This was really interesting, Gavin. I don't know the work of George MacDonald at all, but it certainly does sound like these books are the roots of what we think of as fantasy. Another excellent deep dive.
I'm always very curious about MacDonald, really enjoy his work & life, & also the Humphrey Carpenter work on him. Thanks for this spotlight, a great reminder to get my MacDonalds off the shelves.
@@GenreBooks23: As a young adult I adored The inklings, so MacDonald was always a touchstone. I guess, you have to tune your ear to that Victorian prose style, but I love him. And I love that he was defrocked for standing strong on his variant theological beliefs, I love the bio.
There is some correlation between fairy tales, and the words that come out of politician's mouths. 😉 I haven't read MacDonald for decades, but I remember liking him a lot.
