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Title: Phantastes by George MacDonald ISBN: 0-8028-6060-5 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: August, 1981 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.21 (19 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Not MacDonald's best.
Comment: This is a good and interesting book, but it does not come close to the beauty and power of Lilith, MacDonald's masterpiece. It often lacks cohesion and has no tone center. At times even the willing cannot suspend disbelief. For all that, it is well worth the read, and is full of MacDonald's typical psychic depth and spirituality. But if you only read one book by MacDonald, it should certainly be Lilith.
Rating: 5
Summary: MacDonald's most captivating Fairy Tale
Comment: How do I go about writing a review of this book? It's sort of an arrogant undertaking, really. It suggests, somehow, that my opinion of this book is of some consequence, and that in turn puts me in a critical position above MacDonald - vying to be one of Kierkegaard's 'panel of authorities' that every generation sets up to judge the pervious generations, who can no longer speak for themselves.
So instead of climbing on my pedestal and judging where I am not fit to judge, I will try instead to tell you about what it IS - not how it rates in some abstract book rating.
MacDonald was one of the only true prophetic minds of the modern era. He had a closeness to the spiritual world that I do not believe can be now matched. All that is not really my opinion, because it is a blinding truth - as any who read his many books would be forced to admit. When the sun shines, only a fool denies it. Reading MacDonald is like looking at that sun.
I don't think that the recommendations of his many famous admirers (C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Lewis Carrol among them) really are relevant - MacDonald's work can easily speak for itself. When Bach's raving about Vivaldi resurrected that composer's works, it soon became apparent that they could exist in their own right - outside of the shadow of their monolithic admirer. The same is true for MacDonald.
It's not really a question of whether or not this is a good book, so much as it is whether or not you are in the right place to read it. If you're going to try to read this book, you would be wise to approach it with patience, an open mind, and a respect both for religious experience and spiritual truth. You'd be better served by this book if you are more a lover of Shakespeare and Spenser than Freud and Einstein, and have more concern for the eternal things than those of modern science (this is being said by someone in the cognitive sciences, mind you). If you expect to be able to warp MacDonald's message and vision to your own ends, you will be sorely disappointed, as it will not work (without outright lying) - and will lead to frustration. If you are looking for pat moralisms, as is often found in modern 'religious' rhetoric, which are suitable only to nourish the most impoverished, or if you're the seeking poorly-reasoned mysticism of the modern Lord of the Rings fanboys, you're looking in the wrong book. If you're looking for a light-hearted fairy tale, suitable for children at bedtime - you're in the wrong book (Although MacDonald has several others that would fit this need), as this one involves many complex and frightening passages.
Therein lie some of the reasons for MacDonald's limited popularity - he is not 'accessible' in the current sense. He cannot be remade by every generation into a patsy to mouth modern ideology. Modern sensibilities would label him a 'dinosaur' - a cro-magnon crazy old man with a wild white beard - a re-incarnation of those old testament prophets that modern church-people studiously skip over in their Bible studies. Consider - his own church tried to starve him to death. He talked to God - and the message he brings back is both shockingly beautiful, and so bright as to be uncomfortable. It was the consuming fire of inexhorable love in the book of Hebrews that most embodied God to MacDonald, and that consuming fire has found its way into his books' pages. In his higher works of fantasy (like this book) and his sermons, MacDonald will stomp on your pet political ideologies, he will make you ashamed of your selfish religious dogmas, and he will take from you the ill-begotten authority that pervades the modern religious 'intelligentsia'. Either you will learn to deal with these things, or you'll find another book to read, most likely.
If you are looking for an honest fairy tale, full of truth, depth, and spiritual insight - a myth in the best sense - you'll find few books more to your liking. The entire story is submerged in a world of intense personal introspection, in which the things of the spiritual world are brought forth into the physical one. MacDonald believed that all pieces of the 'physical' world around us are forms that we can give meaning to - 'crystal vases to hold our emotions'. This book is one of his prime exercizes in this powerful form of Truth-telling. (Lillith being the other most notable)
Lewis was right - it will baptize your imagination. I can understand Lewis' reasons for featuring MacDonald so prominently in his works, since there is no other author I have ever read whom I would be so glad to have meet me in the afterlife.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Grandfather of modern fantasy
Comment: Throughout his adult life, CS Lewis repeatedly asserted that George MacDonald was his 'master,' his mentor. Without MacDonald's works (and this one in particular), there may never have been a Lewis as we know him. Besides that, MacDonald has heavily influenced such other creators of fantasy as JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams, and GK Chesterton. Madeleine L'Engle calls MacDonald the 'Grandfather' of all who attempt to understand life through fantasy. Indeed, he is a grandfather of modern fantasy of sorts.
This particular novel had a profound impact on CS Lewis's conversion to Christianity. He claims that it 'baptized' his mind, and that it was this book which really got the ball rolling for Lewis's path back to his faith. Phantastes is about a young man named Anodos who finds himself in another world (called Fairy-land) one morning. As he wanders around Fairy-Land, he has a series of adventures and learns many valuable lessons. Along the way he meets many strange creatures, some terrifying and some beautiful.
As Lewis himself has pointed out, MacDonald's books are not incredibly well-written. His descriptions, however, are rich and enchanting, and the effect created by his vivid imagery is very powerful. The narrative is somewhat confused, consisting mainly of many adventures which scarcely seem interrelated. Most importantly, though, are the lessons young Anodos learns along the way, and this is the importance of the book.
MacDonald was a master of teaching valuable lessons through fantasy. Lewis, Tolkien, and others have since combined the ability to teach moral lessons through fantasy with powerful and compelling narrative, but MacDonald can truly be considered a pioneer of sorts. Light readers of Christian apology or fantasy will do better with CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, or GK Chesterton's works, which have more engaging storylines. Still, for anyone with a strong interest in Lewis or any of the others, this book is a must-read, as it is a work which has inspired many of the great Christian and fantasy authors of the twentieth-century.
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Title: Lilith by George MacDonald ISBN: 0802860613 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: August, 1981 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Complete Fairy Tales (Penguin Classics) by George MacDonald, U. C. Knoepflmacher ISBN: 0140437371 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, Arthur Hughes ISBN: 0140367462 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: March, 1997 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald ISBN: 0812567129 Publisher: Tor Classics Pub. Date: 15 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: Diary of an Old Soul: 366 Writings for Devotional Reflection by George MacDonald ISBN: 0806627344 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: September, 1994 List Price(USD): $10.99 |
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