A masterful and timeless novel from the renowned Scottish author—the work that established his place in the pantheon of British literature. Released in 1865 as the second of his major Scottish novels, many consider Alec Forbes of Howglen George MacDonald’s most uniformly cohesive work of fiction. Intensely Scottish in flavor, like its predecessor David Elginbrod, the thick Doric dialect of much of the novel was relished by Victorians. Set in MacDonald’s hometown of Huntly, this story of Alec Forbes and Annie Anderson contains many autobiographical glimpses of MacDonald’s own boyhood, capturing the delights of youth and the anguish of first loves. While preserving the flavor of MacDonald’s original, this updated edition by Michael Phillips translates the Scottish dialect, in which most of MacDonald’s Scottish stories are written, into readable English.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875. The publishing house Anatiposi publishes historical books as reprints. Due to their age, these books may have missing pages or inferior quality. Our aim is to preserve these books and make them available to the public so that they do not get lost.

The leading MacDonald scholar and biographer presents the most comprehensive work to date on the 19th century author’s life and work. Best known for his fiction and fairy tales, such as the immortal classics Robert Falconer and At the Back of the North Wind, the Victorian author and theologian George MacDonald inspired some of the greatest writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Most notably, C.S. Lewis credits MacDonald’s books with inspiring his works of fantasy fiction as well as putting him on the path to Christianity. In this major biographical work, MacDonald scholar Michael Phillips examines how the events of the author’s life contributed to his work and legacy. Referring to this volume as a “bibliographic biography,” Phillips brings his expertise to bear on the complete corpus of MacDonald’s fiction, pointing out each book’s essential themes, and offering insights into how each title can be most perceptively be read.

C. S. Lewis once remarked that his debt to George MacDonald's writings was "almost as great as one man can owe to another . . . I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself." Born in Scotland in 1824, MacDonald was educated at King's College in Aberdeen and Highbury Seminary in London. As a Christian minister, he indulged early his fondness--and skill--in the writing of poetry, then fantasy and fiction, as well as sermons. Quickly becoming known for his literary skills, he became a popular writer and lecturer, counting among his friends and fans Lady Byron, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Mark Twain, John Ruskin, Matthew Arnold, and Lewis Carroll (who only published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at the urging of the MacDonald family). At the time of his death in 1905, he left behind a large volume of work that has had a profound influence on many writers, including G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Madeleine L'Engle, and Frederick Buechner. This seminal biography is based upon a careful researching of thousands of letters written to and by MacDonald as well as personal papers and documents collected in museums and libraries in America and Europe. A noted MacDonald scholar, Rolland Hein spent over a decade reading and researching these documents with a view to exploring those aspects of the life and experiences of this great author and saint that have so profoundly influenced many of the seminal authors of the twentieth century.

Both children's literature and fantasy literature have become established as genre for critical study in recent years, especially in the United States. As one of the outstanding children's authors of the nineteenth century and a pioneer of fantasy writing, MacDonald has become the focus of increased attention. As an acknowledged influence on many authors who came after him--authors such as E. Nesbit, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and T. S. Eliot--MacDonald is one of the rare writers whose work is a starting point for evaluating the achievements of others. New forms of critical theory--Jungian, psychoanalytic, and feminist--turning towards the exploration of sexuality and the fantastic have also found fitting subjects in MacDonald's texts. This volume studies these developments and also the growing acknowledgment that MacDonald was a Scottish writer and a Victorian. His enduring works have been his children's books At the Back of the North Wind, The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie, and the fairy tales of The Golden Key. His two adult fantasy novels, Phantasties and Lilith, are now recognized as classics of their kind.

George MacDonald (1824–1905) was writing at a time of Evangelical unease. In a society ravaged by Asiatic cholera, numbed by levels of infant mortality, and fearful of revolution and the toxicity of industry (to name but a few of the many challenges), the ‘gospel’ proclaiming eternal damnation for unbelievers was hardly good news; rather, Christianity was increasingly viewed as the source of bad news and a tool of state oppression. MacDonald agreed: in his view, the church had become a vampire, sucking the blood of her children instead of offering them Eucharistic life. In contrast, like Christ, MacDonald offers us a child. Although at first sight a familiar Romantic incarnation, in MacDonald’s theology ‘the child’ becomes an unlikely icon challenging the vampire’s kingdom and confronting the foundations of much of Western theology. John R. de Jong’s meticulously researched study of MacDonald’s work – especially his ‘realist’ and fantasy novels – in its Victorian context is of more than historical interest. In light of the growth of fundamentalist expressions of Christianity, we are encouraged to consider embracing MacDonald’s radical solution to religious vampirism: becoming children.