Chesterton and MacDonald

[Narborg]

C S lewis said that he thought of geroge MacDoanld and G K Chesterton as the two authors who infuince his the most. How many people here have read any of there works, and if so what did you think of them


I've just finished reading The Man was was Thrusday, and while I found it a great read, with som thoughful coments, Im still trying to work out what it means.....

Ive also read Orthodoxy, and at the Back of the North wind.

You can see in each of them how Lewis has bean infulince, and I would love to read some of there other works, when I can get my hands on them...


Some books by G. K. Chesterton for all works.

Charles Dickens (1903)
The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904)
Heretics (1905)
The Man Who Was Thursday (1907)
Orthodoxy (1908) Doubleday, 1991.
The Ballad Of The White Horse (1911) poetry
Father Brown short stories (detective fiction)
Eugenics and Other Evils (1922)
The Everlasting Man (1925)

some works by Goerge Macdonald

Within and Without (1855)
Poems (1857)
Phantastes (1858)
Cross Purposes (1862)
David Elginbrod (1863) (republished as The Tutor's First Love)
The Portent (1864)
Adela Cathcart (1864) (contains The Light Princess, The Shadows, The Giant's Heart, My Uncle Peter, A Journey Rejourneyed and other shorter stories)
A Hidden Life and Other Poems (1864)
Alec Forbes of Howglen (1865) (republished as The Maiden's Bequest)[4]
Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood (1867)
Unspoken Sermons (1867)
Dealings with the Fairies (1867) (contains The Golden Key)
The Disciple and Other Poems (1867)
Guild Court: A London Story (1868)
Robert Falconer (1868) (republished as The Musician's Quest)
England's Antiphon (1868, 1874)
The Seaboard Parish (1868)
The Miracles of Our Lord (1870)
At the Back of the North Wind (1871)
Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood (1871)
Works of Fancy and Imagination (1871)
Wilfrid Cumbermede (1871, 1872)
The Vicar's Daughter (1871, 1872)
The Princess and the Goblin (1872)
The History of Gutta-Percha Willie, the Working Genius (1873)
Malcolm (1875) (republished as a two-volume work containing The Fisherman's Lady and The Marquis' Secret)
The Lost Princess (1875) [alternative title: * The Wise Woman: A Parable]
Exotics (1876)
St. George and St. Michael (1876)
Thomas Wingfold, Curate (1876) (republished as The Curate's Awakening)
The Marquis of Lossie (1877) (republished asThe Marquis’ Secret)
Paul Faber, Surgeon (1879) (republished asThe Lady's Confession)
Sir Gibbie (1879) (republished as The Baronet's Song)
A Book of Strife, in the Form of the Diary of an Old Soul (1880)
Mary Marston (1881) (republished as A Daughter's Devotion)
Warlock O' Glenwarlock (also entitled The Laird's Inheritance or Castle Warlock)[4][5]
Weighed and Wanting (1882) (republished as A Gentlewoman's Choice)[4][5]
The Gifts of the Child Christ and Other Tales (1882)
Orts: Chiefly Papers on the Imagination, and on Shakespeare (1882)
The Day Boy and the Night Girl (1882)
The Princess and Curdie (1883, sequel to ' The Princess and the Goblin ')
Donal Grant (1883) (republished as The Shepherd's Castle) Companion story of Gibbie and his friend Donal[6]
A Threefold Cord: Poems by Three Friends (1883)
Preface to Letters from Hell by LWJS (1884)
The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: A Study with the Test of the Folio of 1623 (1885)
Unspoken Sermons, Second Series (1885)
What's Mine's Mine (1886) (republished as The Highlander's Last Song)[7]
Poems (1887)
Home Again, a Tale (1887) (republished as The Poet's Homecoming)
The Elect Lady (1888) (republished as The Landlady's Master)
Unspoken Sermons, Third Series (1889)
A Rough Shaking (1891)
There and Back (1891 (republished as The Baron's Apprenticeship)[4]
The Flight of the Shadow (1891)
A Cabinet of Gems (1891)
Life Essential: The Hope of the Gospel (1892)
Heather and Snow (1893) (republished as The Peasant Girl's Dream)[8]
A Dish of Orts (1893)
The Poetical Works (1893) (including many previously unpublished poems)
Scotch Songs and Ballads (1893)
Lilith (1895)
Salted with Fire (1896) (republished as The Minister's Restoration)[9][4]
Far above Rubies (1898)

 

[PrinceOfTheWest]

I've read both. You've chosen one of the better MacDonald works - At The Back of the North Wind is beautiful. I think it even better than Phantastes, which is the work that so captivated Lewis. He's a more difficult author to read because he was so much of his time, and reading authors from the late 19th century is harder on the modern imagination.

You've also chosen one of the classic Chesterton works, though Thursday starts out like a typical story but gets odder and odder as it goes. A good read for all that. Get hold of The Ball and The Cross if you can, and the Father Brown stories. Ignatius Press is a good source for all things Chesterton.

 

[Copperfox]

I also have read "The Man Who Was Thursday." Its opening was very much in the tradition of thrillers written in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, for such stories in that time would frequently show their heroes getting very suddenly plunged into deep and sinister intrigues. As for the _meaning,_ there is a Biblical illustration which may help.

Some of you may have heard how the prophet Elijah fled from Israel when threatened with death by Queen Jezebel. Elijah is often viewed as a coward for doing so; but in his defense, everyone had abandoned him first. If they hadn't, he would not have then said to God that he was the only faithful one left, for Elijah would never have tried to lie intentionally to God. When Elijah made this complaint, God assured him that there _were_ other faithful Israelites remaining. THIS, as I believe, is the theme of "The Man Who Was Thursday": God wanting each individual one of His children to take heart in the knowledge that they _aren't_ the only faithful one remaining.

If my first wife Mary hadn't been summoned up to Heaven in 2004, she could contribute comments on George MacDonald, whose books she greatly enjoyed.

For anyone who has NOT yet read my novelette in verse, "The Tale of Sophia Renee," let me plug it here by saying that (1) I had a reader tell me that it had some of the feel of George MacDonald's fiction, and (2) I made Chesterton's Father Brown appear as a "guest" character in it, though not openly named.

 

[Benisse]

My family has been reading George MacDonalds' The Princess and the Goblin aloud this last month or so. What an enchanting adventure! I think 8-year-old Princess Irene, the heroine, is refreshingly delightful... (you can tell MacDonald really loved and understood children!). Also I love how the author deals with the pain of not being believed on so many levels, as well as with the beauty of the relationship between parents and children (and the great great (great) grandmother). The dreamy solidity of the fantasy world that MacDonald creates is grounded in consequences (e.g., when Irene is off having adventures it throws her staff into a panic at her disappearances and the author consistently has her having to deal with the consequences). I also love that this story has just enough unanswered mystery that it keeps me thinking about it as an adult, yet on a totally different level my daughter can also enjoy the story for itself as the plot unfolds.

This is a book that fares better as a read-aloud I think; having been written in 1872, some vocabulary has significantly changed (notably "clue" meaning a ball or skein of yarn/thread). In my opinion, the beauty of MacDonald's descriptions and narrative is more accessible, and the musical lilt of his poetry is enhanced when it is read aloud.