAL REFLECTIONS: LEWIS CARROLL, GEORGE MACDONALD AND CHARLES DICKENS By HAYLEY HANNAH FLYNN A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham September 2015 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract This thesis examines the presence and importance of the fantastical in literature of the Victorian period, a time most frequently associated with rationality. A variety of cultural sources, including popular entertainment, optical technology and the fairy tale, show the extent of the impact the fantastical has on the period and provides further insight into its origins. Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald and Charles Dickens, who each present very different style of writing, provide similar insight into the impact of the fantastical on literature of the period. By examining the similarities and influences that exist between these three authors and other cultural sources of the fantastical a clear pattern can be seen, demonstrating the origins and use of the fantastical in Victorian literature and providing a new stance from which it should be viewed.
    [Show full text]
  • Objects of Nonsense, Anarchy, and Order: Romantic Theology in Lewis Carroll’S and George Macdonald’S Nonsense Literature Adam Walker
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by St. Norbert College North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies Volume 37 Article 2 1-1-2018 Objects of Nonsense, Anarchy, and Order: Romantic Theology in Lewis Carroll’s and George MacDonald’s Nonsense Literature Adam Walker Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/northwind Recommended Citation Walker, Adam (2018) "Objects of Nonsense, Anarchy, and Order: Romantic Theology in Lewis Carroll’s and George MacDonald’s Nonsense Literature," North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies: Vol. 37 , Article 2. Available at: https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/northwind/vol37/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English at Digital Commons @ St. Norbert College. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ St. Norbert College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Objects of Nonsense, Anarchy, and Order: Romantic Theology in Lewis Carroll's and George MacDonald's Nonsense Literature Adam Walker Introduction “Nonsense criticism, as it currently exists,” writes Josephine Gabelman in her new book A Theology of Nonsense (2016), “is essentially a secular enterprise. It is philosophical and psychoanalytical, philological and mathematical; it may be studied from a historical or cultural perspective, but apparently not a religious one” (162). Past scholarship has, in fact, not only avoided a serious consideration of theology regarding nonsense literature, but some scholars have gone so far as to insist that nonsense literature lacks any sense of the religious at all.
    [Show full text]
  • Clarence Bicknell and George Macdonald: Figureheads of Society in Bordighera
    Clarence Bicknell and George Macdonald: Figureheads of Society in Bordighera By Susie Bicknell February 2015 George MacDonald and Clarence Bicknell both settled in Bordighera in 1878. George was already an established literary personality with a large family and little money. Clarence was unknown with no particular vocation except as a priest, a bachelor (which he remained) and with enough private means to support himself. Within a few years, they had established themselves as pivots of society in Bordighera. However, it is strange not to know how much contact they had with each other, considering how much they had in common as stalwarts of Bordighera. They both had stints as priests. Reacting possibly to his Unitarian upbringing, Clarence, when he left Cambridge, favoured a return to a more Catholic orientated Anglican Church. Ordained in 1866, Clarence was a curate in a tough parish in Walworth, Surrey and then from 1873 spent six years on and off at Stoke on Tern with the rather mysterious “Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit” created by Roland Corbett which pursued High Church Anglo-Catholicism. But by the late 70s, the Brotherhood must have lost its allure for Clarence, and he travelled considerably, going as far afield as Morocco and possibly New Zealand. He ended up in Bordighera in 1878 invited by the Fanshawe family and became chaplain to the Anglican church there. Eighteen years older than Clarence, Scotsman George MacDonald also started with a religious calling. He left Aberdeen to study Congregationalism at Highbury Independent Theological College. After three years, he became pastor in 1850 at a Congregational Church in Arundel, Sussex.
    [Show full text]
  • George Macdonald and E.T.A. Hoffmann
    George MacDonald and E.T.A. Hoffmann Raphael Shaberman he influence of the German Romantic writers of the latter 18th and earlyT 19th centuries on the work of George MacDonald has long been acknowledged, not least by MacDonald himself. The most important of these was Novalis: George MacDonald’s first book was a small collection of translations from Novalis, an interest which MacDonald maintained until the end of his creative life. This reflected MacDonald’s mystical side. However, as to the construction of his fantasies and fairy tales, the influence of Hoffmann was considerable, and it is doubtful whether they would have taken the form they did had it not been for Hoffmann’s example. Though well-known in his own day—and not only in his native Germany—Hoffmann is today remembered for a handful of his tales, the inspirer of the ballets “Nutcracker” and “Coppelia,” and Offenbach’s opera “Tales of Hoffmann.” Thus he remains largely unread, as to his greater output, and unrecognised for the pioneer he was. Indeed he is often mistaken for Heinrich Hoffmann, author of the notorious “Struwwelpeter,” or even for Professor Hoffmann, the conjurer. His achievements in music were many-sided; he was one of the earliest and finest of music critics, he influenced Schumann, who named one of his suites for piano “Kreisleriana” (“Johannes Kreisler” was a pseudonym of Hoffmann). He was also a conductor, teacher, composer, producer of opera, designer and painter of scenery, etc. His opera “Undine” is a nice link with MacDonald, for the story on which it was based was the latter’s favourite fairy tale: the author, Fonqué, was known to Hoffmann.
    [Show full text]