George MacDonald: Life, Religion and Children’s Literature

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

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.

2

2. Biography and Works

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 8 th , 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

3

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

4 th , 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

4

professorship at Edinburgh that he doesn’t receive but is accepted as lecturer at King’s College in Aberdeen. He also publishes his novel Alec Forbes of Howglen and gets another son named Bernard Powell. In 1867 MacDonald publishes his first series of Unspoken Sermons and moves with his family and his new born son George MacKay to The Retreat, Hammersmith. The next year MacDonald publishes Robert Falconer, Guild Court and The Seaboard Parish and receives the L.L.D degree from Aberdeen University. In 1869 MacDonald becomes editor of the periodical Good Words for the Young and makes a lecturing tour through Scotland. He publishes the religious letters The Miracles of Our Lord in 1870 and, one year later, he publishes At the Back of the North Wind, Works of Fancy and Imagination and Ranald Bannerman’s Boyhood. In the same year of 1871 he gets an invitation to a lecturing tour through America and his expectations will be exceeded by far. From 1872 to 1873 George MacDonald, his wife and his son Greville go on lecture tour through America. For MacDonald the trip is both exhausting and inspiring. His literary reputation grows unexpectedly not only by him as a novelist but also as a literary figure. In 1872 he also publishes Wilfred Cumbermede and his fantasy children’s book The Princess and the Goblin. One year after, he returns from America back to The Retreat and publishes Gutta Percha Willie. He makes visits to towns of his home country such as Cullen and Huntly. In 1875 The MacDonald family leaves The Retreat and MacDonald visits the Cowper-Temples and publishes Malcom and The Wise Woman. In the two following years, MacDonald publishes a number of translations and performs together with his whole family the Pilgrim’s Process. Moreover, MacDonald is awarded a Civil List Pension of £100 a year by the Queen. In the same year of 1877 Mrs. MacDonald goes together with her children to Palazzo Cataneo in Italy and George MacDonald publishes The Marquis of Lossie.

The years from 1878 to 1887 will be characterized by death, mourning and sorrow. It already begins in the year 1878 when MacDonald publishes “A Letter to American Boys” as acknowledgement of the American hospitality – his daughter Mary Josephine dies in April at age of 25. The next year is again determined by child death – his son Maurice dies on March

5 th , 1879. MacDonald tries to change his literature by putting his belief in God in a form of

fiction characterized by a universal parenthood of love. He also includes his vision of hope in God and in the afterlife. In the year of Maurice’s death he publishes his novels Paul Faber, Surgeon and Sir Gibbie. He follows his family to their house in Bordighera, Italy in 1880 and privately publishes A Book of Strife, in the Form of the Diary of an Old Soul. Louisa and George put up two young girls, Honey and Joan, and adopt the two of them later. Until 1883 MacDonald publishes several books such as the sequel The Princess and the Curdie, The Gifts

5