ELIZABETH JANE MCDONALD WEINRICH The Genesis of George MacDonald’s Lilith: A Study of Pre-Publication Documents (Under the direction of SIMON GATRELL) In March of 1890, George MacDonald inscribed in a notebook an untitled text which became the basis for Lilith: A Romance, published in 1895. Although initially discounted by reviewers as an aberration, Lilith: A Romance eventually became known as one of MacDonald’s greatest works. Attention was not drawn to the notebook manuscript and subsequent documents recording the revision of the text, however, until late in the 1970's. The pre-publication materials include the 1890 manuscript, which has been designated as Lilith A, as well as seven more documents, Lilith B through H. The second document in the series, Lilith B, is comprised of passages inscribed during at least two distinct phases of composition. This study examines both Lilith A and Lilith B, then provides materials preparatory to an edition of Lilith. The text of Lilith A was apparently copied into a notebook from a pre-existing text and relates a fairy tale-like narrative which includes many elements present in the final Lilith: A Romance, yet it does not include many episodes and characters which became central to the revised text. Analysis of MacDonald’s life between 1890 and 1895 when Lilith: A Romance was published provides evidence that the writer underwent personal crises during that time which probably account for the many changes to and the complex revising process of the text. The most important and radical changes occurred during the inscription of Lilith B which was made with two different typewriters, apparently over a protracted period of time. Examination of those changes suggests that MacDonald’s thinking about and purpose for the text changed as Lilith B was inscribed and revised. An edition of Lilith A and three apparatuses are included as appendices. A diplomatic transcription of the Lilith B document and a fair copy of the text are also presented in parallel in an electronic appendix which provides hyperlinks between pages. INDEX WORDS: George MacDonald, Lilith, Lilith A, Lilith B, manuscript, pre- publication documents, electronic text, fantasy, fairy tale, textual criticism, textual editing, transformation of text, revision, gothic, science fiction, dream-vision, hypertext, Victorian, universalism THE GENESIS OF GEORGE MACDONALD’S LILITH: A STUDY OF PRE-PUBLICATION DOCUMENTS by ELIZABETH JANE MCDONALD WEINRICH B.A., Oral Roberts University, 1982 M.A., Auburn University, 1990 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 1999 ©1999 Elizabeth Jane McDonald Weinrich All Rights Reserved THE GENESIS OF GEORGE MACDONALD’S LILITH: A STUDY OF PRE-PUBLICATION DOCUMENTS by ELIZABETH JANE MCDONALD WEINRICH Approved: ____________________________________ Major Professor ____________________________________ Date Approved: ___________________________________ Dean of the Graduate School ___________________________________ Date Dedication For my mother, Delores Hayes McDonald, who taught me to love books and respect writers. iv Acknowledgments To the many teachers, office workers, and colleagues who have encouraged and challenged me, I owe thanks. For particular aid, moments of insight, and apt advice, I am grateful to Timothy Jude Viator, Russ Greer, Patty Hamilton, the staff of the Manuscripts Collection of the British Library, Jonathan Evans, Nelson Hilton, David Gants, and Cherie Riemersma. Rolland Hein has provided useful copies of letters and valuable insight into MacDonald’s life and thoughts. I am also grateful to my friends at University Church, Athens, for their encouragement, prayers, and ideas, especially Dr. S. William Pelletier, Eric Carlson, Elizabeth Bloemer, and Dr. Darwin Smith. Without the direction and extraordinary knowledge of Simon Gatrell, I would have not attempted this project. He has made it a remarkable experience. I thank my father, Raymond McDonald, for his relentless optimism. Last, for the tireless efforts of my husband, Kevin Weinrich, in keeping our home in order, my spirits up, and my deadlines arranged, I am deeply thankful. His insight has clarified many muddled points; his programming has made possible the electronic portions of the project; his confidence has released the underground waters of joy; his prayers have helped to accomplish what seemed impossible. Thank you, Kevin, for giving me love and vitamins. v Table of Contents Page Acknowledgments .......................................................v Introduction ............................................................1 Chapter One The Genesis of Lilith: The Manuscript Text.......................14 Two The Transformation of Lilith: The Biographical Evidence ...........75 Three The Transformation of Lilith: The Lilith B Texts..................96 Works Consulted......................................................217 Appendices A Introduction to the Edition of Lilith A .............................222 B Edition of Lilith A .............................................227 C Textual Notes for Lilith A .......................................382 D Special Diplomatic Features of Lilith A ............................407 E Editorial Emendations to Lilith A .................................417 F Introduction to the Diplomatic Transcription and Fair Copy of Lilith B ....423 G Parallel Hypertexts of the Diplomatic Transcription and Fair Copy of Lilith B . ......................................... (Click for Hyperlink) vi Introduction Although Lilith was published in London in 1895 by Chatto and Windus, George MacDonald began composing the work at least five years earlier when he inscribed a text in a notebook. As he revised and rewrote, MacDonald generated several drafts which vary significantly from one another. Despite the fascinating history of this text, however, no scholar or publisher has attempted to provide either a thorough analysis of the pre- publication documents or a scholarly edition which takes them all into account. While such a task is too great in scope for a dissertation, this study will provide an edition of the manuscript text, preliminary work toward an edition of the second document in the series, an analysis of the texts of the work — or works — recorded in the first two documents, and theories as to how and why MacDonald composed as he did. As important as this work is in the canon of George MacDonald, an adequate edition has never been published. In print for much of the twentieth century, publishers have reprinted early editions, most incorporating corruptions of each previous publication. In 1997, however, Lilith: A Variorum Edition, edited by Rolland Hein and published by Johannesen Printing and Publishing, was produced in an attempt to offer readers a glimpse of the evolution of this complex work by presenting texts derived from the pre-publication documents along with an edition created from the 1896 second printing. This publication provides texts never before available to readers, yet it also introduces problems scholars will have to address if they are to make use of it. In order to understand these problems before attempting to rectify them, however, it is necessary to consider what is commonly known about the origins of Lilith and its history. 1 2 Publication history of Lilith On March 28 or 29, 1890, George MacDonald copied by hand onto the rectos of one hundred sixty-one leaves of a bound notebook a text without a title. The manuscript includes remarkably few corrections; those which exist are mostly single words here and there, while on occasion a phrase or clause is added or deleted. This text is the first of the documents MacDonald gave to his daughter Winifred in a bundle, inscribed, “Winifred Louisa MacDonald from her father . to close the series of development. May 1895.” Chatto and Windus published the final version of Lilith in September of that year. This series consists of nine documents designated Lilith A, the bound notebook, through Lilith I, the published version. The second, Lilith B, requires most attention because, of all the documents, it is most obviously the work of several stages of revision. Three different typewriters and at least four different kinds of paper were used in the typescript. At least three different kinds of ink, including red, were used to make the handwritten revisions and many page-long insertions. Extensive renumeration of folios gives evidence of the many stages during which MacDonald rewrote sections, added typed passages many pages in length, and changed the original order of events and narration. One can only conclude from examining the radical changes to this draft that during its writing and rewriting the author’s intentions for the text changed dramatically. I will argue that this document records the re-envisioning of the work which created a text quite distinct from that which he inscribed in March, 1890. Lilith A and Lilith B, in fact, belong to two separate creative processes. The first process produced the document known as Lilith A, then the Lilith B typescript created with a pica typewriter. The second process began when MacDonald revised that typescript, introducing changes and new material which resulted in a text dramatically different from 3 that initially recorded with the pica typewriter. This revision was the first text to bear the title Lilith. Although the first edition was met with mostly ambivalent,