By William Jeffrey (1826-1877) - http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw04113/George-MacDonald, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35400888
Today I'm honored and delighted to introduce a piece from my dear friend Autumn Grace, the mind behind the historical and artistic blog Shades of Art. Autumn is an avid reader and a history buff who spends her time spinning adventurous tales for her siblings and writing about artists from the past. She is passionate about writing about people's heroes, and per my request, did me the honor of writing about my personal hero, George MacDonald. Shades of Art is one of my favorite blogs to read and I hope you'll take the time to check it out.
-George MacDonald-
George MacDonald has certainly left his mark on our world. While some of his talents include teaching, preaching and public speaking, he is best known for his skills as a writer. His were some of the first books of the time period that ushered in the world of fantasy. While this genre—fantasy—is certainly common today, it was not so during MacDonald’s life. The normal books in his time were the Bible, devotional or theological books and Pilgrim’s Progress. (Any fantastical books written for children at that time were usually accompanied by a grim and sometimes horrifying moral.) George MacDonald, however, changed much of this when he helped to usher in the fantastical style of writing—as Beethoven did with the Romantic style of music. The author's greatest works have influenced many generations of authors, including J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton and E. G. Runyan.
But how did MacDonald’s life prepare him to write the stories that he did? How did it influence his content and his style? Read on.
George MacDonald was born in 1824 in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. When he was eight years old, his mother died and his father and uncle began taking care of him. The two men absolutely loved stories and they weren’t the only ones. The whole Scottish culture that MacDonald lived in celebrated fairy tales and myths. This strong background is undoubtedly what led him to write his fascinating and sometimes eerie novels, ones of heroes and princesses and underground goblin kingdoms.
While MacDonald was being taught the intriguing stories of his people, he was also being taught their strict Calvinist faith. These Christians believed that love of art and music could easily tempt one to follow other passions, pulling one away from God. Following this kind of faith, George’s grandmother was even known for burning her son’s violin when she found out he loved music. Upon reading some of MacDonald’s work, it is easy to wonder if his writing is a small rebellion against the things that he had been taught.
When George MacDonald was finally ready to go to college, he headed off to Aberdeen in North East Scotland. Surprisingly enough, he wanted to study science. However, when he didn’t have enough money for his tuition, he went to London instead and became a tutor. It was there that he was encouraged to join a seminary.
In 1848, he attended Highbury Theological College. Around that time, he also began to listen to A. J. Scott who strongly encouraged the importance of storytelling. MacDonald decided ultimately that he wanted to be an author. In the meantime, however, he began preaching at a little parish in Arundel, England.
In 1851, he married Lousia Powell. The two had a very strong, passionate marriage and, the very next year after their marriage, began their family of eleven children. During the time that George MacDonald was a preacher at his church, he began sharing some controversial ideas and his salary was lowered. Finally, he didn’t have enough to support his growing family and resigned the job. It was time to write.
In 1855, he published his first work called Within and Without. This was just a romantic poem, though and not one of the weird epics for which he is known. Finally, in 1858, he published Phantastes, beginning his string of strange stories that haunt and inspire readers. Phantastes even worked wonders on a very famous young man’s imagination many years later. This man was C. S. Lewis. In Surprised by Joy, he chronicles how much Phantastes changed his life and his imagination.
This book Phantastes was very strange, however, and many of his readers could not connect with it. So, George MacDonald turned back to writing realistic fiction, turning out almost thirty of these types of books. He had made the decision to write these books because they sold better and he had a family to support. His strange, haunting tales were far from over, however. He just had to wait until his children were old enough to support themselves.
While MacDonald’s children were still growing up, they fell in love with Lewis Caroll whom they called “Uncle Dodgson.” (Lewis Caroll’s real name was Charles Dodgson.) In fact, Charles Dodgson tested out his book Alice’s Adventures Under Ground on the MacDonald children. They loved it and, in 1865, he published it under the changed name of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
When his children (apparently influential little human beings themselves) grew up, George MacDonald turned back to writing his strange and intriguing works. He started out with Lilith. (1895) He continued to write these sorts of works, including The Golden Key (1867), At the Back of the North Wind (1871), The Princess and the Goblin (1872) and The Princess and Curdie, its sequel. (1882).
George MacDonald battled a lung illness for much of his life and, after a particularly long illness, the great author died in 1905. He lives one, though, influencing countless authors, all of whom have their own story to tell, but draw heavily from this great man. There would have been no The Lord of the Rings, there would have been no The Chronicles of Narnia. There would have been no The Hobbit and there would have been no Loch Monster. ;)
Bibliography:
Carlson, Jenna Brooke. “10 Things You Need to Know about George MacDonald.” christianity.com. Christianity.com, 7 April 2022. Web. 40 March 2024.
Larsen, Timothy. “Why George MacDonald Matters.” marinaliareview.com. Marginalia, 15 January, 2021. Web. 30 March 2024.
Rodgers, Mark. “Kickstarting Phantastes: The Book the Baptized C. S. Lewis’ Imagination.” claphmgroup.com. The Clapham Group. N.D. Web. 30 March 2024.
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