George MacDonald - 100th death anniversary
leno...@yahoo.com
http://www.george-macdonald.com/obituary.htm
http://www.macdonaldsociety.org/
(This lists events related to the centenary - unfortunately, most of
them have already taken place. I had no idea.)
http://www.ev90481.dial.pipex.com/life_outline.htm
(biography)
http://www.ev90481.dial.pipex.com/bibliography.htm
(bibliography)
http://www.ev90481.dial.pipex.com/resources.htm
(best page, IMHO)
He is buried in Bordighera, Italy, just a stone's throw from Nice,
France and Monaco.
And it was also on that day that unto Sweden was born.....Greta Garbo!
"I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master;
indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote
from him." - C.S.Lewis
(Lewis' life was turned around upon reading MacDonald's "Phantastes." I
only wish I knew just what he thought of MacDonald's individual
children's fantasies.)
http://cslewis.drzeus.net/papers/childlike.html
("The Childlike in George MacDonald and C. S. Lewis")
http://www.ev90481.dial.pipex.com/quotesabout.htm
(Madeleine L'Engle on MacDonald)
Lady Byron was his patron.
>From Wikipedia: "MacDonald was acquainted with most of the literary
luminaries of the day; a surviving group photograph shows him with
Tennyson, Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Trollope, Ruskin, Lewes, and
Thackeray. While in America he was a friend of Longfellow and Walt
Whitman."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald
He was also good friends with both Lewis Carroll and Mark Twain.
Carroll would always test his books on MacDonald's children before
publishing them, and one of MacDonald's sons said, after reading
"Alice" that there should be thousands of copies of it. Carroll also
refers to MacDonald's oldest child, Lilia, in "Through the
Looking-Glass." (She's the pawn. In real life, Lilia was grown up at
the time - so the idea that she's "too young" for anything was clearly
a joke.) Carroll also took photos of MacDonald and his family. Oh, and
Snowdrop the kitten was a pet of MacDonald's.
http://www.ev90481.dial.pipex.com/mark_twain.htm
(VERY good - it includes 20 plot points that "Huck Finn" and "Sir
Gibbie" have in common)
He was a Congregationalist minister in the 1850s, but was asked to
leave for, among other things, wanting to have the poor sit with the
rich in church, arguing for the education of women, suggesting that
animals might have souls, and saying: "Better to be an atheist who does
the will of God than a Christian who does not."
http://www.chesterton.org/gkc/critic/George%20Macdonald.htm
(G.K. Chesterton on "The Princess & the Goblin")
Author of:
At the Back of the North Wind
The Princess & the Goblin
The Princess & Curdie
The Light Princess
Day Boy and the Night Girl
Lilith
You can read all of these online, but I had trouble bringing up the
links for the texts with Jessie Wilcox Smith's legendary illustrations.
(She was a student of Howard Pyle.) Of course, you can read them
without the illustrations at MacDonald's website - and other sites.
"The Princess & the Goblin" has more than one edition. That is, some
editions carry dialogue between the reader and "Mr. Author," which
happens twice in the early chapters and at the end.
MacDonald based Diamond (from "At the Back of the North Wind") on one
of his sons, but it's worth noting that by the end of the book, Diamond
is, most likely, no more than eight, which is the same age MacDonald
was when he lost his mother. Which would also explain why North Wind's
voice sounds like Diamond's mother's. BTW, while I adore that book, I
wouldn't dream of giving it to any but the most religious survivors of
Katrina right now. However, THOSE readers just might find a world of
comfort in it.
Also, while it's probably a good thing that very few have attempted to
film any of MacDonald's works - and those attempts have been mainly
forgotten - I found, to my surprise, that Radio Theatre has done a
presentation of ATBOTNW! No idea if it's any good.
Elizabeth Lewis wrote simplifications of "At the Back of the North
Wind", "The Princess & the Goblin", & "The Princess & Curdie" in the
WWI era. They are surprisingly good, most of the time, but hard to
find. Maria L. Kirk (sp?) is the illustrator. (Granted, MacDonald could
write good poetry when he wanted to, so there was no excuse for putting
so many embarrassing child's rhymes in ATBOTNW, as SF writer Nancy
Springer pointed out in her introduction. Lewis removed most of them.)
I deeply recommend that those unfamiliar with those titles read them
ASAP - unabridged or not. Long live his legacy.
Lenona.
leno...@yahoo.com
Lenona.