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George MacDonald's best fiction and best non-fiction

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Re: George MacDonald's best fiction and best non-fiction

Postby m-angel » January 5th, 2009, 6:46 pm

I just finished Phantastes, 20 years after I read it for the first time as a teenager.
I wonder if there is any writing about the meaning of the allegories in Phantastes. I have my own ideas about some of them, others don't seem to mean anything to me. In any case, I'm curious to know what other people think, although I always have in mind a certain author who was dismayed at a critic's interpretation of the "author's intention when he wrote this book".

Thank you
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Re: George MacDonald's best fiction and best non-fiction

Postby Sven » January 5th, 2009, 9:34 pm

Welcome, m-angel!

There has been a thread before about Phantastes, . Feel free to post on that thread, or start a new one if you like. There are several people here that would probably enjoy a discussion of the book.
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Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet -- and yet -- O, Mole, I am afraid!
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Re: George MacDonald's best fiction and best non-fiction

Postby m-angel » January 11th, 2009, 11:17 pm

Thank you! I'll look in that link, and if I want even more information I'll start a thread, as you suggest.

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Re: George MacDonald's best fiction and best non-fiction

Postby Robert » March 3rd, 2009, 5:42 pm

At the Back of the North Wind is without a doubt my FAVORITE book of all time. So I would have to recommend that. The Phantastes is my second, so that one as well.
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Re: George MacDonald's best fiction and best non-fiction

Postby boink1 » April 13th, 2009, 2:47 am

Some of MacDonald's realistic novels go into the preachy deep end, but this one is DEFINITLY worth the read.

MACDONALD, George (1865) Alec Forbes of Howglen. Hurst & Blackett London 900 p.

Do NOT bother with the pathetic "americanized" versions. Go back to the originals. It just takes a chapter or two to get used to the particular Scottish terms.

Well worth it.
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Re: George MacDonald's best fiction and best non-fiction

Postby Larry W. » April 13th, 2009, 11:21 am

My church library has the shortened versions of MacDonald's novels. I agree that it is usually better to read complete and unabridged versions of an author's books, but I'm afraid that most people in my church would have much difficulty reading a 900 page novel written in heavy Scottish dialect. So in this case I will make an exception. It was a good choice to purchase for the library to purchase the modernized editions since they are checked out and read more often than the longer versions. Much as I like MacDonald, I would have to agree with C. S. Lewis, who said that his "teacher" was a poor novelist but a supreme preacher. The shorter editions have helped to stimulate an interest in MacDonald, and perhaps some people will read the originals because they were introduced to him through the abridged editions. Reading MacDonald in the original books demands much time and patience-- a virtue that some but not all of us possess.

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Re: George MacDonald's best fiction and best non-fiction

Postby nomad » August 26th, 2009, 5:27 am

I really must read Lilith and At the Back of the North Wind. I just finished re-reading Photogen and Nycteris (Day boy and Night girl). It's one of my favorite short stories. It has a wonderful moral about working together, each one's strength supporting the other in their weakness. And it's more subtle than many of MacDonald's stories. I also very much enjoy his description of the night from Nycteris' point of view, and her discovery of the outdoors.

I also recently re-read The Cruel Painter, another of my favorites for quite different reasons. But it is also one of his less preachy stories. A little bit creepy, but with a great sense of humor.
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Re: George MacDonald's best fiction and best non-fiction

Postby Robert » August 26th, 2009, 10:17 am

I must reread that one. I am certain I have read it, but fro some reason I am drawing a blank on the theme. Photogen and Nycteris was incredibly enjoyable; not just for its moral but also the description of night and day from the perspective of one seeing it for the first time.
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Re: George MacDonald's best fiction and best non-fiction

Postby nomad » August 29th, 2009, 3:36 am

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"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.
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