A Dish of Orts: Chiefly Papers on the Imagination, and on Shakespeare

by George MacDonald

Schoppe, the satiric chorus of Jean Paul's romance of Titan, makes his appearance at a certain masked ball, carrying in front of him a glass case, in which the ball is remasked, repeated, and again reflected in a mirror behind, by a set of puppets, ludicrously aping the apery of the courtiers, whose whole life and outward manifestation was but a body-mask mechanically moved with the semblance of real life and action. The court simulates reality.

Genres: Essays, Literary Criticism, Nonfiction, Grad School, Theology, Philosophy, Christianity

338 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1893

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

[Cindy Rollins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew!! This took me forever to finish. At times it was a two star book and at times a five star one. My favorite chapters were the one on Shakespeare, the one on Shelley which was by far the easiest to read, the Sermon, and the final essay The Fantastic Imagination.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book of essays by George MacDonald, one of the major influences on C. S. Lewis. You can read it at project Gutenberg in multiple formats--I believe its print availability is limited, but I managed to get it through interlibrary loan.

MacDonald has a way of expressing thoughts about faith that I feel like I've understood intellectually for a while, but never really "gotten" before. Some of the themes of the essays I liked the most in this book include imagination and its relationship to faith (probably the biggest theme), putting love of others over the importance of our own opinions and judgment (ouch, that's a big issue for most of us), the meaning and importance of service to others, and the meaning of "fairy tales" (basically concluding that it's okay for people to get something out of a story other than what the author meant by it, and in fact that many people will get many different things out of a fantasy story).

I wasn't as interested in the literary criticism essays, although I was very fascinated by MacDonald's thoughts on Shelley, especially the idea that an atheist who hates evil done in the name of religion can be closer to Jesus than a religious hypocrite. Wow.

The kindness, patience, and wisdom of this man are truly worth sharing--try out some works of George MacDonald and you'll probably get something out of at least one of them, hopefully more than one thing. If you're not ready to dive into a Dish of Orts, try The Princess and the Goblin to start with.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of 14 essays, some of which I found easier to relate to than others. I especially appreciated The Fantastic Imagination and would gave that 5 stars.
Some of the essay on various poets, which I have not read, did not interest me as much. I also found The Imagination and A Sketch of Individual Development to be of particular interest. I will be returning to some of these essays.

[Shelley Cottom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I particularly appreciated his first and last essays on imagination, as well as the sermon on the nature and place of opinions.

[Evan Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

[Linnea Kroeger · Rating 5 out of 5]

My two favorite essays in this collection are: "The Imagination: Its Functions and Its Culture"; and "The Fantastic Imagination"

Really, the whole thing is full of good things. I don't pretend to understand everything, but that which I did understand was fantastic!

"The best way with music, I imagine, is not to bring the forces of our intellect to bear upon it, but to be still and let it work on that part of us for whose sake it exists.

We spoil countless precious things by intellectual greed. He who will be a man, and will not be a child, must--- he cannot help himself--- become a little man, that is, a dwarf. He will, however, need no consolation, for he is sure to think himself a very large creature indeed."

[Jeremy Rios · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a whole, this collection of essays by MacDonald is uneven. A few of the essays are highly forgettable, and most of it is written in MacDonald's occasionally opaque style. However, the good essays are worth their weight in gold, and even the most forgettable of the general essays each have something in them worth underlining and remembering.

Especially worthy of reading are the essays that open and close the volume, both on the imagination. The first essay on Shakespeare has some great assessment of the life of an artist, and the essay on forms of literature gives great perspective on the meaning and purpose of literary criticism.

If you like MacDonald, then this is an important and good read.

[Ben Fredrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some real gems in this one, and there are some chapters that I just skipped over. My favorite chapters: The Imagination, On Polish, True Christian Ministering, The Fantastic Imagination.

[Josh Traylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most lovely essay collections on literature that I have read! For fans of the Romantics, Chesterton, Lewis, and Tolkien, this one is a must read. MacDonald truly serves as the greatest of bridges between the best of the Romantics, and Chesterton and the Inklings.

[Marijo Taverne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, very thought-provoking, I especially loved his discussion of imagination. I couldn’t completely agree with the two sermons but I loved everything else. I will have to reread someday because he is much smarter than I am!

[Eliza Fitzgerald]

I particularly liked the essay on Wordsworth and read it outloud to my husband

[Lynda Newman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Orts are scraps and this must be odds and ends. I will try again sometime.