Phantastes (1858)

One of my favorite books, but not one of the best books I’ve read by any objective measure; its language is awkward even considering its age, its poems can plod, and it wanders into innumerable diversions. But this book was fundamentally formative for my teenaged self and I love it in its weird, genuine, imaginative way. Each chapter begins with a quote from another work, and a lot of those have stuck with me through the years. For instance: “When bale is highest, boote is nighest” (which means, roughly, “help is nearest when things are worst”). Or this portion of the Ballad of Sir Andrew Barton::

“‘Fight on, my men!’, Sir Andrew says,
“A little I’m hurt but yet not slain!
I’ll but lie down and bleed awhile
And then I’ll rise and fight again!”
( )

O pai da Fantasia moderna“Ouvi dizer que, para os que entram no Reino das Fadas, não há volta. Devem continuar e atravessá-lo. Como, eu não faço a menor ideia.”A obra de fantasia clássica que influenciou C.S. Lewis e J.R.R. Tolkien, considerada uma das obras mais importantes de George MacDonald, é a história do jovem Anodos e suas aventuras no reino das fadas que, em última análise, revelam a condição humana. “Escrevo não para crianças”, disse George MacDonald, “mas para crianças, sejam elas de cinco, cinquenta ou setenta e cinco anos”. Tudo escrito com um capricho inocente e um anseio cheio de alma, o coração da jornada de Anodos através do Reino das Fadas revela uma busca espiritual que requer uma entrega de si mesmo.“Nunca escondi o fato de que o considerava meu mestre; na verdade, imagino nunca ter escrito um livro em que não fizesse nenhuma citação dele.” –– C.S. Lewis“George MacDonald [...] [criou] histórias de poder e beleza.” –– J.R.R. Tolkien “Certamente, George MacDonald é o avô de todos nós que lutamos para chegar a um acordo com a verdade por meio da fantasia.” –– Madeleine L. Engle

A must-read in George Macdonald's fairytale collection. ( )

I will re-read this fantasy replete with symbolism and mythic innuendo. I was captured by the elevated verse, the meandering and sometimes surprising turns. Romantic fantacies do not usually interest me, but a recommendation from one influenced so mightly could not be ignored.

Find the time to read it.

[Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women] by George MacDonald.

“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.”

A bildungsroman; first published in 1858 it is one of the earliest book length prose fairy stories. Anodos is 21 years old when he sees a fairy figure in a desk that he inherited from his late father, she tells him about fairy land and next morning he awakens in a forest and his adventures and his quest for love lead him into the land of the fairies. This is a Victorian novel which is chock full of repressed sexuality and MacDonald has been careful to remind his readers it is a Romance for Men and Women, although children would come to no harm if they chanced to pick it up. Phantastes has been cited as the first book length fantasy story for adults.

When Anodos wakes up in fairy land he is enchanted by the flowers which seem to be home for the fairies, but there is danger in the enchanted land as the fingers of the evil ash and alder trees threaten to destroy him. The episodic story gets going when he discovers the marble statue made by Pygmalion, Anodos sings to the statue of a beautiful woman which promptly comes to life and floats away towards the forest, Anodos is compelled to follow and his pursuit of image leads him onto further adventures. He catches up with her, but after enticing him into a cave and sending him to sleep he awakes to find himself imperilled by the alder tree. He meets kind maternal women who warn him about foolish love and he meets more sinister women one of whom tricks him into opening a door where he finds his own shadow that appears black and evil in the light of the sun. Anodos begins to gain satisfaction from his shadow and when he meets a maiden/woman dancing happy as a child who carries a globe in her hands, she tells Anodos he must not touch her globe, but then says if he does it must be very gently; Anodos does, but the maiden draws away and says he must not touch it again, but:

“I put out both my hands and laid hold of it. It began to sound as before. The sound rapidly increased, till it grew a low tempest of harmony, and the globe trembled, and quivered, and throbbed between my hands. I had not the heart to pull it away from the maiden, though I held it in spite of her attempts to take it from me; yes, I shame to say, in spite of her prayers, and, at last, her tears. The music went on growing in, intensity and complication of tones, and the globe vibrated and heaved; till at last it burst in our hands, and a black vapour broke upwards from out of it; then turned, as if blown sideways, and enveloped the maiden, hiding even the shadow in its blackness. She held fast the fragments, which I abandoned, and fled from me into the forest in the direction whence she had come, wailing like a child, and crying, “You have broken my globe; my globe is broken—my globe is broken!”

After this encounter, which feels like a rape or defloration, Anodos must journey on through other parts of fairy land, eventually arriving at a fairy palace where he learns more about love and enchantment. He must sacrifice himself for an honourable, more reputable love in the fairy world, and he must be forgiven for his past demeanours, before he can arrive back in the real world. The central story has dreams within dreams and tales within tales as MacDonald weaves his magical allegory, but some parts work better than others. Characterisation is not MacDonalds strongest attribute as the reader does not gain much insight into Anodos, although much of the story is written in the first person. We see him learn from experience, but in a fantasy story it is the world outside of the hero that should hold our interest and this is where MacDonald is at his best. The author was a Christian Minister and a poet and it is his knowledge and love of poetry that seems to be the major influence for his writing in Phantastes. Every chapter starts with a quote; notably from the early English canon; Chaucer, Spenser, Lyly and Sir Philip Sidney, but also from the German Romantics. There are new songs and poems by MacDonald that are a feature of Phantastes woven into the text rather like Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, although in my opinion MacDonald never reaches those heights. MacDonalds book must be admired as an early example of English fantasy literature, which obviously influenced later Victorian authors: Walter De La Mare, Lewis Carroll, J M Barrie, and C S Lewis. Reading today it still contains some striking passages, but its central theme does not hold strongly throughout the story and I am sure that some readers will find the poems and songs a distraction, however I think they add to the enchantment. It does not have the panache, humour or memorable characters which I find in Lewis Carrolls work which is the nearest comparator, but still a worthwhile read and so 3.5 stars. ( )