Phantastes (1858)

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. ( )

This book is housed within our adult fiction collection but it's suitable for high school students. Phantastes is a classic story about a young man who enters Fairyland one day and has dreamlike adventures. The story also serves as an allegory for a person's spirtual journey in which we experience trials and tribulations as well as joy.

Readalikes: Narnia Chronicles, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairlyand in a Ship of Her Own Making, Manalive ( )

George MacDonald's Phantastes, an early fantasy novel published in 1858, is narrated by a young man, Anodos, who has just come into his inheritance and is transported to Fairy Land on his twenty-first birthday. While there, he meets with many strange beings, temptations, beauties, and poetry, always searching for the elusive woman he knows only as the Marble Lady. Indeed, he rescues her from imprisonment and claims a place in her affections, only to find that she is destined for another, a "nobler man." Much of the story deals with Anodos's various temptations and sins, as he wanders through this strange realm and slowly conquers his own weakness.

There are giants, there are dark woods. There are ominous villains and deceptions laid for the pure in heart. There are small cottages buried in the deep forests, havens of safety amidst the wildness. The journey is about two things: the search for the ideal, and the discovery of one's own inner darkness, personified here by the shadow that clings to Anodos. It distorts his relationships and wearies his soul with its constant unwelcome presence. This is high fantasy with so many elements I enjoy; I should LOVE it, but I don't somehow.

Every now and then there is a flash of kindred knowing—as when MacDonald speaks of the old woman in the cottage, promising Anodos that even in his worst distress, she knows something "too good to tell" that would reconcile him to it all. But the majority of the tale was so slow moving, so plotlessly weaving, such a mishmash of episodic events.

C. S. Lewis famously wrote of Phantastes that it baptized his imagination, and as a tribute he included MacDonald as a character in The Great Divorce. I wish I could appreciate this work as Lewis and so many other readers have, but George MacDonald remains an author I simply can't warm to. Which is odd, because he has influenced several of my favorite authors and seems to have been influenced himself by other writers I enjoy (such as William Morris and Lord Dunsany). It isn't his heretical universalism, as vehemently as I disagree with him on that head. I don't know what it is; we just don't resonate.

I feel like reading Dunsany now; I think he achieves what MacDonald only reaches for here. ( )

I picked up this book on the advice of a friend. I knew MacDonald was a major influence on C.S. Lewis, and that is pretty evident as one reads this book. The story is about a man who finds himself in Fairy Land, compelled to journey all the way through it and reach its end. He encounters various strange characters on the way and, of course, has his own set of adventures. Along the way, he learns about himself, his own sin nature, and redemption.

The book itself is moderately hard to read, due to MacDonald's constant use of archaic terms and his many forays into rough, albeit enjoyable, poetry. Additionally, discovering themes and undercurrents of the work will require multiple readings--at least if my experience is any judge. But these constraints notwithstanding, I did enjoy reading this book. There were a lot of good vignettes spread throughout, and I enjoyed the rather lighthearted way in which the author writes.

As has been the case with several other books I've read that were "endorsed" by C.S. Lewis, if you choose to read this one, know that you may spend a lot of time scratching your head--although that is not necessarily a bad thing! ( )

Everytime I read this book I am always grateful of the richness of it. For such a thin book, it packs a lot of spiritual and philosophical themes. ( )