Fairy Tales

by George MacDonald, David Timson (Narrator), Georgina Sutton (Narrator)

George MacDonald, described by W.H. Auden as ‘one of the most remarkable writers of the 19th century’, was valued in his own time as an original thinker and spiritual guide. Of all his writing it is the fairy tales that have retained their fascination, and this collection includes all 11 stories, including The Light Princess, The Golden Key and The Wise Woman.

The fairy tales feature the stock characters of traditional tales – fairies both good and bad, and children undertaking precarious journeys. Often adopting paradox and nonsense as Lewis Carroll did, the stories invite adults to deploy the same open-mindedness as children. In MacDonald’s own words, ‘I do not write for children, but for the childlike, whether of five, or 50, or 75.’

Genres: Audiobook, Fiction

Audiobook

First published January 1, 1904

About the author

George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons.

Reviews

[ValeReads Kyriosity · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sure I've read must of these before in the old Eerdmans editions, but I'd forgotten most of them quite thoroughly. There were a couple that didn't really grab me, but the ones that did were a delight. I do know The Light Princess fairly well, so it's a favorite. New (rather, long-forgotten) favorites are The Wise Woman and The Day Boy and the Night Girl. The latter I particularly appreciated as a picture of the complementarity of the sexes — each has strengths with which to lovingly support the other's weaknesses.

Timson (whom I know as the marvelous narrator of Boswell's Life of Johnson) and Sutton were excellent.

[Ross Blocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I originally learned about George MacDonald - likely at one of my grade school libraries - but I remember being taken with his ethereal fairy tales and the long-haired sprites that inhabit them. I was also proud knowing he had been an influence on C.S. Lewis and Lewis Caroll, two of my other favorites at the time. He was a Scottish minister, and his theological themes were easy to detect. This audio compilation included readings of many tales I hadn't heard before, and only one I had (The Golden Key), so I was eager to listen through adult ears. The new stories (to me) were The Light Princess, The Shadows, The Giant's Heart, Cross Purposes, Little Daylight, Nanny's Dream, Diamond's Dream, The Carasoyn, The Wise Woman (or The Lost Princess), and The History of Photogen and Nycteris.

There's typically a young girl or boy (often royalty or a peasant of medieval extraction) who encounters a witch or elf or gnome or spirit who teaches them a rough lesson about not being rude to their parents. Whatever the lesson, the youth encounters supernatural elements and is transformed into a creature, or made to float, or afflicted with some other curse until they learn to love, or be humble, be selfless, be industrious, or whichever desired trait is adopted. Adults are sometimes taught lessons as well.

These are 1800s tales, so the gender roles and standards of childcare are as you'd expect. MacDonald's tales felt simpler and quainter to my adult ears than they had in my youth, but they were enjoyable for their texture, representing an age of fantasy and magic that is the textual equivalent of a John Waterhouse painting.

[Gwen Buckingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely spectacular!!! I often cannot go on with certain narrators. All of George MacDonald's written work rates a +5 for content. This review is for superior narration!!!