George MacDonald

• (born December 1824 - died 1905) - Huntly, Aberdeenshire

George MacDonald was a Scottish poet, fantasy and children's novelist, and church minister, most famous for his novels Lilith and Phantastes, and his children's novel The Princess and the Goblin. Born in Huntly in 1824 to a farming family, his Calvinist upbringing strongly influenced his later writings and sermons.

He attended the chemistry and natural philosophy at the University of Aberdeen and then studied at Highbury College, and was appointed pastor of the Trinity Congregational Church in the West Sussex town of Arundel. His sermons were not popular with Church leaders, however, and his pay was cut. In 1860 he converted to Anglicism. Later he taught at the University of London, and took a lecture tour to the United States in the early 1870s.

His first novel, Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women was published in 1858, was not a commercial success, but has been credited with influencing later fantasy writers such as C.S. Lewis and Mark Twain, and indeed MacDonald's own later novel Lilith, published in 1895. Lilith was selected as one of The List's 100 greatest Scottish novels in 2005.

As his early fantasies did not make money, MacDonald also wrote a number of 'straight novels' set in the Scottish countryside, with books such as David Elginbroad and Alec Forbes, both written in the 1860s. His most successful children's novel The Princess and the Goblin was first published in 1872 and has been adopted for film several times. Collections of his sermons were published throughout the late 19th century.

George MacDonald died in Surrey in 1905, aged 80, after a lifetime of poor health. With his wife Louise he had 11 children; his son Greville MacDonald became a writer himself.

Bibliography

• Within and Without, a Poem (1855)
• Poems (1857)
• Phantastes: a Faerie Romance for Men and Women (1858)
• David Elginbrod (3 volumes) (1863)
• Adela Cathcart (3 volumes) (1864)
• The Portent: a story of the Inner Vision of the Highlanders commonly called the Second Sight. (1864)
• Alec Forbes of Howglen (3 volumes) (1865)
• Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood (3 volumes) (1867)
• Dealings with the Fairies (including The Golden Key) (1867)
• Unspoken Sermons. 1st Series. (1867)
• 2nd Series (1885)
• 3rd Series (1889)
• Guild Court (3 volumes) (1868)
• Robert Falconer (3 volumes) (1868)
• The Seaboard Parish (3 volumes) (1868)
• The Miracles of our Lord (1 volume) (1870)
• At the Back of the North Wind (1871)
• Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood (1871)
• Works of Fancy and Imagination (chiefly reprints) (10 volumes) (1871)
• The Princess and the Goblin (1872)
• The Vicar's Daughter (3 volumes) (1872)
• Wilfred Cumbermede (3 volumes) (1872)
• Gutta Percha Willie: the Working Genius (1873)
• England's Antiphon (1874)
• Malcolm (3 volumes) (1875)
• The Wise Woman, a Parable (1875)
• Thomas Wingfold, Curate (3 volumes) (1876)
• St George and St Michael (3 volumes) (1876)
• Exotics: a Translation (in verse) of the Spiritual Songs of Novalis, the Hymn Book of Luther and other Poems from the German and Italian (1876)
• The Marquis of Lossie (3 volumes) (1877)
• Sir Gibbie (3 volumes) (1879)
• Paul Faber, Surgeon (3 volumes) (1879)
• A Book of Strife, in the form of the Diary of an Old Soul (1880)
• Mary Marston (3 volumes) (1881)
• Castle Warlock, a homely romance (3 volumes) (1882)
• Weighed and Wanting (3 volumes) (1882)
• The Gifts of the Christ Child, and other Tales (2 volumes) (1882)
• Afterwards published with title of Stephen Archer and Other Tales (1 volume) (n.d.)
• A Dish of Orts (1882)
• Donal Grant (3 volumes) (1883)
• A Threefold Cord. Poems by Three Friends, edited by George MacDonald (1883)
• The Princess and Curdie (1883)
• The Tragedie of Hamlet - with a study of the text of the Folio of 1623 (1885)
• What's Mine's Mine (3 volumes) (1886)
• Home Again, a Tale (1 volume) (1887)
• The Elect Lady (1 volume) (1888)
• Cross Purposes, and The Shadows: Two Fairy Stories (reprinted from Dealings with the Fairies) (1886)
• A Rough Shaking, a Tale (1890)
• The Light Princess and other Fairy Stories (reprinted from Dealings with the Fairies) (1890)
• There and Back (3 volumes) (1891)
• The Flight of the Shadow (1 volume) (1891)
• A Cabinet of Gems, cut and polished by Sir Philip Sydney, now for their more radiance presented without their setting by George MacDonald (1891)
• The Hope of the Gospel (1892)
• Heather and Snow (2 volumes) (1893)
• Lilith, A Romance (1895)
• Rampolli: Growths from a Long-planted Root, being translations chiefly from the German, along with A Year's Diary of an Old Soul (Poems) (1897)
• Salted with Fire, a Tale (1 volume) (1897)
• Poetical Works of George MacDonald (2 volumes) (1893)

Books about George MacDonald

• Baptized Imagination: The Theology of George MacDonald - Kerry Dearborn - 2007