Hugo List

[sartorias]

Not much to say about the fiction--as always, a nod for some things and a huh? for others. But one thing that really pleased me was seeing The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community by Diana Glyer; appendix by David Bratman (Kent State University Press) on that list

Comments

Re: a most unfortunately named book....Perhaps I have just read far far too much slash.

[sartorias]

Well, Glyer talks about him within the context of her chosen topic. As for others, I dunno!

Re: a most unfortunately named book....Perhaps I have just read far far too much slash.

[steepholm]

That must be aggravating. In children's lit circles MacDonald does enjoy more of an independent existence - though that wouldn't apply to the two books you mention.

I must admit, I read Phantastes as a youngster only because I recognized the name from reading about CSL's chance purchase on Leatherhead railway station, and I was a CSL fanchild even then. (On the plus side, at least CSL was generous about acknowledging his influences, for example casting MacDonald as his Virgil in The Great Divorce.) But I loved it a lot for itself, too - even to the extent of setting the whole of the "Ballad of Sir Aglovale" to guitar.

"Alas how easily things go wrong,
A sigh too much or a kiss too long,
And there follows a mist and a weeping rain
And life is never the same again."

It's trite - but true!

Re: a most unfortunately named book....Perhaps I have just read far far too much slash.

[sartorias]

I should pull him out again. I read them all dutifully in my mid teens--I say dutifully because I was mostly bored stiff. My spouse loved At the Back of the North Wind, which I did not.

[redfishie]

Thank you foor posting this book; I don't know that i had heard of it previously and its something i'm definitely interested in.

[sartorias]

Here is more info if you would like it.

[hollygrande]

Hmm, I will definitely look this up. Thank you!

[deliasherman]

I love Glynde's book. It's a really interesting study of the phenomenon of communities of writers. She makes it very clear that the Inklings all influenced and supported each other, and paints a much more balanced (and sympathetic) picture of Tolkein and Charles Williams than more Inklings biographers.

I love MacDonald, too. No question but that Lilith and Phantastes require a taste for high-Victorian mysticism and an extreme suspension of disbelief. MacDonald is more about imagery and atmosphere than he is about story. His plots follow only dream logic. And his characters aren't really human. But his imagery. Oh, his imagery.

[sartorias]

That's an excellent breakdown--and why I lose interest. I just never get into dream logic.

MacDonald's fantasy

[anonymous]

Few books have had more impact on me than _Lilith_, in the old Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series, which also (later) put out _Phantastes_ sans the poetry. I loved MacDonald's _Princess & the Goblin_ and _Princess & Curdie_, and found that they held up well as an adult reader, too. CSL said that _Phantastes_ baptised his imagination, I think I may have had a somewhat similar reaction to _Lilith_, where I found MacDonald's idea of Universal Salvation liberating at about age 16. _At the Back of the North Wind_ was too sentimental and drippy at age 13 or so, perhaps I'd like it better, now. It had some powerful imagery, though--I preferred the Princess books and Ingelow's _Mopsa the Fairy_, Ruskin's _King of the Golden River_, and Kingsley's _The Water Babies_ but didn't read such other Victorian writers as Molesworth or Ewing until later, in college. We used to have a MacDonald discussion group in the twin cities, and there is a journal, I believe. I don't think his ... fandom, such as it is, is entirely dependent on CSL.

Re: MacDonald's fantasy

[anonymous]

I forgot to sign my anonymous entry on MacDonald's fiction--
David Lenander

Re: MacDonald's fantasy

[sartorias]

Interesting stuff!