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Phantastes
George MacDonald’s first major fiction work, in MacDonald’s words “a sort of fairy tale for grown people,” Phantastes was published in 1858. This unusual fantasy, subtitled a “fairie romance,” is one of MacDonald’s most mysterious and esoteric titles. The book’s narrator, Anodos, enters Fairy Land through a mysterious old wooden secretary. From that beginning, he embarks on a dream-like series of encounters that follow the form of an epic quest, though the purpose and destination of his journey remain obscure and are never fully clarified. Two volumes of poetry prior to this had set MacDonald apart as a talented young author to watch in England's literary circles. Sales of Phantastes, however, proved a disappointment, and thus MacDonald ultimately turned to the writing of realistic fiction in the 1860s. When young atheist C.S. Lewis discovered Phantastes in 1916, within a few hours he said he knew he “had crossed a great frontier.” MacDonald’s unusual fantasy set Lewis on the road toward his eventual conversion to Christianity, and forever after he referred to MacDonald as his “master.” In spite of its poor initial reception among Victorian readers, Lewis’s affection for it established Phantastes as one of MacDonald’s most enduring and studied works in literary and academic circles. This new edition is one of six fantasy titles in The Cullen Collection that has not been edited or updated in any way and is reproduced exactly in its original text.
257 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1858
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22630 people want to read
About the author
George MacDonald
1,770 books2,518 followersGeorge 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,697 reviews
December 4, 2020
The first time I read this I was a newly married 18 yo. My husband was taking a class at college titled Oxford Christians and I may as well have taken the class myself because I read every single life-changing book Dr. Kay Ludwigson assigned. And of all the books by all those wonderful Inklings and hangers-on, this book, Phantastes, captured my imagination and began my love of George MacDonald in a unique way.
I loved this book. Ordo Amoris.
They say the brain has definite patterns of nostalgia so that they can predict your age by what you listen to on the radio. I wonder if that is also true of returning to old book loves?
I find myself, more and more, returning to those old loves to see if they are still the bright baubles of my youth.
Phantastes still holds up. George MacDonald is still a good man who writes good books and those books still make me want to be good. I am not the passionate 18 yo ready to fix all things wrong anymore. At 18 I was fascinated with the statuesque lady. Perhaps I wanted to be loved like that. This time around I barely noticed her. I deeply understood and was encouraged by the place Anodos had to come to in order to lose his shadow, his self. I long to get to that place where my shadow, my self, taps me on the shoulder and I brush her away without a thought. What care I for her?
I finished this book up as I sat in the emergency room with my husband. I was completely sheathed in my self as I hunkered there trying not to notice the horribleness of the humanity around me. Yes, it seemed horrible to me. Those sick, sick people. I wanted to just be me sitting somewhere safe and warm drinking coffee and eating cookies, watching the hummingbirds and listening to Bach. True, good, beautiful ME. But George MacDonald stripped that bare and showed me what the ugliness of my own vision for my own self. I had thought I had made progress in the brushing her aside but there she was in the emergency room hunkered down trying to ignore the back of the tapestry-the place Christ always is. The place where humanity roils and smells and writhes. Christ was there even when I was trying not to be. Forgive me, Father. Forgive me for underestimating the sinfulness of my own self.
I loved this book. Ordo Amoris.
They say the brain has definite patterns of nostalgia so that they can predict your age by what you listen to on the radio. I wonder if that is also true of returning to old book loves?
I find myself, more and more, returning to those old loves to see if they are still the bright baubles of my youth.
Phantastes still holds up. George MacDonald is still a good man who writes good books and those books still make me want to be good. I am not the passionate 18 yo ready to fix all things wrong anymore. At 18 I was fascinated with the statuesque lady. Perhaps I wanted to be loved like that. This time around I barely noticed her. I deeply understood and was encouraged by the place Anodos had to come to in order to lose his shadow, his self. I long to get to that place where my shadow, my self, taps me on the shoulder and I brush her away without a thought. What care I for her?
I finished this book up as I sat in the emergency room with my husband. I was completely sheathed in my self as I hunkered there trying not to notice the horribleness of the humanity around me. Yes, it seemed horrible to me. Those sick, sick people. I wanted to just be me sitting somewhere safe and warm drinking coffee and eating cookies, watching the hummingbirds and listening to Bach. True, good, beautiful ME. But George MacDonald stripped that bare and showed me what the ugliness of my own vision for my own self. I had thought I had made progress in the brushing her aside but there she was in the emergency room hunkered down trying to ignore the back of the tapestry-the place Christ always is. The place where humanity roils and smells and writhes. Christ was there even when I was trying not to be. Forgive me, Father. Forgive me for underestimating the sinfulness of my own self.
June 1, 2019
It’s like a dream: You just
find yourself somewhere
and you wander on.
Not like a quest,
with a destination
and obstacles along the way.
No. You just find yourself walking
without a destination
and when you get somewhere
someone was expecting you,
someone who had sent you somewhere,
although you don’t know
why or where or how
and it doesn’t bother you much
that you don’t know.
find yourself somewhere
and you wander on.
Not like a quest,
with a destination
and obstacles along the way.
No. You just find yourself walking
without a destination
and when you get somewhere
someone was expecting you,
someone who had sent you somewhere,
although you don’t know
why or where or how
and it doesn’t bother you much
that you don’t know.
January 23, 2022
3.5 ⭐
“Look at him! Look at him! He has begun a story without a beginning, and it will never have any end. He! he! he! Look at him!”
Phantastes (1858) by George MacDonald is touted, by a number of online publications, as being the first ever “Fantasy” novel written exclusively for adults. It’s a bold claim; personally, I’d argue it’s more an adult fairy-tale as any fantastical elements are borrowed from mythology/folklore rather than having been developed in the mind of the author. Regardless, a developmentally important, but seemingly all-too-often overlooked, work in the (for lack of a better term) “genre”.
MacDonald himself is the subject of almost feverish praise from C.S.Lewis, who happens to have written the introduction to my edition of the novel. Lewis says:
“It must be more than thirty years ago that I bought… the Everyman edition of Phantastes. A few hours later I knew that I had crossed a great frontier”.
In another, not at all surprising connection, it was the MacDonald family, as a whole, who urged Lewis Carroll to get his book, ‘Alice’s Adventures Under Ground’ at the time, published, and George himself who encouraged Carroll to lengthen the tale which was originally only half the length.
The novel itself is both fairy-tale and spiritual allegory and there are definite parallels to Carroll’s later work. However, where Alice tumbles into Wonderland, Anodos (MacDonald’s protagonist) finds himself in Fairy-Land, a decidedly darker and drearier setting which is reflected aptly in Anodos’ state of mind throughout the novel. It is rich with moral lessons but avoids, for the most part, being overly moralistic. It is dense with symbolism which, at times, can be mercifully transparent but at others, equally as elusive; the many and varied interpretations of the work attest to this. Given the apparent lack of any really in-depth study this work has attracted, perhaps it is destined to forever remain a subjective symbolic experience.
Towards the beginning of his travels through Fairy-Land, Anodos brings to life a white lady of alabaster (Pygmalion/Galatea style) by singing to her, after apparently inheriting the vocal/musical talents of Orpheus. As with every woman/female being in this novel, Anodos falls hopelessly in lust with her and the bass line of the tale is Anodos searching for this lost beauty. The seemingly simple plot, however, is anything but, frequently taking on the characteristics of an incoherent and wildly unpredictable fever dream. To take a passage from the story itself:
“it seemed to me, all the time, as if I were hearing a child talk in its sleep. I could not arrange her story in my mind at all, although it seemed to leave hers in some certain order of its own.”
See, one of MacDonald’s main focuses is on belief; the idea that as we grow older, our ability to imagine/to believe is compromised due to an intellectual skepticism (I would argue an informed one vs. 'ignorance is bliss' which occasionally seems to be what MacDonald is aiming for) and false ideals promoted by the societies we live in. This side of Anodos is symbolised by an insidious shadow that attaches itself to him partway through the novel. A manifestation of the fear, lust and greed that clouds his vision, the shadow quite literally prevents Anodos from seeing aspects of the Fairy world when these attributes expose themselves. This shadow ties in wonderfully with other symbolic aspects of the novel. In his “darkest hour” Anodos actually begins to relish in the company of the sinister shadow; MacDonald’s attempt to highlight the arrogance and close-mindedness of non-believers?
“In a land like this, with so many illusions everywhere, I need his aid to disenchant the things around me. He does away with all appearances, and shows me things in their true colour and form. And I am not one to be fooled with the vanities of the common crowd. I will not see beauty where there is none. I will dare to behold things as they are. And if I live in a waste instead of a paradise, I will live knowing where I live.”
At times it seems evident that MacDonald is expressing some grievances with comments he must often have had to deal with in his own life:
“you speak like a sensible man, sir. We have but few sensible folks round about us. Now, you would hardly credit it, but my wife believes every fairy-tale that ever was written. I cannot account for it. She is a most sensible woman in everything else.”
“But should not that make you treat her belief with something of respect, though you cannot share in it yourself?”
Anodos’ journey, his pilgrimage, is one from disenchantment (with Fairy Land? with God?) to spiritual rejuvenation; a reuniting with the spiritual divinity; to paraphrase Lewis, a “baptism of the imagination”. However, it is also one of self-sacrifice. One in which he grows as an individual from the materialistic 21-year-old with unrealistic ideals of love and beauty to a man who recognises true love from the superficial and what it means to love without need for reciprocation:
I knew now, that it is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, and not the being beloved by each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness.”
“how many who love never come nearer than to behold each other as in a mirror; seem to know and yet never know the inward life; never enter the other soul; and part at last, with but the vaguest notion of the universe on the borders of which they have been hovering for years?”
MacDonald’s prose is just wonderful, if at times a little flowery. Perhaps periwinkle prose would be a decent enough way to describe it; definitely heavier than lilac but not quite purple… I digress. Often, a mundane, altogether unremarkable scene is brought to life with great vibrancy thanks to the man’s delicate wielding of the pen; not only environments but atmospheres, which are expressed equally as palpably.
The regularly interspersed poems, on the other hand, were less to my liking. The quality prose lent me an unjust sense of anticipation that one of the many poems sprinkled throughout the work would blow my socks off but I found them to be, almost without exception, dull and unmoving.
Fingers crossed some of my friends list decide to pick this one up; my notes on the symbolism of different aspects are of a little more depth that what I’ve supplied in this review and I’d love to see what alternate interpretations others come up with. Happy reading! :)
Indeed, my ideal soon became my life; whereas, formerly, my life had consisted in a vain attempt to behold, if not my ideal in myself, at least myself in my ideal. Now, however, I took, at first, what perhaps was a mistaken pleasure, in despising and degrading myself. Another self seemed to arise, like a white spirit from a dead man, from the dumb and trampled self of the past. Doubtless, this self must again die and be buried, and again, from its tomb, spring a winged child; but of this my history as yet bears not the record. Self will come to life even in the slaying of self; but there is ever something deeper and stronger than it, which will emerge at last from the unknown abysses of the soul: will it be as a solemn gloom, burning with eyes? or a clear morning after the rain? or a smiling child, that finds itself nowhere, and everywhere?
“I have come through the door of Dismay; and the way back from the world into which that has led me, is through my tomb. Upon that the red sign lies, and I shall find it one day, and be glad.”
“Look at him! Look at him! He has begun a story without a beginning, and it will never have any end. He! he! he! Look at him!”
Phantastes (1858) by George MacDonald is touted, by a number of online publications, as being the first ever “Fantasy” novel written exclusively for adults. It’s a bold claim; personally, I’d argue it’s more an adult fairy-tale as any fantastical elements are borrowed from mythology/folklore rather than having been developed in the mind of the author. Regardless, a developmentally important, but seemingly all-too-often overlooked, work in the (for lack of a better term) “genre”.
MacDonald himself is the subject of almost feverish praise from C.S.Lewis, who happens to have written the introduction to my edition of the novel. Lewis says:
“It must be more than thirty years ago that I bought… the Everyman edition of Phantastes. A few hours later I knew that I had crossed a great frontier”.
In another, not at all surprising connection, it was the MacDonald family, as a whole, who urged Lewis Carroll to get his book, ‘Alice’s Adventures Under Ground’ at the time, published, and George himself who encouraged Carroll to lengthen the tale which was originally only half the length.
The novel itself is both fairy-tale and spiritual allegory and there are definite parallels to Carroll’s later work. However, where Alice tumbles into Wonderland, Anodos (MacDonald’s protagonist) finds himself in Fairy-Land, a decidedly darker and drearier setting which is reflected aptly in Anodos’ state of mind throughout the novel. It is rich with moral lessons but avoids, for the most part, being overly moralistic. It is dense with symbolism which, at times, can be mercifully transparent but at others, equally as elusive; the many and varied interpretations of the work attest to this. Given the apparent lack of any really in-depth study this work has attracted, perhaps it is destined to forever remain a subjective symbolic experience.
Towards the beginning of his travels through Fairy-Land, Anodos brings to life a white lady of alabaster (Pygmalion/Galatea style) by singing to her, after apparently inheriting the vocal/musical talents of Orpheus. As with every woman/female being in this novel, Anodos falls hopelessly in lust with her and the bass line of the tale is Anodos searching for this lost beauty. The seemingly simple plot, however, is anything but, frequently taking on the characteristics of an incoherent and wildly unpredictable fever dream. To take a passage from the story itself:
“it seemed to me, all the time, as if I were hearing a child talk in its sleep. I could not arrange her story in my mind at all, although it seemed to leave hers in some certain order of its own.”
See, one of MacDonald’s main focuses is on belief; the idea that as we grow older, our ability to imagine/to believe is compromised due to an intellectual skepticism (I would argue an informed one vs. 'ignorance is bliss' which occasionally seems to be what MacDonald is aiming for) and false ideals promoted by the societies we live in. This side of Anodos is symbolised by an insidious shadow that attaches itself to him partway through the novel. A manifestation of the fear, lust and greed that clouds his vision, the shadow quite literally prevents Anodos from seeing aspects of the Fairy world when these attributes expose themselves. This shadow ties in wonderfully with other symbolic aspects of the novel. In his “darkest hour” Anodos actually begins to relish in the company of the sinister shadow; MacDonald’s attempt to highlight the arrogance and close-mindedness of non-believers?
“In a land like this, with so many illusions everywhere, I need his aid to disenchant the things around me. He does away with all appearances, and shows me things in their true colour and form. And I am not one to be fooled with the vanities of the common crowd. I will not see beauty where there is none. I will dare to behold things as they are. And if I live in a waste instead of a paradise, I will live knowing where I live.”
At times it seems evident that MacDonald is expressing some grievances with comments he must often have had to deal with in his own life:
“you speak like a sensible man, sir. We have but few sensible folks round about us. Now, you would hardly credit it, but my wife believes every fairy-tale that ever was written. I cannot account for it. She is a most sensible woman in everything else.”
“But should not that make you treat her belief with something of respect, though you cannot share in it yourself?”
Anodos’ journey, his pilgrimage, is one from disenchantment (with Fairy Land? with God?) to spiritual rejuvenation; a reuniting with the spiritual divinity; to paraphrase Lewis, a “baptism of the imagination”. However, it is also one of self-sacrifice. One in which he grows as an individual from the materialistic 21-year-old with unrealistic ideals of love and beauty to a man who recognises true love from the superficial and what it means to love without need for reciprocation:
I knew now, that it is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, and not the being beloved by each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness.”
“how many who love never come nearer than to behold each other as in a mirror; seem to know and yet never know the inward life; never enter the other soul; and part at last, with but the vaguest notion of the universe on the borders of which they have been hovering for years?”
MacDonald’s prose is just wonderful, if at times a little flowery. Perhaps periwinkle prose would be a decent enough way to describe it; definitely heavier than lilac but not quite purple… I digress. Often, a mundane, altogether unremarkable scene is brought to life with great vibrancy thanks to the man’s delicate wielding of the pen; not only environments but atmospheres, which are expressed equally as palpably.
The regularly interspersed poems, on the other hand, were less to my liking. The quality prose lent me an unjust sense of anticipation that one of the many poems sprinkled throughout the work would blow my socks off but I found them to be, almost without exception, dull and unmoving.
Fingers crossed some of my friends list decide to pick this one up; my notes on the symbolism of different aspects are of a little more depth that what I’ve supplied in this review and I’d love to see what alternate interpretations others come up with. Happy reading! :)
Indeed, my ideal soon became my life; whereas, formerly, my life had consisted in a vain attempt to behold, if not my ideal in myself, at least myself in my ideal. Now, however, I took, at first, what perhaps was a mistaken pleasure, in despising and degrading myself. Another self seemed to arise, like a white spirit from a dead man, from the dumb and trampled self of the past. Doubtless, this self must again die and be buried, and again, from its tomb, spring a winged child; but of this my history as yet bears not the record. Self will come to life even in the slaying of self; but there is ever something deeper and stronger than it, which will emerge at last from the unknown abysses of the soul: will it be as a solemn gloom, burning with eyes? or a clear morning after the rain? or a smiling child, that finds itself nowhere, and everywhere?
“I have come through the door of Dismay; and the way back from the world into which that has led me, is through my tomb. Upon that the red sign lies, and I shall find it one day, and be glad.”
March 31, 2013
I like a good faerie story, a nice romp in fairy lands. I especially like reading older fantasy novels to help this graph I have in my head showing the progression and evolution of fantasy in literature. MacDonald's book here, published in 1857, seemed like a good one to pick up - it's an early fantasy novel with an introduction by C.S. Lewis, possibly the world's first MacDonald fanboy (and OMG he drooled all over MacDonald in that introduction), and this MacDonald guy inspired not only Lewis, but also Tolkien, and I like him, so.
Here's something I'm not always that great at, and especially right now when I'm sickly: ALLEGORIES. I often suck at reading allegories. When I read Narnia the first time? I was all, "Oh, hey, Aslan the lion is super cute." And then I learned what Narnia and Aslan represented and I was all, "No freaking way!" I had to read it all again to make sense of it all, and even then I was a little skeptical.
I went into reading this knowing a bit about MacDonald and that he wrote these allegorical type things. I was a little hesitant, but open to the idea - so many of these writers (like Lewis) write fantastical allegories and somehow in my head I'm trying to make sense of it all because that's just not how my brain works, I'm too scientific or something. I think there are religious stories and then there are fantasy novels, and I don't always get how they can be one and the same without likely getting into an argument with someone. So it's better to just keep my mouth shut.
Okay, so the story is fine, but man, it really dragged for me. I don't feel it ever really picked up, and maybe that's because I knew that I was being (for lack of a better word) tricked by MacDonald. I knew that what he was writing was not what he was saying and that made me sort of irate. So I tried to put that aside and just focus on the imagery because MacDonald wrote incredible imagery. But that trickery was beneath it and I couldn't get over it.
Plus, there are a lot of songs. Remember Tom Bombadil's songs in Tolkien? Exactly.
Whatever, this just didn't work for me. It's not without merit, though, and clearly a lot of writers I do appreciate, respect, or even enjoy were into MacDonald. I have more of his books that I will eventually read, but I'm not particularly looking forward to it.
Let's put it this way - this book wasn't worth the overdue library fees I accrued by holding onto it longer than I should have. It's just... it was so short that I thought it would read faster and that was definitely not the case.
You can put cheese on broccoli but it's still broccoli, y'know?
Here's something I'm not always that great at, and especially right now when I'm sickly: ALLEGORIES. I often suck at reading allegories. When I read Narnia the first time? I was all, "Oh, hey, Aslan the lion is super cute." And then I learned what Narnia and Aslan represented and I was all, "No freaking way!" I had to read it all again to make sense of it all, and even then I was a little skeptical.
I went into reading this knowing a bit about MacDonald and that he wrote these allegorical type things. I was a little hesitant, but open to the idea - so many of these writers (like Lewis) write fantastical allegories and somehow in my head I'm trying to make sense of it all because that's just not how my brain works, I'm too scientific or something. I think there are religious stories and then there are fantasy novels, and I don't always get how they can be one and the same without likely getting into an argument with someone. So it's better to just keep my mouth shut.
Okay, so the story is fine, but man, it really dragged for me. I don't feel it ever really picked up, and maybe that's because I knew that I was being (for lack of a better word) tricked by MacDonald. I knew that what he was writing was not what he was saying and that made me sort of irate. So I tried to put that aside and just focus on the imagery because MacDonald wrote incredible imagery. But that trickery was beneath it and I couldn't get over it.
Plus, there are a lot of songs. Remember Tom Bombadil's songs in Tolkien? Exactly.
Whatever, this just didn't work for me. It's not without merit, though, and clearly a lot of writers I do appreciate, respect, or even enjoy were into MacDonald. I have more of his books that I will eventually read, but I'm not particularly looking forward to it.
Let's put it this way - this book wasn't worth the overdue library fees I accrued by holding onto it longer than I should have. It's just... it was so short that I thought it would read faster and that was definitely not the case.
You can put cheese on broccoli but it's still broccoli, y'know?
February 20, 2011
Absolutely the most incredible book I've ever read. I'm pretty sure it will stay my favorite forever. You know those things in life (books/paintings/scenery/etc) that are just so beautiful that you know you couldn't accurately describe them? That is what this book was, to me. I know that you're not supposed to "over-sell" books, because then everyone's expectations will be high, or whatever. I don't care. This book changed how I view the world. C.S. Lewis was spot-on in his opinion of MacDonald, and especially of this book. By the time the book ended, I was transfixed in a sort of solemn reverence for life. And for death.
Just read the book, ok?
Just read the book, ok?
October 26, 2025
A strange and fascinating Victorian fantasy novel.
December 27, 2020
Dear Phantastes,
I'm sorry we didn't get along. It was me, not you. I was overtired whenever I picked you up. My first thought was, "what was George MacDonald smoking when he wrote this?"
If my life depended on it, I could not explain what happened to Anodos. Again, I was distracted.
Sometimes the timing just isn't right. A good book and a good reader don't always connect. I feel ashamed to disagree with C.S. Lewis, William Morris, J.R.R. Tolkien, W.H. Auden and Cindy Rollins.
You came through in one big way, though. My hoard of be- prefix words ballooned. besprent, bestrode, beguiled, betokened, betook, befooled, betwixt, beget, benignity, befell. Thank you!
Your befuddled friend,
Carol
I'm sorry we didn't get along. It was me, not you. I was overtired whenever I picked you up. My first thought was, "what was George MacDonald smoking when he wrote this?"
If my life depended on it, I could not explain what happened to Anodos. Again, I was distracted.
Sometimes the timing just isn't right. A good book and a good reader don't always connect. I feel ashamed to disagree with C.S. Lewis, William Morris, J.R.R. Tolkien, W.H. Auden and Cindy Rollins.
You came through in one big way, though. My hoard of be- prefix words ballooned. besprent, bestrode, beguiled, betokened, betook, befooled, betwixt, beget, benignity, befell. Thank you!
Your befuddled friend,
Carol
March 1, 2016
I know that I read this once before, many moons ago. But my only recollection of it consisted in the fact that I had read it. I recently decided to read it again because of the impact it had on Lewis. Having done so, I can only conclude that Lewis saw a great deal more in it than I was able to, although I did enjoy it -- particularly the last third. There are some great moments. But it struck me as kind of a fairy land hodge podge, only with the hodge parts and the podge parts packed closely together by hand. Anyway.
February 20, 2023
I was surprised by how this was at once mystical and then very earthy at the same time (especially the latter given it’s MacDonald). Extremely unusual writing and thought patterns. Enthralling in lots of ways. It’s a walk in a deeply rooted forest, the kind where thick and gnarly roots thrust themselves out of the ground, and it’s a forest that crowds out planet light to make you seek other sources.
August 13, 2015
In many ways this really isn't a good book. The style borders on choppy and dense. The story doesn't always flow. MacDonald routinely makes excurses without telling you. But...
The "mythopoeic" prose is its redeeming quality. MaDonald bathed the book in sacramentality. Every leaf, grove, and spring refleted redemption--and MacDonald is a talented enough artist that he can show redemption without telling you redemption (usually).
The story line is simple enough. The protagonists finds himself in "faerie land" and must navigate through trials and temptations, with all the self-discoveries.
CS Lewis mentioned this book spoke of a "good death." Seems odd that a Christian (even a heterodox one) like MacDonald would be so preoccupied with Death when most of MacDonald's works ooze "Life." What Lewis means is that MacDonald uses the medium of "death" to kill the old element and make way for the new (Life). This is none other than the Christian story of Baptism, a Baptism that our hero must undergo.
Some things I learned about Fairie Land:
*Fairy wisdom is sounder than anything we moderns have come up with.
*The Arthurian legends are reliable guides to the human conditions and are "true" on more than one level.
*Giants prefer to use maces in battle.
*Adventures usually happen in Forests.
Final thoughts:
Sometimes the beauty was so intoxicating that I felt my heart would stop. Accepting what I now do about Plato and Carl Jung, MacDonald plucked an archetypal chord in my soul.
The "mythopoeic" prose is its redeeming quality. MaDonald bathed the book in sacramentality. Every leaf, grove, and spring refleted redemption--and MacDonald is a talented enough artist that he can show redemption without telling you redemption (usually).
The story line is simple enough. The protagonists finds himself in "faerie land" and must navigate through trials and temptations, with all the self-discoveries.
CS Lewis mentioned this book spoke of a "good death." Seems odd that a Christian (even a heterodox one) like MacDonald would be so preoccupied with Death when most of MacDonald's works ooze "Life." What Lewis means is that MacDonald uses the medium of "death" to kill the old element and make way for the new (Life). This is none other than the Christian story of Baptism, a Baptism that our hero must undergo.
Some things I learned about Fairie Land:
*Fairy wisdom is sounder than anything we moderns have come up with.
*The Arthurian legends are reliable guides to the human conditions and are "true" on more than one level.
*Giants prefer to use maces in battle.
*Adventures usually happen in Forests.
Final thoughts:
Sometimes the beauty was so intoxicating that I felt my heart would stop. Accepting what I now do about Plato and Carl Jung, MacDonald plucked an archetypal chord in my soul.
August 13, 2021
I never know what to say about MacDonald's stories. He gives you no touchpoint. From the first word to the last, you drift through a dream and a mist. You never once feel the ground beneath your feet. It makes for a challenging read, requiring enormous mental focus and concentration.
But there is something marvelous about it, too. I don't know quite how to describe it. It's as if MacDonald draws a heavy veil over the world and lifts a veil at once. You're left with the sense that you've journeyed on another plane of existence, and though the details of the story fade, the feeling of it does not.
But there is something marvelous about it, too. I don't know quite how to describe it. It's as if MacDonald draws a heavy veil over the world and lifts a veil at once. You're left with the sense that you've journeyed on another plane of existence, and though the details of the story fade, the feeling of it does not.
September 2, 2015
On his twenty-first birthday, Anodos entered his father's study and opens a drawer where a little woman that claims to be his grandmother grants his wish to go to fairy-land. With many tests to pass, will he pass them all to make it into Fairy-land or is all just a fantasy? Read on and find out for yourself.
This was a pretty good read and my first ever read by George Macdonald. It was full of action, adventure, prose and was a very whimsical fantasy. Look for this book at your local library and wherever books are sold.
This was a pretty good read and my first ever read by George Macdonald. It was full of action, adventure, prose and was a very whimsical fantasy. Look for this book at your local library and wherever books are sold.
May 19, 2011
While I read this book several years ago (the 2006 date is a "best guess"), I'd actually started it back in 1990 and didn't finish it at that time. It gets off to kind of a slow start, and one element in the storyline was initially off-putting to me (but no spoilers here!). However, I'm glad I decided to give it a second and fairer chance; it proved to be a solid three-star fantasy that I enjoyed. Basically, it's a coming-of-age tale in a fantasy setting; and it's perhaps the first example in the modern tradition of a child/youth from the real world finding his way into a fantasy world. (Knowing that MacDonald was a favorite author of C. S. Lewis, it isn't hard to see the influence of this work on the idea behind the latter's Narnia series.) There are actually no explicit Christian references in the book, but the author's Christian worldview underlies the strongly moral tone and messages here. Of course, this is a 19th-century work, with Victorian diction throughout; readers who find that problematic will probably enjoy the book less than those of us who don't mind that!
January 2, 2015
This is a neat little book. It's a bit episodic, and a little flowery, but it's really vivid; there's some terrific imagery in here.
It's the story of some dude who goes to fairy land and wanders around mooning after some lady. There are giants and goblins. It's considered one of the first fantasy novels, and a big influence on CS Lewis and Tolkien. It makes for a nice bridge between medieval fantasy precursors like Morte D'Arthur and Beowulf* and the later official fantasy genre.
* what? There are knights and monsters, what did you think fantasy was?
It changed CS Lewis's life, judging from his fawning introduction, but it didn't change mine. I don't even like fantasy. But it's pretty cool.
It's the story of some dude who goes to fairy land and wanders around mooning after some lady. There are giants and goblins. It's considered one of the first fantasy novels, and a big influence on CS Lewis and Tolkien. It makes for a nice bridge between medieval fantasy precursors like Morte D'Arthur and Beowulf* and the later official fantasy genre.
* what? There are knights and monsters, what did you think fantasy was?
It changed CS Lewis's life, judging from his fawning introduction, but it didn't change mine. I don't even like fantasy. But it's pretty cool.
January 7, 2020
January 2020 review:
What can I write about a book like Phantastes? It’s a novel that seems like it wasn’t crafted so much as found, its vignettes—alternately dreamy or nightmarish, adventurous or languid—not invented but simply reported and transmitted through the pages, verbatim visions of the fairy world. It feels like a living book, a story that will respond to me in whatever way I need, depending on where I am and what I need at the moment. I’ve read it twice in the past year, and in hoping to reread it once a year from now on, I expect that it will feel like a slightly different story each time.
It’s also a book of books, of connections to other stories I’m very familiar with. Much of it feels like almost the same Wonderland as Lewis Carroll’s—and because of the great friendship between MacDonald and Carroll, that’s a pretty direct connection of influence. Phantastes also reminds me, of course, of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, where, again, MacDonald is a known influence on both authors. But the book it most reminds me of is a connection I didn’t expect (though probably should have): Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story. Parts of Anodos’s journey into shadow, darkness, and death and then back to life are extremely similar to what Bastian Balthazar Bux goes through when he’s pulled into Fantastica and loses himself before being restored. Both protagonists are cared for by compassionate women who nurture them as though they were children again, helping them to see what love truly means. The connection between MacDonald and Ende shouldn’t have surprised me, because they both draw from the German Romance tradition of fairy tales. The similarities between the books don’t make me love either one less; they are both treasured favorites.
I read Phantastes in the 2017 annotated edition, edited by John Pennington and Roderick McGillis. Annotations are almost mandatory for this book, which is full of fragments of other books and poems, and a bit of archaic language that needs clarification. The editors also point out connections to larger literary themes, which enhanced my appreciation of the book. In the back of the volume, the editors have even collected the full (or fuller) versions of a number of the works referenced in Phantastes.
I only have two criticisms of the annotated edition. One is that the publication has a very self-published feel, which is disappointing because I’d love for a book like this to be more of an heirloom, not a cheap paperback with adequate but not beautiful formatting. My other disappointment is that the back matter contains a short article about Arthur Hughes’s illustrations for the 1905 edition—and then reprints those illustrations much too small to be really appreciated. Really, each illustration should have been given a full page.
Phantastes wouldn’t be to everyone’s liking (its initial reviews in 1858 were mostly negative, too), but for those who have an eye to see what’s in it, and the patience to journey with MacDonald and Anodos, it’s a tremendous experience.
October 2019 review:
It's been a while since I finished a book and immediately wanted to read it again. I'm going to do that with Phantastes, so I won't write much about it until I've been through it one more time. Amazing book.
What can I write about a book like Phantastes? It’s a novel that seems like it wasn’t crafted so much as found, its vignettes—alternately dreamy or nightmarish, adventurous or languid—not invented but simply reported and transmitted through the pages, verbatim visions of the fairy world. It feels like a living book, a story that will respond to me in whatever way I need, depending on where I am and what I need at the moment. I’ve read it twice in the past year, and in hoping to reread it once a year from now on, I expect that it will feel like a slightly different story each time.
It’s also a book of books, of connections to other stories I’m very familiar with. Much of it feels like almost the same Wonderland as Lewis Carroll’s—and because of the great friendship between MacDonald and Carroll, that’s a pretty direct connection of influence. Phantastes also reminds me, of course, of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, where, again, MacDonald is a known influence on both authors. But the book it most reminds me of is a connection I didn’t expect (though probably should have): Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story. Parts of Anodos’s journey into shadow, darkness, and death and then back to life are extremely similar to what Bastian Balthazar Bux goes through when he’s pulled into Fantastica and loses himself before being restored. Both protagonists are cared for by compassionate women who nurture them as though they were children again, helping them to see what love truly means. The connection between MacDonald and Ende shouldn’t have surprised me, because they both draw from the German Romance tradition of fairy tales. The similarities between the books don’t make me love either one less; they are both treasured favorites.
I read Phantastes in the 2017 annotated edition, edited by John Pennington and Roderick McGillis. Annotations are almost mandatory for this book, which is full of fragments of other books and poems, and a bit of archaic language that needs clarification. The editors also point out connections to larger literary themes, which enhanced my appreciation of the book. In the back of the volume, the editors have even collected the full (or fuller) versions of a number of the works referenced in Phantastes.
I only have two criticisms of the annotated edition. One is that the publication has a very self-published feel, which is disappointing because I’d love for a book like this to be more of an heirloom, not a cheap paperback with adequate but not beautiful formatting. My other disappointment is that the back matter contains a short article about Arthur Hughes’s illustrations for the 1905 edition—and then reprints those illustrations much too small to be really appreciated. Really, each illustration should have been given a full page.
Phantastes wouldn’t be to everyone’s liking (its initial reviews in 1858 were mostly negative, too), but for those who have an eye to see what’s in it, and the patience to journey with MacDonald and Anodos, it’s a tremendous experience.
October 2019 review:
It's been a while since I finished a book and immediately wanted to read it again. I'm going to do that with Phantastes, so I won't write much about it until I've been through it one more time. Amazing book.
Even yet, I find myself looking round sometimes with anxiety, to see whether my shadow falls right away from the sun or no. I have never yet discovered any inclination to either side. And if I am not unfrequently sad, I yet cast no more of a shade on the earth, than most men who have lived in it as long as I. I have a strange feeling sometimes, that I am a ghost, sent into the world to minister to my fellow men, or, rather, to repair the wrongs I have already done. May the world be brighter for me, at least in those portions of it, where my darkness falls not.Thus I, who set out to find my Ideal, came back rejoicing that I had lost my Shadow. (194–195)
Yet I know that good is coming to me—that good is always coming; though few have at all times the simplicity and the courage to believe it. What we call evil, is the only and best shape, which, for the person and his condition at the time, could be assumed by the best good. (195–196)
November 3, 2019
Fantasy in water colors by the great maker of myth.
September 9, 2024
I have always wanted to read George MacDonald. I had tried a couple of his books earlier when our children were young, but I was either too busy, it was the wrong book, or it simply wasn’t the right time. Anyway, I never could get into him. This time I persisted and read the entire book although there were parts where he lost me. Also, I am not a huge fan of poetry and there is a LOT of poetry here.
Each chapter begins with a quote and many of those are short poems which I tried to connect with what came next but without much success, probably because I was struggling to simply keep up with MacDonald. Fantasy is not my forte. I prefer, or am used to non-fiction, classics, history, biographies, theology, basically serious reading. Not that fantasy can’t be serious—reading Phantastes was serious work for me! But I went into it thinking it would be relaxing and light. Wrong! It was harder for me than many other texts I read to glean so-called hard information. Reading more MacDonald in the future will be good for me as it will force my mind to work differently or maybe I mean, force parts of my brain to work that usually don't with my typical reading.
As for the text itself, it was a dreamlike journey with various adventures which the main character, a 21-year-old man, Anodos, was on. You aren’t sure until the end of the book if he’s dreaming, if the experience is real and if so, to what extent. Knowing MacDonald’s influence on C.S. Lewis, I was prepared for anything, so I was able to keep my mind open on that aspect at least.
Some story-events along the overall journey, like the one with the mother and daughter and the trees, I liked and mostly understood. Some like the one with beech tree, the wonderful Fairy Palace and the sad story of Cosmo I really loved. Some like Pocket and Primrose, I think I understood but didn’t really care for. Others like the sculptor and the white lady, Isis in the White Hall and the shadow, confused the heck out of me until the end and I don’t know if I liked them or not. Others were a combination of people who seemed somewhat like non-fairy people and fairy people, and I found that confusing. What was I to make of that? I had so many questions. I loved the two brothers he befriended and enjoyed that story very much as well as the old lady with the young eyes who knew so much and kept helping Anodos through so many difficulties. I wanted her to come back and expected her to... But the good knight and his fair lady were probably my favorites!
I suspect it is a book to be enjoyed more on subsequent readings because knowing the outcome you can relax, take each separate vignette as it comes and appreciate it for its contribution to the whole, which I think is what MacDonald wants us to do. I rather suspect he is telling us that is what God wants us to do here in our own ‘faerie realm’ which we understand about as well as Andos (and we the reader?) understood his travels and travails.
I am giving it 4 stars now only because I do not understand it well enough. I hope that when I return to it, I will be able to give it an additional star.
*I have a small collection of MacDonald's books which I bought back in the 90’s. I couldn't afford them now, or if I could, the shipping from the UK would kill me. They are hand bound by the Johannesen family. My book looks exactly like the one depicted except it is red. It is illustrated with those charming old-fashioned black-and-white sketches and is a reproduction of the 1905 edition. I downloaded the free kindle edition in case I want to quote anything, but I plan to only read from the book-book. It is lovely!
Each chapter begins with a quote and many of those are short poems which I tried to connect with what came next but without much success, probably because I was struggling to simply keep up with MacDonald. Fantasy is not my forte. I prefer, or am used to non-fiction, classics, history, biographies, theology, basically serious reading. Not that fantasy can’t be serious—reading Phantastes was serious work for me! But I went into it thinking it would be relaxing and light. Wrong! It was harder for me than many other texts I read to glean so-called hard information. Reading more MacDonald in the future will be good for me as it will force my mind to work differently or maybe I mean, force parts of my brain to work that usually don't with my typical reading.
As for the text itself, it was a dreamlike journey with various adventures which the main character, a 21-year-old man, Anodos, was on. You aren’t sure until the end of the book if he’s dreaming, if the experience is real and if so, to what extent. Knowing MacDonald’s influence on C.S. Lewis, I was prepared for anything, so I was able to keep my mind open on that aspect at least.
Some story-events along the overall journey, like the one with the mother and daughter and the trees, I liked and mostly understood. Some like the one with beech tree, the wonderful Fairy Palace and the sad story of Cosmo I really loved. Some like Pocket and Primrose, I think I understood but didn’t really care for. Others like the sculptor and the white lady, Isis in the White Hall and the shadow, confused the heck out of me until the end and I don’t know if I liked them or not. Others were a combination of people who seemed somewhat like non-fairy people and fairy people, and I found that confusing. What was I to make of that? I had so many questions. I loved the two brothers he befriended and enjoyed that story very much as well as the old lady with the young eyes who knew so much and kept helping Anodos through so many difficulties. I wanted her to come back and expected her to... But the good knight and his fair lady were probably my favorites!
I suspect it is a book to be enjoyed more on subsequent readings because knowing the outcome you can relax, take each separate vignette as it comes and appreciate it for its contribution to the whole, which I think is what MacDonald wants us to do. I rather suspect he is telling us that is what God wants us to do here in our own ‘faerie realm’ which we understand about as well as Andos (and we the reader?) understood his travels and travails.
I am giving it 4 stars now only because I do not understand it well enough. I hope that when I return to it, I will be able to give it an additional star.
*I have a small collection of MacDonald's books which I bought back in the 90’s. I couldn't afford them now, or if I could, the shipping from the UK would kill me. They are hand bound by the Johannesen family. My book looks exactly like the one depicted except it is red. It is illustrated with those charming old-fashioned black-and-white sketches and is a reproduction of the 1905 edition. I downloaded the free kindle edition in case I want to quote anything, but I plan to only read from the book-book. It is lovely!
April 4, 2007
A friend and I decided to have "family story time" each evening as a new bedtime routine to help us fall asleep more calmly in the midst of interpersonal and academic stress. We chose this classic tale, picked up by C.S. Lewis at a train station (he later said that it influenced his writing greatly).. it's a fabulous read-aloud story because the writing is just so darn good, especially in the introductory chapters. We have at least a dozen notecards with quotes from the book scattered about the room now.
May 13, 2025
Very good. Now if only I could understand more of the symbolism....
October 8, 2016
This is one of those books that I wanted to love. There are portions of it that I really enjoyed, and I like the overall tone of the book. It is high and poetic, but this is also where I get lost. As I read it, I felt like there was a lot going over my head. I might need to get some sort of commentary on this book or reread it with some people that are smarter than me. I will definitely have to tackle this again in the future.
December 22, 2020
"Be thy heart a well of love, my child,
Flowing, and free, and sure;
For a cistern of love, though undefiled,
Keeps not the spirit pure."
This book is unlike anything else I have ever read, and soooooo beautiful!!! I didn't want it to end, but I know I'll be reading it again and again. I feel like there is so much to be drawn from it that I haven't grasped yet. What fascinated me most was the shadow that followed Anodos and its effect on him and those around him. I can't quite make up my mind what it symbolized, but I think it is something I've dealt with...
"Everybody’s shadow is ranging up and down looking for him. I believe you call it by a different name in your world: yours has found you, as every person’s is almost certain to do who looks into that closet, especially after meeting one in the forest, whom I dare say you have met."
"But the most dreadful thing of all was, that I now began to feel something like satisfaction in the presence of the shadow. I began to be rather vain of my attendant, saying to myself, 'In a land like this, with so many illusions everywhere, I need his aid to disenchant the things around me. He does away with all appearances, and shows me things in their true colour and form. And I am not one to be fooled with the vanities of the common crowd. I will not see beauty where there is none. I will dare to behold things as they are. And if I live in a waste instead of a paradise, I will live knowing where I live.'"
"Shadow of me!” I said; “which art not me, but which representest thyself to me as me; here I may find a shadow of light which will devour thee, the shadow of darkness! Here I may find a blessing which will fall on thee as a curse, and damn thee to the blackness whence thou hast emerged unbidden."
The main lesson of the story seems to be about a pure, self-emptying love...
"I knew now, that it is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, and not the being loved by each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness. I knew that love gives to him that loveth, power over any soul beloved, even if that soul know him not, bringing him inwardly close to that spirit; a power that cannot be but for good; for in proportion as selfishness intrudes, the love ceases, and the power which springs therefrom dies. Yet all love will, one day, meet with its return. All true love will, one day, behold its own image in the eyes of the beloved, and be humbly glad. This is possible in the realms of lofty Death."
George MacDonald's writing is full of such a sweet, delicate loveliness I can't even describe. I will only quote C.S. Lewis and tell you that "...whatever the book you are reading now, you simply MUST get this at once." 😂
Flowing, and free, and sure;
For a cistern of love, though undefiled,
Keeps not the spirit pure."
This book is unlike anything else I have ever read, and soooooo beautiful!!! I didn't want it to end, but I know I'll be reading it again and again. I feel like there is so much to be drawn from it that I haven't grasped yet. What fascinated me most was the shadow that followed Anodos and its effect on him and those around him. I can't quite make up my mind what it symbolized, but I think it is something I've dealt with...
"Everybody’s shadow is ranging up and down looking for him. I believe you call it by a different name in your world: yours has found you, as every person’s is almost certain to do who looks into that closet, especially after meeting one in the forest, whom I dare say you have met."
"But the most dreadful thing of all was, that I now began to feel something like satisfaction in the presence of the shadow. I began to be rather vain of my attendant, saying to myself, 'In a land like this, with so many illusions everywhere, I need his aid to disenchant the things around me. He does away with all appearances, and shows me things in their true colour and form. And I am not one to be fooled with the vanities of the common crowd. I will not see beauty where there is none. I will dare to behold things as they are. And if I live in a waste instead of a paradise, I will live knowing where I live.'"
"Shadow of me!” I said; “which art not me, but which representest thyself to me as me; here I may find a shadow of light which will devour thee, the shadow of darkness! Here I may find a blessing which will fall on thee as a curse, and damn thee to the blackness whence thou hast emerged unbidden."
The main lesson of the story seems to be about a pure, self-emptying love...
"I knew now, that it is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, and not the being loved by each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness. I knew that love gives to him that loveth, power over any soul beloved, even if that soul know him not, bringing him inwardly close to that spirit; a power that cannot be but for good; for in proportion as selfishness intrudes, the love ceases, and the power which springs therefrom dies. Yet all love will, one day, meet with its return. All true love will, one day, behold its own image in the eyes of the beloved, and be humbly glad. This is possible in the realms of lofty Death."
George MacDonald's writing is full of such a sweet, delicate loveliness I can't even describe. I will only quote C.S. Lewis and tell you that "...whatever the book you are reading now, you simply MUST get this at once." 😂
May 13, 2011
“But Love is such a Mystery
I cannot find it out:
For when I think I’m best resolv’d,
I then am in most doubt.”
(Sir John Suckling)
I have just finished Phantastes and was immediately compelled to put my thoughts to paper. What attracted me to the book was, beside the title, the blurb at the back which said the story is a “fairy tale for adults” and I needed no more persuasion.
The book relates the story of Anodos, a young wealthy man who, on his 21st birthday receives the keys to a mysterious secretary which belonged to his father. He opens it and so begins his journey into adulthood. It is really the story of his coming of age through challenges he has to overcome, of joy and love and sadness and despair, for he must go through all of that.
His journey takes him to a fantastic land – he meets a birch-tree that is not really a tree, statues that are not really statues, giants and knights and kind old ladies. He is imprisoned but escapes, he fights for a noble cause and wins, he meets all sorts of creatures, good and evil, all meant to make him understand and learn life’s lessons. Learn that sometimes we do harm and are forgiven by those whom we have hurt, that love can be of many ways, that beauty does not equal purity of soul, and friendship has wonderful rewards. Each adventure is meant to teach him something and he comes out of this experience changed, an adult.
Although the language was not very easy to read (the book was, after all, published in the mid 1850’s) and I found myself going back to re-read certain passages, the story had a melody which made me want to keep going. Imbued with wonderful bits of poetry and very vividly described scenes, it took me to another world where everything was possible and nothing was left to chance, to a land where beauty goes hand in hand with ugliness and where weeping is the companion of laughter. In other words, life.
“Fight on, my men, Sir Andrew sayes,
A little Ime hurt, but yett not slaine;
Yle but lye downe and bleede awhile,
And then Ile rise and fight againe.”
(Ballad of Sir Andrew Barton)
I cannot find it out:
For when I think I’m best resolv’d,
I then am in most doubt.”
(Sir John Suckling)
I have just finished Phantastes and was immediately compelled to put my thoughts to paper. What attracted me to the book was, beside the title, the blurb at the back which said the story is a “fairy tale for adults” and I needed no more persuasion.
The book relates the story of Anodos, a young wealthy man who, on his 21st birthday receives the keys to a mysterious secretary which belonged to his father. He opens it and so begins his journey into adulthood. It is really the story of his coming of age through challenges he has to overcome, of joy and love and sadness and despair, for he must go through all of that.
His journey takes him to a fantastic land – he meets a birch-tree that is not really a tree, statues that are not really statues, giants and knights and kind old ladies. He is imprisoned but escapes, he fights for a noble cause and wins, he meets all sorts of creatures, good and evil, all meant to make him understand and learn life’s lessons. Learn that sometimes we do harm and are forgiven by those whom we have hurt, that love can be of many ways, that beauty does not equal purity of soul, and friendship has wonderful rewards. Each adventure is meant to teach him something and he comes out of this experience changed, an adult.
Although the language was not very easy to read (the book was, after all, published in the mid 1850’s) and I found myself going back to re-read certain passages, the story had a melody which made me want to keep going. Imbued with wonderful bits of poetry and very vividly described scenes, it took me to another world where everything was possible and nothing was left to chance, to a land where beauty goes hand in hand with ugliness and where weeping is the companion of laughter. In other words, life.
“Fight on, my men, Sir Andrew sayes,
A little Ime hurt, but yett not slaine;
Yle but lye downe and bleede awhile,
And then Ile rise and fight againe.”
(Ballad of Sir Andrew Barton)
December 13, 2021
I could see the greatness of this fairytale, however it wasn't quite my cup of tea. It felt to flowery and fantastical for my current mood and I wasn't able to fully connect to the story. Maybe one day I'll pick it up again and have another outcome
July 10, 2017
A veces pienso en las canciones que, por sus letras, me remiten de inmediato a mi idea central de lo que es la fantasía. Algún día diré cuál es el top de esas canciones, pero me voy a quedar con la que es mi favorita:
'Ahorra una pequeña vela: guarda algo de luz para mí
Hay figuras allá delante, moviéndose por entre los árboles
piel blanca cubierta de lino, perfume en mi muñeca
y la luna llena que cuelga por sobre los sueños entre la bruma'
(...)
'Es capa y espada, puede ser primavera o verano
camino sin cortarme a través de un vitral
más débil de la vista, aferrándome a la vela
y palabras que no tienen forma caen de mis labios'
(...)
'La canción más dulce es el mayor silencio que he escuchado
en tus sueños es curioso ver que tus pies no tocan la tierra
en un bosque lleno de príncipes un beso es la libertad
pero el príncipe tiene su rostro oculto por los sueños entre la bruma'
La canción es These Dreams, de Heart. Y perdón por poner las tres estrofas, pero quiero remarcar con fuerza la imagen mental que me causa esa idea onírica de desplazarme por un mundo ajeno y misterioso, donde el peligro se da la mano con el asombro y los sentimientos más sublimes al contemplar la belleza y el asombro inefables.
Es curioso tener que regresar a una novela de 1858 para acceder al núcleo de la idea de la fantasía. Todo lo que le ha caído encima al género a lo largo de tantos años ha añadido 'awesomeness' (o 'genialidad' en el sentido dude del término) muchas veces a costa de cerrar como un capullo este centro de lo fantástico. Ese centro, por supuesto, es el provocar asombro a través de cosas que nos son ajenas.
Voy a empezar por el aspecto más literal, que quiero que olvidemos pronto. Es un libro plagado de metáforas, que si uno se pone investigar, resulta ser no más y no menos que una visión y un alegato del autor para oponerse a la idea calvinista de la predestinación, y a contrarrestarla con ideas propias sobre cómo conquistar la idea de la muerte y adquirir la gracia (y quiero creer, lo que mis maestros de filosofía llamaban 'la vida lograda'). Pero como dije, dejemos eso aparte.
Donde me quiero enfocar es en que entendamos la importancia de MacDonald (y de esta novela) como un puente entre el Romanticismo puro y la fantasía central de los Inklings -Tolkien, Lewis et. al-. Porque Fantastes es una especie de 'Los Himnos a la Noche' redux en forma de cuento de hadas. Tuve la suerte de que me hicieran leer a Novalis en la escuela (y digo suerte porque en aquella época ya me fascinaba la idea de lo romántico), así que reencontrame con alguien tan profundamente imbuido de las ideas místicas de Novalis, tan dispuesto a hacerles un homenaje y tan gozoso de juntarlo con tradiciones folclóricas de cuentos de hadas fue algo que no esperaba. Y me encanta encontrame con libros que no esperaba.
No voy a decir mentiras: uno tiene que tener algo de kilometraje en fantasía (y repito: de preferencia haber leído a Novalis) para disfrutar y apreciar Fantastes al 100%. MacDonald tiende a hacer digresiones contemplativas sobre todo lo que Ánodos, el protagonista, observa y vive mientras corre toda suerte de aventuras en Fata. También tiende a usar canciones, que no son muy buenas que digamos. Pero si uno está entrenado encontrará lo profunda e increíblemente maravilloso que es este libro y podrá, espero, ser movido como yo lo fui. Y de al final sentirse agradecido por hallarse con algo que desgrana belleza, asombro y fascinación con ideas poderosas sobre la vida lograda.
Si al final tengo que ponerle un adjetivo a esta novela, es: 'la fantasía irrestricta'. Una fantasía que no fue afectada por los artificios de tener por fuerza que tener un 'gran worldbuilding', 'una moralidad gris' o personajes que sean 'badass'. Gracias a Dios.
'Ahorra una pequeña vela: guarda algo de luz para mí
Hay figuras allá delante, moviéndose por entre los árboles
piel blanca cubierta de lino, perfume en mi muñeca
y la luna llena que cuelga por sobre los sueños entre la bruma'
(...)
'Es capa y espada, puede ser primavera o verano
camino sin cortarme a través de un vitral
más débil de la vista, aferrándome a la vela
y palabras que no tienen forma caen de mis labios'
(...)
'La canción más dulce es el mayor silencio que he escuchado
en tus sueños es curioso ver que tus pies no tocan la tierra
en un bosque lleno de príncipes un beso es la libertad
pero el príncipe tiene su rostro oculto por los sueños entre la bruma'
La canción es These Dreams, de Heart. Y perdón por poner las tres estrofas, pero quiero remarcar con fuerza la imagen mental que me causa esa idea onírica de desplazarme por un mundo ajeno y misterioso, donde el peligro se da la mano con el asombro y los sentimientos más sublimes al contemplar la belleza y el asombro inefables.
Es curioso tener que regresar a una novela de 1858 para acceder al núcleo de la idea de la fantasía. Todo lo que le ha caído encima al género a lo largo de tantos años ha añadido 'awesomeness' (o 'genialidad' en el sentido dude del término) muchas veces a costa de cerrar como un capullo este centro de lo fantástico. Ese centro, por supuesto, es el provocar asombro a través de cosas que nos son ajenas.
Voy a empezar por el aspecto más literal, que quiero que olvidemos pronto. Es un libro plagado de metáforas, que si uno se pone investigar, resulta ser no más y no menos que una visión y un alegato del autor para oponerse a la idea calvinista de la predestinación, y a contrarrestarla con ideas propias sobre cómo conquistar la idea de la muerte y adquirir la gracia (y quiero creer, lo que mis maestros de filosofía llamaban 'la vida lograda'). Pero como dije, dejemos eso aparte.
Donde me quiero enfocar es en que entendamos la importancia de MacDonald (y de esta novela) como un puente entre el Romanticismo puro y la fantasía central de los Inklings -Tolkien, Lewis et. al-. Porque Fantastes es una especie de 'Los Himnos a la Noche' redux en forma de cuento de hadas. Tuve la suerte de que me hicieran leer a Novalis en la escuela (y digo suerte porque en aquella época ya me fascinaba la idea de lo romántico), así que reencontrame con alguien tan profundamente imbuido de las ideas místicas de Novalis, tan dispuesto a hacerles un homenaje y tan gozoso de juntarlo con tradiciones folclóricas de cuentos de hadas fue algo que no esperaba. Y me encanta encontrame con libros que no esperaba.
No voy a decir mentiras: uno tiene que tener algo de kilometraje en fantasía (y repito: de preferencia haber leído a Novalis) para disfrutar y apreciar Fantastes al 100%. MacDonald tiende a hacer digresiones contemplativas sobre todo lo que Ánodos, el protagonista, observa y vive mientras corre toda suerte de aventuras en Fata. También tiende a usar canciones, que no son muy buenas que digamos. Pero si uno está entrenado encontrará lo profunda e increíblemente maravilloso que es este libro y podrá, espero, ser movido como yo lo fui. Y de al final sentirse agradecido por hallarse con algo que desgrana belleza, asombro y fascinación con ideas poderosas sobre la vida lograda.
Si al final tengo que ponerle un adjetivo a esta novela, es: 'la fantasía irrestricta'. Una fantasía que no fue afectada por los artificios de tener por fuerza que tener un 'gran worldbuilding', 'una moralidad gris' o personajes que sean 'badass'. Gracias a Dios.
February 12, 2019
I have such mixed feelings about this book, so I'm going to rate each third separately.
The beginning of "Phantastes": 3*
The book started off delightful and whimsical. We're drawn into a perplexing but beautiful faerie world with the narrator, Anados. It's lovely and leisurely and adventurous. I felt a little lost, since I had no previous exposure to faerie lore (my fairy experience is very Disney-fied), but it was okay, since Anados also didn't know a ton about what was happening. Though it was pleasant, it wasn't exceptionally memorable, and there didn't seem to be a lot of meaning behind the early experiences.
The middle: 2*
I didn't hate this portion. It did start to drag, though. I eventually wearied of repetitive strange experiences that Anados had, which seemed to have little relation to each other, no predictable pattern. I also got frustrated with Anados, who seemed like a lustful teenager with no long-term memory. I almost put the book down entirely.
The end: 5*
I'm so glad I pushed through. All of a sudden, Phantastes turned beautiful. Truth after truth poured out of the pages, and all of the stories' messages were just what I needed to hear: "Past tears are present strength." "Rest is as needful as toil." "Better to...live in the love that floweth forth, than the love that cometh in."
Oh, the ending was rapturously gorgeous. It left me with a sense of awe, a new appreciation for life, and a drive to serve others more heartily.
Probably the ending was so beautiful because of the parts that came before. I just wish there had been more hints of the glory that was coming in the earlier sections, something to draw me forward and keep me intrigued.
If you're looking for a book that takes commitment but will yield poignant fruit, this is the book for you.
The beginning of "Phantastes": 3*
The book started off delightful and whimsical. We're drawn into a perplexing but beautiful faerie world with the narrator, Anados. It's lovely and leisurely and adventurous. I felt a little lost, since I had no previous exposure to faerie lore (my fairy experience is very Disney-fied), but it was okay, since Anados also didn't know a ton about what was happening. Though it was pleasant, it wasn't exceptionally memorable, and there didn't seem to be a lot of meaning behind the early experiences.
The middle: 2*
I didn't hate this portion. It did start to drag, though. I eventually wearied of repetitive strange experiences that Anados had, which seemed to have little relation to each other, no predictable pattern. I also got frustrated with Anados, who seemed like a lustful teenager with no long-term memory. I almost put the book down entirely.
The end: 5*
I'm so glad I pushed through. All of a sudden, Phantastes turned beautiful. Truth after truth poured out of the pages, and all of the stories' messages were just what I needed to hear: "Past tears are present strength." "Rest is as needful as toil." "Better to...live in the love that floweth forth, than the love that cometh in."
Oh, the ending was rapturously gorgeous. It left me with a sense of awe, a new appreciation for life, and a drive to serve others more heartily.
Probably the ending was so beautiful because of the parts that came before. I just wish there had been more hints of the glory that was coming in the earlier sections, something to draw me forward and keep me intrigued.
If you're looking for a book that takes commitment but will yield poignant fruit, this is the book for you.
February 20, 2019
"Everywhere in Fairy Land forests are the places where one may most certainly expect adventures."
I loved the vivid descriptions in this fantasy journey of Anodos, but it was so meandering that I got bogged down in this relatively short read. Sometimes I felt I was hearing the same story over and over just in a slightly different light or setting. There were definitely some sections, I found more enchanting than others, but overall it was just OK. Maybe its because the fantasy genre has come so far since this early work. I was reading this as part of a group read, thank goodness. It kept me reading and "hearing" some different takes on what it all could mean.
I loved the vivid descriptions in this fantasy journey of Anodos, but it was so meandering that I got bogged down in this relatively short read. Sometimes I felt I was hearing the same story over and over just in a slightly different light or setting. There were definitely some sections, I found more enchanting than others, but overall it was just OK. Maybe its because the fantasy genre has come so far since this early work. I was reading this as part of a group read, thank goodness. It kept me reading and "hearing" some different takes on what it all could mean.
March 6, 2021
É um livro ótimo para quem quer conhecer a literatura dos contos de fada.
Ele é fantástico sem ser pueril, ou sem graça, ou cheio de lacunas e clichês.
Na verdade, por seu autor ter um perfil cristão, ele se assemelha em muito ao livro "O Peregrino" de John Bunyan.
Um homem faz uma viagem pelo Reino das Fadas, e obviamente, se trata da própria viagem de sua vida, na qual tem de lidar com seus medos, dons, e naturais inclinações.
Não é sem razão que foi o livro que inspirou C. S. Lewis a escrever as "Crônicas de Nárnia".
Recomendo: 👍🏻 ⭐️
Ele é fantástico sem ser pueril, ou sem graça, ou cheio de lacunas e clichês.
Na verdade, por seu autor ter um perfil cristão, ele se assemelha em muito ao livro "O Peregrino" de John Bunyan.
Um homem faz uma viagem pelo Reino das Fadas, e obviamente, se trata da própria viagem de sua vida, na qual tem de lidar com seus medos, dons, e naturais inclinações.
Não é sem razão que foi o livro que inspirou C. S. Lewis a escrever as "Crônicas de Nárnia".
Recomendo: 👍🏻 ⭐️
January 14, 2019
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, as I normally do not read much "fantasy" literature, but then the author, George MacDonald, did clarify this is not the usual children's fairy tale in the title, Phantastes: A Fairie Romance for Men and Women. The story centers around Anodos who has turned 21 and heir to the estate of his father, who has died. Anodos is given the key to his father's secretary and his journey begins upon opening a small drawer in that desk releasing an aged, miniscule and magical woman. She was aware that the previous night, after reading a fairy tale, Anodos' sister asked, "is there a fairy-country, brother?" Anodos responded he "supposed there is, if one could find the way into it." This miniscule creature transformed herself into a beautiful woman to appease Anodos' doubts that she could grant his wish to "find the way" into Fairy Land. She told him he will find the way tomorrow and suddenly disappeared. The manner in which this spirit woman addresses Anodos indicates this is partly a coming-of-age story, as she calls him "foolish boy" and reprimands him by saying, "Is that all the philosophy you have gained in one-and-twenty years" and then she acccommodates herself to his "foolish prejudices" and changes her size. The next morning Anodos begins his wandering, rambling quest in Fairy Land where he finds magical trees, caves, human-like statues, knights, castles, giants, nymphs, and difficult adventures. Each adventure teaches him something new and he learns about true love, friendship, selflessness and humility. MacDonald's wonderful imagery lends to the mystery and magic of the story and he creates an anticipation and mood that keeps the reader's attention. I enjoyed the narrative form as well as the stories within the story to embellish this tale. It is also interesting that the name Anodos comes from the Greek meaning pathless or ascent.
November 5, 2009
Lyrical, mesmerizing "faerie romance for men and women", thus far this story focuses on Anodos and his epic journey through the dreamlike Fairy Land - but if the reader is looking for tiny winged creatures, he will find them only briefly; Fairy Land is populated with numerous inhabitants who are in fact human, and others appear so but with supernatural qualities. Though society (and rampant marketing) have oversold the idea of a benign parallel world of beauty and frolicking sprites, make no mistake - the world McDonald has created is far more than pan flutes, babbling brooks and laughter, and much of the main character's adventure involves the grotesque and disturbing; Anodos definitely has his work cut out for him here.
A wonderful, wonderful, story, with some of the most beautiful imagery I've read, and a glorious finish. Regarding the back-cover reference to a "faerie romance" - this is without question a love story, but not in the blushing, eyelid-fluttering sense of the word. Boys and men would do well to read this book, and will have plenty to rivet their attention.
A wonderful, wonderful, story, with some of the most beautiful imagery I've read, and a glorious finish. Regarding the back-cover reference to a "faerie romance" - this is without question a love story, but not in the blushing, eyelid-fluttering sense of the word. Boys and men would do well to read this book, and will have plenty to rivet their attention.
September 24, 2010
Like many of the other reviewers, I am certain that a second reading would reveal much more of this story to me. Many times throughtout the reading I wished I could just jump into MacDonalds mind and find the key to much that I am sure is allegorical! This book is so beautiful it almost hurts. I loved and was confused by it. I know now why C.S. Lewis thought him a master; if Lewis loooked up to him you know that most of the rest of us would see him as brilliant!
The story begins with this young man's 21st birthday and continues through a meeting with humans and others who inhabit the world of faerie land into which he awakens. He travels through forest and caves, sea and river eventually making a great sacrifice for the purpose of revealing truth to a beloved friend who had been decieved. The man eventually awakens from his visit and is reminded to use all he learned in faerie land to help him live his life in reality.
Not a difficult book to read, but definetly a book that bears much more study and thought than most! Recommend without reservations!
The story begins with this young man's 21st birthday and continues through a meeting with humans and others who inhabit the world of faerie land into which he awakens. He travels through forest and caves, sea and river eventually making a great sacrifice for the purpose of revealing truth to a beloved friend who had been decieved. The man eventually awakens from his visit and is reminded to use all he learned in faerie land to help him live his life in reality.
Not a difficult book to read, but definetly a book that bears much more study and thought than most! Recommend without reservations!
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