George MacDonald: Life, Religion and Children′s Literature

Hauptseminar "Victorian Children′s Classics"

SS 2006

Eingereicht am 01.11.2006

von Noreen Huhold

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2

2. Biography and Works 3

2. Biography and Works 3

3. Faith and visions 10

4. Fairy Tales and Fantasies ­ Literature for Children 13

4.1. Victorian Children′s Literature 13

4.2. Childish vs. Childlike 14

5. Conclusion 16

5. Bibliography 18

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1. Introduction

George MacDonald: fantast, children′s books writer, realistic novelist, Scottish regionalist,

Christian apologist, poet, literary critic and preacher. George MacDonald was a multi-faceted

man, father and author. Who was that man? He was a Scotsman who tergiversated from

Calvinism, who was married and had eleven children, who was a preacher and author, who

published over 50 books and who searched all his life for the true meaning of God, belief and

faith.

The following work is going to give an outline of George MacDonald′s life, his works, his

belief and his children′s literature in special. The first chapter is going to give a detailed

overview of his life as a student, as a father, as a teacher and preacher and, of course, as an

author. His most important poems, novels, fantasies and clerical works are going to be listed.

In the second chapter his faith and visions are going to be examined in detail starting with

his tergiversation from Calvinism and continuing with his visions about God and holiness and

his own personal theology.

The last chapter will concern the fantasies and fairy tales. In the first part the history of the

Victorian children′s literature will be portrayed with direct regard to the work of MacDonald.

In the second part it will be looked at the concept of a childish and a childlike character and

their difference in special. It will be described which characteristics they have and how they

are included in different novels of George MacDonald.

The intention of the text is to inform the reader about the author George MacDonald who

was in his time one of a kind and to give an insight on his writing and his life, especially on

his religious confessions. It shall be made clear why his theology is becoming popular again

in modern times and his books, especially his children′s books, are still sold and read.

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2. Biography and Works

George MacDonald is born on December 10th, 1824 in Huntly,

Aberdeenshire, Scotland. His family is of the middle class and his father works as a farmer.

The whole family leads a very religious life under Scottish Calvinism and also want their son

to accept and live that belief, too, and to be a minister later on. At the age of eight,

MacDonald already looses his mother and thus makes his first contact with death which will

not be his last. He takes part in religious debates and activities already at a young age and

acknowledges his dislike for Calvinism and its ideas. He writes about his distaste for

Calvinism theology later in his novels

Alec Forbes of Howglen

and

Robert Falconer

. In 1840

MacDonald enters King′s College in Aberdeen where he engages himself with romantic

literature and poetry, especially by German writers. He also thinks and argues about

controversies in religion which dealt with faith and practice. He begins to feel anxious about

religion and the existence of faith and God and continuously writes letters to his father telling

him about it. In 1845 MacDonald receives his M.A. degree and takes a position as a tutor in

London for two years. Only one year later he anonymously publishes his first poem

David

.

His wish to continue his literary career is destroyed by the demand of his parents wanting him

to attend Highbury Theological College in London to become a minister. As a dutiful son he

corresponds to their wish and begins his theological studies in 1848. The Calvinist philosophy

of that college, however, displeases him so much that he leaves college without a degree.

More and more he is becoming an individualist as he neither can agree with the rude doctrines

of Calvinism nor is he able to forget his general religious doubts. In his twenties then he finds

love in his cousin Louisa Powell to whom he becomes engaged to. In this love he discovers

some kind of deliverance to his anxieties in religion. In 1850 he starts working as a minister at

the pastorate in Arundel, Sussex although he hasn′t got any minister degree.

One year later on March 8th, 1851 he marries his fiancée Louisa Powell. As a wedding

present he writes her a poem called "Love Me, Beloved" which is part of his later poetic

drama

Within and Without

(1855). With his marriage and that poem he tries to bring together

his spiritual love for God and his love for his wife. As a matter of fact, Mac Donald still feels

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some spiritual insufficiency and only finds a partial satisfaction in his marriage. On January

4th, 1852 their first daughter is born with the name of Lilia Scott. In 1853 he has to resign his

pastorate as the church isn′t satisfied with his preaching and sermons which praise God′s

universal love and condemn the doctrine of predestination. In the same year, MacDonald

again has to cope with a traumatic incident when his brother Alexander dies in April. The

death is followed by good luck for the new family when Mary Josephine is born in July. The

MacDonalds start a new part of their life by moving to Manchester. Between the births of his

daughter Caroline grace in 1854 and his son Greville Matheson in 1856, George MacDonald

publishes his first poetic drama

Within and Without

in 1855. In that same year his half-sister

Bella dies. MacDonald spends the winter of 1956 in Algiers together with his wife and his

daughter Mary Josephine. The following year another daughter named Irene is born and

MacDonald publishes his Poems. The family moves again, that time to Hastings, England. In

1858 two love family members die: his brother John hill and his father. MacDonald publishes

his adult fairie romance the

Phantastes

and his

Hymns and Sacred Songs

. Another child is

born: Winifred Louisa. Again the MacDonald family changes their residence as they move to

Tudor Lodge, Regent′s Park, London in 1859. In the same year, MacDonald begins to lecture

as a professor of English literature at Bedford College, London. In 1860 MacDonald finally

abnegates the harsh Calvinism and converts to the Church of England. Until 1862 two more

children are born into the MacDonald family called Ronald and Robert Falconer. The famous

Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, gets to know MacDonald which is the

beginning of a life-long friendship. Carroll often makes photos of MacDonald′s children and,

besides, their great reception of the book "Alice′s Adventures in Wonderland" convinces

Carroll to publish it. During all these years of fatherhood, marriage and also deaths

MacDonald pursues his search for divine evidence and, furthermore, tries to teach that "death

is only the outward form of birth" (Sadler 1994: 99). He also obtained the necessary strength

in his time of suffering by helping and encouraging his friends and acquaintances. The years

to come would put his belief in God to the test.

In the following years George MacDonald began to write dramas because he wanted to

reach a wider audience than with his poems. He actually wrote a play named "If I had a

father" which he later turned into a novel, but both were never successful. So he addressed

himself to the writing of novels and published

David Elginbrod

in 1863 which the Times

called a work written by a man of genius. From that year on MacDonald began his literary

career by writing novels, fantasies, fairytales and sermons. In 1864 his son Maurice is born

and he publishes

Adela Cathcart

and

The Portent

. One year later Mac Donald applies for a

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