Classic Fantasy
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George MacDonald integrated his understanding of biography as “God’s story” into the very fiber of his fiction. Characters such as Anodos in Phantastes, Wilfrid in Wilfrid Cumbermede, and Belorba Day in The Flight of the Shadow are all autobiographers chronicling their personal transformations. Critics have long noted that MacDonald’s fiction derives its strength from this…
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George MacDonald was profoundly influenced by German Romanticism, particularly through the Idealism and creative imagination of Novalis. Novalis sought to shift the reader’s understanding of truth from an objective “expelling” of data to a subjective “inward” understanding. MacDonald often paraphrased Novalis in his personal correspondence, writing: “The Realist is an Idealist who knows nothing of…
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The Victorian Age represented progress to much of the Western world. With a burgeoning industrial base in Europe and North America, alongside flourishing developments in health, science, and religion, the Victorian era was the precursor to the Modern belief in empirical evidence. This shift paved the way for a more progressive, educated aristocracy that redefined…
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The Great Divorce, written by C.S. Lewis, is a direct response to William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Lewis believed Blake’s attempt to marry the two realms was a “disastrous error.” He argues against the notion that “some way of embracing both alternatives can always be found; that mere development, adjustment, or refinement…
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In my previous posts, I explored the symbol of true royalty and the “Solid Land” of goodness in George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin. To conclude this series, we must look into the caverns. MacDonald provides a stark contrast to the King-papa and Princess Irene through the Goblins—a race that represents a “false picture”…
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Ursula Le Guin once observed of George MacDonald’s masterpiece: “A princess is a girl who behaves nobly; a girl who behaves nobly is a princess. Curdie the miner…is a prince. The king is king because he’s a good man. No other definition is allowed. This is radically moral democracy.” Le Guin’s assessment holds because MacDonald…
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In a modern Grade 7 classroom, to be called a “princess” is rarely a compliment. The term has become a pejorative—a shorthand for selfishness, arrogance, and entitlement. While we might endow younger girls with the title in a spirit of play, we despise it in older ones who are perceived as being “too big for…
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Educators and parents alike have a reliable tool for Friday afternoons: the sugary incentive. I still remember Mrs. Crow in Grade 1 treating us to popsicles after a good week, or the “penny jar” in Grade 2 that led to a class party. As adults, we often expect children to exhibit intrinsic behavior (doing right…
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During my first year in a Master’s program, I was a “deer in the headlights” who happened to stumble into a course on George MacDonald. I knew he was admired by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, so I gave him a shot. Little did I know that three years later, I would be finishing a…