George Macdonald Timeline
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Unpublished Letters by George Macdonald
Defining Death as “More Life”: Unpublished Letters by George MacDonald Glenn Edward Sadler Who lives, he dies; who dies, he is alive.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. -
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. -
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. -
Memorial Review of “George Macdonald: a Study of Two Novels.” by William Webb, Part of Volume 11 of Romantic Reassessment
Memorial review of “George MacDonald: A Study of Two Novels.” by William Webb, part of volume 11 of Romantic Reassessment. Salzburg, 1973. Deirdre Hayward illiam Webb’s aim in this study is to examine two “rather neglected”W novels of George MacDonald in order to bring out “what is most characteristic in them of the author’s undoubted genius” (105). He sets out to demonstrate that Mary Marston is “a capable piece of fiction” (58), and his discussion of Home Again, though brief, brings out several interesting features of the novel. I have chosen to comment on aspects of his study which give the reader fresh insights, and illuminate less well-known areas of MacDonald’s writing. The study itself is rather loosely structured, with the plan and links between the topics not always clear; and it is frustrating that Webb almost never gives sources for the many quoted passages, and often drops in references—for example a comparison with Dickens in Hard Times or Our Mutual Friend—without any supporting detail to contextualise his comments. Having said this, I found myself impressed by many of the issues discussed, and interested in the directions (sometimes quite obscure and fascinating) in which he points the reader. Additionally, his exploration of some of the literary sources and artistic relationships recognisable in Mary Marston contribute with some authority to MacDonald scholarship. Webb recognises the influence of seventeenth-century English literature on Mary Marston (1881), and observes that in chapter 11, “William Marston,” where Mary’s father, the saintly William Marston, dies, the theme of poetry is related to the plot (83). -
The Princess and the Goblin and the Princess and Curdie
The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie Colin Manlove George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin (1872), which first appeared in Good Words for the Young from November 1870 to June 1871, is based on the traditional notion of fairy people trying to kidnap women, and also ultimately stems from myths of subterranean beings stealing people of the surface for their own—notably in the story of Pluto and Proserpina. In MacDonald’s story the goblins live in mines and dig into the house in which young Princess Irene lives, to seize her and make her the wife of their Prince Harelip. This idea is common in Victorian times in the frequent translations of such stories of the Grimms as “Snow White” or “Rumpelstiltskin,” and from Dickens’s “The Sexton and the Goblins” in Pickwick Papers (1838) to Mrs Juliana Horatia Ewing’s “Amelia and the Dwarfs” (1871). Indeed the very year in which The Princess and the Goblin first appeared in book form also saw the publication of Bulwer Lytton’s The Coming Race, the story of a technologically far advanced race living beneath the earth and planning to take over the world. The Victorians, it is well known, were continually and fearfully aware of the potential for revolution among the downtrodden proletariat, for whom their numerous charities were in part sops to Cerberus.1 While MacDonald is rarely political in his writing, in The Princess and the Goblin he does tap into a social current of his age. His temperament, while often socialist towards individuals, is more laissez-faire towards groups. -
George Macdonald's the Wise Woman
Studies in Scottish Literature Volume 42 | Issue 2 Article 7 11-30-2016 Imagining Evil: George MacDonald's The iW se Woman: A Parable (1875) Colin Manlove University of Edinburgh Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, and the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Manlove, Colin (2016) "Imagining Evil: George MacDonald's The iW se Woman: A Parable (1875)," Studies in Scottish Literature: Vol. 42: Iss. 2, 201–217. Available at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol42/iss2/7 This Article is brought to you by the Scottish Literature Collections at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in Scottish Literature by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IMAGINING EVIL: GEORGE MACDONALD’S THE WISE WOMAN: A PARABLE (1875) Colin Manlove George MacDonald has some claim to the title of “a neglected Scottish writer.” A great man and author in his day, he is now largely forgotten in his own country. Only his children’s fairy tales still spark an occasional glimmer of recognition, particularly his At the Back of the North Wind (1870) and The Princess and the Goblin (1872). Recent academic interest in MacDonald as a fantasy writer, and particularly as the forerunner of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, has however begun to rescue him from obscurity, particularly in the U.S.. Here I want to carry on this process by showing the power of a story which where noticed is too often condemned—The Wise Woman: A Parable. -
Cannes 2013 Contacts: BFI Film Fund T: +44 (0) 207 173 3223 E: [email protected] W: Bfi.Org.Uk Screening in Directors’ Fortnight
CANNES 2013 contacts: BFI Film Fund T: +44 (0) 207 173 3223 E: [email protected] W: bfi.org.uk ScREENING IN DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT LAST DAYS ON MARS THE SELFISH GIANT director: Ruairi Robinson director: Clio Barnard producers: Michael Kuhn & Andrea Cornwell producer: Tracy O’Riordan screenplay: Clive Dawson (based on the short story screenplay: Clio Barnard The Animators by Sydney J. Bounds) cast: Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Sean Gilder cast: Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas, Romola Garai, Goran Kostic, Johnny Harris, Tom Cullen, Yusra THE SELFISH GIANT is a contemporary fable about 13 Warsama & Olivia Williams year old Arbor and his best friend Swifty. Excluded from school and outsiders in their own neighbourhood, the Official Screenings two boys meet Kitten, a local scrapdealer – the Selfish Mon 20th May 14.30 Théâtre Croisette Giant. They begin collecting scrap metal for him using a horse and cart. Swifty has a natural gift with horses Mon 20th May 22.00 Théâtre Croisette while Arbor emulates Kitten – keen to impress him and Thu 23rd May 22.00 Studio 13 make some money. However, Kitten favours Swifty, Fri 24th May 22.30 Cinéma Les Arcades leaving Arbor feeling hurt and excluded, driving a wedge between the boys. Arbor becomes increasingly greedy and exploitative, becoming more like Kitten. Tensions build, international sales: leading to a tragic event, which transforms them all. Focus Features International Résidence du Gray d’Albion 12, la Croisette, 2nd Floor Official Screenings T: +33 (0)4 93 39 66 20 Fri 17th May 9.00 Théâtre -
A Read of at the Back of the North Wind
A Read��� of At the Back of the North Wind Col�� Ma�love acDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind (1871) was first serialised inM Good Words for the Young under his own editorship, from October 1868 to November 1870. It was his first attempt at writing a full-length “fairy-story” for children, following on his shorter fairy tales—including “The Selfish Giant,” “The Light Princess,” and “The Golden Key”—written between 1862 and 1867, and published in Dealings with the Fairies (1867). At the Back of the North Wind is, in fact, longer than either of the Princess books that were to follow it, The Princess and the Goblin (1872) and The Princess and Curdie (1882). It tells of the boy Diamond’s life as a cabman’s son in a poor area of mid-Victorian London, and of his meetings and adventures with a lady called North Wind; and it includes a separate fairy tale called “Little Daylight,” two dream-stories, and several poems. Generally well received by the public, it has hardly been out of print since. At the Back of the North Wind is MacDonald’s only fantasy set mainly in this world. In Phantastes (1858), Anodos goes into Fairy Land and in Lilith Mr. Vane finds himself in the Region of the Seven Dimensions. In the Princess books we are in a fairy-tale realm of kings, princesses, and goblins; and the worlds of the shorter fairy tales are all full of fairies, witches, and giants. But Diamond’s story nearly all happens either in Victorian London or in other parts of the world where North Wind takes him. -
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. -
Screen International and Bfi London Film Festival Reveal Uk Stars of Tomorrow 2015
SCREEN INTERNATIONAL AND BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL REVEAL UK STARS OF TOMORROW 2015 London, Monday 5 October 2015: Screen International has today revealed its 2015 UK Stars of Tomorrow, a showcase of the UK and Ireland’s newest and most exciting actors, directors, writers and producers, eagerly-anticipated by the international film industry. They are being presented for the first time in a high-profile industry event at the BFI London Film Festival held in partnership with American Express (7-18 October). Following last year’s successful collaboration between the Festival and Stars of Tomorrow, this year’s talent will be introduced to leading lights from the international film industry in London for the Festival, including US casting directors, European and US producers, festival programmers and international filmmakers. The Stars of Tomorrow featured in a special photoshoot at BFI Southbank, published in industry trade magazine Screen International, will also be the special guests at an exclusive industry dinner during the Festival, hosted by British Council and the Casting Society of America (CSA). The 2015 UK Starts of Tomorrow announced today: Adelayo Adedayo, actor, made her mark in ITV’s Some Girls and appeared in feature films including Gone Too Far! (LFF 2013) and Unlocked; Aleem Khan, writer-director, shortlisted for a BAFTA award for his short Three Brothers is currently working on his first debut feature After Love; Alex Lawther, actor, a UK Critics’ Circle young British performer of the year award- winner as the young Alan -
Ideal and the Shadow: George Macdonald's Phantastes
The Ideal and the Shadow: George MacDonald’s Phantastes Chris Brawley “Man is but a thought of God” —George MacDonald “The one principle of Hell is ‘I am my own” —George MacDonald “To inquire into what God has made is the main function of the imagination” (Orts 2). With these words, George MacDonald, for many the grandfather of mythopoeic fantasy, shows his considerable debt to the formulations of the imagination put forth by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. For MacDonald, the imagination is regarded as the faculty which “images” or makes a likeness of something. It is that faculty which most closely resembles the activity of God, for just as God is the primary creator, creating the universe through his power, so the artist imitates this creative act in the formation of the secondary worlds created. Agreeing with Coleridge’s distinction between the imagination as offering new versions of old truths, and the fancy as mere inventiveness, MacDonald was an important figure in furthering the function of the imagination as a vehicle to apprehend the sacramental nature of the world. By embodying old truths in new versions, MacDonald was foundational for the mythopoeic artists who attempt to revise the perception of the world by infusing it with a sense of the numinous. Although MacDonald wrote realistic novels, children’s fairy tales, essays and sermons, perhaps his theories of the imagination are best realized in his two “adult” fantasies, Phantastes (1858) and Lilith (1898). A reading of either of these books reveals the extent to which MacDonald relied on the unconscious as a vehicle for the expression of God. -
A Horse: Macdonald's Theodicy in at the Back of the North Wind
32 Stott This is (Not) a Horse: MacDonald’s Theodicy in At the Back of the North Wind G. St. John Stott I George MacDonald insisted in his essay “The Fantastic Imagination” that the meaning of a work should be evident to its readers. He did not mean by this that there was only one meaning to a text, or that the author’s intent in writing was privileged, but that if a reader could not make any sense of what was written and the author had to step in, something had gone wrong. Under such circumstances commentary was a mistake. As he noted, using a simple analogy, “[I]f I cannot draw a horse, I will not write THIS IS A HORSE under what I foolishly meant for one” (LP xii). We might remember this when we read in At the Back of the North Wind (1871) a conversation between what might (or might not be) two cab horses: Diamond and Ruby. It is a puzzling scene which MacDonald refuses to make clear. Cab horse conversations can be easy to understand. In Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty (1877), a work that was perhaps written as a response to At the Back of the North Wind,1 the eponymous Beauty discusses with Captain (a former army horse) the latter’s experiences in the Crimea: I said, ‘I have heard people talk about war as if it was a very fine thing.’ ‘Ah!’ said he, ‘I should think they never saw it. No doubt it is very fine when there is no enemy, when it is just exercise and parade and sham fight.