MacDonald, George - The Poet's Homecoming (and others)

[Marsha Lynn]

I didn’t pick this particular title as the best of George MacDonald novels. In fact, I would say there are others that are better, although they are all good. It’s just the one I happened to pick up to reread and review.

MacDonald’s books are true classics, the ultimate Victorian romances. He was an unemployed minister writing fiction in order to support his family during the reign of Queen Victoria and included both a good amount of theology and a dash of the romantic in his books. The versions I have read, including this one, have been edited. Two different publishers reprinted his books under new titles several years ago. I prefer the ones edited by Michael R. Phillips and published by Bethany House. Phillips translated the Gaelic from the original version and trimmed down the sermonizing while leaving a goodly amount of theology.

Some may be more familiar with the fairy tales of George MacDonald. He wrote The Princess and the Goblin, At the Back of the North Wind, The Light Princess, and many others. They are excellent stories written more for adults than children. C. S. Lewis said of MacDonald, "I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master."

While the fairy tales are parables, the novels are a mix of sermon and story. It has been ten years or more since I first read them and I’d like to go back through them all and find the exact wording of the passages I find myself recalling from time to time.

Here are some samples of the quotes I pulled out of this particular book:

Surely that man is a fool who, on the ground that there cannot be such a God as other fools assert, or such a God as alone he is able to imagine, says there is no God at all!We must take heed not to judge with the idea that so we shall escape judgment -- that by condemning evil we clear ourselves. For indeed, we are told just the opposite, that by such judgment, we will come under judgment ourselves![You clergy-types will love this one] He had, like far too many of our preachers, set out to run before he could walk, begun to cry aloud before he had any truth to utter, attempted to teach, or at least interest others, before he himself was interested in others.She was a vessel of clay in an outhouse of the temple and took on her the airs - not of gold, for gold has no airs - but the airs of clay imagining itself gold, and all the golden vessels clay.If people are not lovable, it takes a saint to love them, or at least one who is not afraid of them.


These books may be difficult to find new, but they're available at libraries or in the used book market and worth picking up when you see them if you'd like to read a good story-sermon. My personal theology has been impacted more by these books than any other fiction I've encountered with the possible exception of the stories of C. S. Lewis.

Marsha

[Brad Mercer]

C.S. Lewis compiled an anthology of George MacDonald quotes. In the forward he says he's never written a book in which he did not quote from MacDonald. Trying to define what drew him to MacDonald, he acknowledges that MacDonald was not a great writer; he said it wasn't the way he wrote the story that was great, it was the story itself. He said: "His villans are stagey; His saints live." He said that ultimately what drew him to MacDonald was the spirit of holiness that pervaded his books more than those of any other author he knew. He stumbled across the MacDonald book "Phantastes" in a used book shop and he said reading it "baptized my imagination" and began the process that would ultimately lead to his conversion from athiesm to Christianity.

When I had read over 30 C.S. Lewis books -- all I could find at the time -- I had to decide where to go from there. I decided instead of reading lesser people who write about him, or try to imitate him (were "influenced" by him), I'd go backward from Lewis and read those writers who helped produce him. That mainly meant George MacDonald. Of course, this was before the horrible people Marsha mentioned tried to turn them into trite little modern Christian romances. I went looking through the University of Arizona library while I was a graduate student there in 1982, and found "Sir Gibbie". (Before they were given generic and nearly interchangeable romance novel titles, the titles were generally just the name of the main character in the story, which made them much easier to remember.) I enjoyed the challenge of mastering the Scottish dialect he has a lot of dialogue in, in the original versions. And I certainly found in the character of Sir Gibbie as inspiring and challenging a representative of holiness as I have found in fiction.

If you want the real deal, find an original version of "Sir Gibbie". If you just want the thoughts and theology in brief that drew C.S. Lewis, read his anthology.

And "The Princess and the Goblin" and "Curdie and the Princess" (I think those are the names) are great, profound, fun, memorable children's stories that I have read almost as often to my kids as I've read the Chronicles of Narnia to them. My favorite of the two is the sequel, whichever one that is. (I remember the stories better than the titles.) In fact, it might be one of my top ten favorite books (so I should probably learn to keep the title straight).

Thanks for bringing him up, Marsha.

[Marsha Lynn]

When I had read over 30 C.S. Lewis books -- all I could find at the time -- I had to decide where to go from there. I decided instead of reading lesser people who write about him, or try to imitate him (were "influenced" by him), I'd go backward from Lewis and read those writers who helped produce him. That mainly meant George MacDonald. Of course, this was before the horrible people Marsha mentioned tried to turn them into trite little modern Christian romances.

Arghh!!! I am cut to the heart. "Horrible people"? "Trite little modern Christian romances"? You have cast aside as rubbish the series of books I recommended!

I went looking through the University of Arizona library while I was a graduate student there in 1982, and found "Sir Gibbie".

OK, people. Never mind finding the edited versions. Just trot down to your nearest academic library and look for the originals. You might check out a Gaelic dictionary while you're at it if you don't have a good grasp of the Scottish dialect.

I enjoyed the challenge of mastering the Scottish dialect he has a lot of dialogue in, in the original versions. And I certainly found in the character of Sir Gibbie as inspiring and challenging a representative of holiness as I have found in fiction.

So ... you only mention Sir Gibbie. Did you go on to do the same with Malcolm, The Marquis of Lossie, Donal Grant, David Elginbrod, Robert Falconer, Alex Forbes, Thomas Wingfold, Paul Faber, There and Back, What's Mine's Mine, Weighed and Wanting, Warlock O'Glenwarlock, Salted with Fire, Mary Marston, Heather and Snow, The Elect Lady, and Home Again (the original title of the book in the subject of this thread)? All of those were edited and "translated" by Michael R. Philips and published by Bethany House during the 80s and 90s. The language is updated but the stories are still delightfully Victorian and the theology is still strong enough to merit my acknowledgement of George MacDonald as having a strong influence on my personal views solely through his fiction.

If you want the real deal, find an original version of "Sir Gibbie". If you just want the thoughts and theology in brief that drew C.S. Lewis, read his anthology.

Brad, I would ordinarily agree with you about reading abridged English-to-English translations. However, I think the teachings of George MacDonald had far more impact on me when left in their original fictional settings than had I simply read through a collection of quotes pulled out of those writings. And I was able to read more of those stories because I didn't have to hunt them down in their original form and invest time deciphering the dialect. Plus, they're delightful in a classical tone that brings Dickens to mind.

Thanks for bringing him up, Marsha.

You're welcome. And lest the ether has once again sharpened my tone, I should probably include a standard disclaimer that this protest is made in good humor and my despair at your "dissing" my review is greatly exaggerated. I liked the books published by Bethany House. You're a purist and will accept nothing but the original editions. Our listening audience is now free to make their own choice in the matter, assuming they can find the books in either form. Perhaps neither of us will find a following. That's all right we can still enjoy our own chosen format for George MacDonald novels. And we can agree that his fairy tales are marvelous.

As with Shakespeare, it is difficult to understand the original but impossible to update the language without losing some of the original meaning. How long will it be until few modern readers of The Light Princess catch the dual aspects of her losing her gravity and both floating and laughing her way through life?

Marsha

[Brad Mercer]

Arghh!!! I am cut to the heart. "Horrible people"? "Trite little modern Christian romances"? You have cast aside as rubbish the series of books I recommended!

Marsha, okay my disclaimer is that it was 3am when I wrote my original response and I had just finished sitting through a DVD of four consecutive episodes of the TV series "24", so I was tired and wired.

I actually read several of the versions edited by one guy and two or three by the other guy. All I remember now is that I preferred one over the other, but most of the titles that came out were by the one I preferred less. I read two or three in the original versions. Then when the edited versions came out I read them because I was out of school and, as you note, they were more readily available. And they were definitely still worth reading.

I just found some of the extended theologizing to be genuinely valuable, and that got cut out. And MacDonald didn't really insert dialogue in another language; he just had Scottish characters speaking in a strong Scottish dialect, which I though was cute and fun and made it more interesting and less homogenized. It wasn't like learning another language, it just took a little getting used to. I've always found anything said in some accent or dialect more colorful than the same thing said in standard English, but fears that it's racist or too difficult have made that much more rare these days.

And your Shakespeare reference is a case in point. It may be necessary in order to preserve the basic ideas and story, but it's still a shame and a loss when we re-write the work of a great master. It's not just the story but the way the way it was told that makes a great piece of literature great. They now have updated versions of Pilgrim's Progress, which I read in the original version and understood at 12 years old, and which my father-in-law read to my son when he was younger than that. They even have an "updated" version of My Utmost for His Highest, which was written by a young man less than a hundred years ago and has almost no genuinely archaic words in it. Not everyone has the same reading habits or tastes, but it's still a loss when the great words of a great writer are replaced by an editor at the behest of a marketer. But maybe some writings are a little like the Bible -- so essentially great that you just can't take the greatness out of them no matter how loose the paraphrase.

Anyway, and in any version, MacDonald should be read. One of his themes that Lewis brings out in his anthology is the "inexorable love" of God. I actually didn't know that word until I got that anthology in college and had to look it up. It's a phrase that has helped shape my understanding of Wesleyan theology -- and of God.

And by the way, I find your insights so consistently insightful that your rare disagreement gives me pause like that of hardly any other. I see your "aargh" and before I even re-read what I've written, I immediately assume I was either wrong or said it badly. ;-)

Brad

[Marsha Lynn]

Brad, I think the reason you like my opinions is because they tend to look a lot like yours. ;) This thread is no exception.

I agree that the "other" editors of MacDonald's novels cut out way too much and left only pleasant stories with barely a trace of the original richness of theology found within them, although I'd stop short of calling them "trite". Apparently, we are not alone. I can find quite a few references on Amazon to the books edited by Michael Phillips but none to those put out by the other publisher you and I both remember. They seem to have completely disappeared. I had begun to doubt my memory of them.

You have convinced me that I should start scouring used book stores for MacDonald's novels in their original form. If the Scottish dialect is indeed decipherable, I should not have to resort to an English-to-English translation for literature from the late 19th century. Meanwhile, however, I'm still planning to reread the books put out by Bethany House. They're all I have readily available.

I've encountered the "translations" of the Christian classics you mentioned. I also have been duped into "modernized" versions of Hannah Whitall Smith's A Christian's Secret of a Happy Life and J. Oswald Sanders' Spiritual Leadership. I have the original version of the former, which is not difficult to find or to read, but have yet to procure a copy of the latter in the "original language." I can tell that the revision process did not do it any favors, although the notes explaining the various references to religious leaders of Sanders' acquaintance are useful. I've read the version I have twice and will keep looking for an older copy. It's another one of those books that hang in the memory and invite one back for another look.

Marsha

[Brad Mercer]

Brad, I think the reason you like my opinions is because they tend to look a lot like yours. ;)

Yes, Professor Fred Floyd when I was at SNU said: "An unbiased person is someone who has the same bias as me." ;-)

But it really is true that you have on several occasions taken a position different from mine but done it so clearly, thoughtfully, gracefully, graciously and with such (in my experience) originality that it leaves me seriously acknowledging the value and legitmacy of a perspective that I might otherwise have just dismissed, as I am too often prone to do.

Love,
Brad

[Wanda Van Winkle]

Brad,

I read this post a couple of days ago. Tonight I started listening to 1984 by George Orwell.

Have you read it?

The character describes the elimination of words. I connected immediately to your description here.

[Brad Mercer]

Brad,

I read this post a couple of days ago. Tonight I started listening to 1984 by George Orwell.

Have you read it?

The character describes the elimination of words. I connected immediately to your description here.

Yes, I found 1984 to be one of the most fascinating, unnerving books I ever read. I am reminded of concepts like newspeak and double think fairly often. ;-)

Brad

[Hans Deventer]

Anyway, and in any version, MacDonald should be read. One of his themes that Lewis brings out in his anthology is the "inexorable love" of God. I actually didn't know that word until I got that anthology in college and had to look it up. It's a phrase that has helped shape my understanding of Wesleyan theology -- and of God.

Brad, you were referring to this quote?

Nothing is inexorable but love. Love which will yield to prayer is imperfect and poor. Nor is it then the love that yields, but its alloy .... For love loves unto purity. Love has ever in view the absolutel loveliness of that which it beholds. Where loveliness is incomplete, and love cannot love its fill of loving, it spends itself to make more lovely, that it may love more; it strives for perfection, even that itself may be perfected - not in itself, but in the object. .... Therefore all that is not beautiful in the beloved, all that comes between and is not of love's kind, must be destroyed. And our God is a consuming fire. (George MacDonald)


I wrote it down while I was at your place.

[Brad Mercer]

Man, that's incredible, powerful, compelling, deep stuff, isn't it? I need to re-read that anthology.

Thanks.

Love,
Brad

Brad, you were referring to this quote?
Nothing is inexorable but love. Love which will yield to prayer is imperfect and poor. Nor is it then the love that yields, but its alloy .... For love loves unto purity. Love has ever in view the absolutel loveliness of that which it beholds. Where loveliness is incomplete, and love cannot love its fill of loving, it spends itself to make more lovely, that it may love more; it strives for perfection, even that itself may be perfected - not in itself, but in the object. .... Therefore all that is not beautiful in the beloved, all that comes between and is not of love's kind, must be destroyed. And our God is a consuming fire. (George MacDonald)
I wrote it down while I was at your place.

[Hans Deventer]

Man, that's incredible, powerful, compelling, deep stuff, isn't it?

It is. Seems only now, I'm starting to understand part of this. Seems there is a time for a truth to hit you.

[Hans Deventer]

Man, that's incredible, powerful, compelling, deep stuff, isn't it?

Reminds me of that part in the Great Divorce where the angel approaches the ghost, and asks for his permission to kill the animal on its shoulder.

[Brad Mercer]

Yes, and in The Great Divorce, George MacDonald is the person who comes back to the outskirts of heaven to meet C.S. Lewis and guide him "further up and further in." You can see Lewis reflecting this same quote when Aslan painfully peels away the dragon exterior of Eustace to restore the boy within, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Brad

Reminds me of that part in the Great Divorce where the angel approaches the ghost, and asks for his permission to kill the animal on its shoulder.

[Hans Deventer]

Hey, good night, brother! Must be about time for you! :basic03

[Brad Mercer]

I work from 1pm to 10pm now, and always mean to be in bed asleep by midnight, but by the time I've eaten supper, watched a little TV with the kids, and then checked e-mail, news and NazNet, it always winds up being 1-2am. I sleep until 10-11am and then off to work again at 1pm.

Love,
Brad

Hey, good night, brother! Must be about time for you! :basic03