George MacDonald

Novelist

George MacDonald was born in Huntly, Scotland, United Kingdom on December 10th, 1824 and is the Novelist. At the age of 80, George MacDonald biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.

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Date of Birth
December 10, 1824
Nationality
Scotland
Place of Birth
Huntly, Scotland, United Kingdom
Death Date
Sep 18, 1905 (age 80)
Zodiac Sign
Sagittarius
Profession
Cleric, Journalist, Minister, Novelist, Philosopher, Poet, Theologian, Writer
George MacDonald Height, Weight, Eye Color and Hair Color

At 80 years old, George MacDonald physical status not available right now. We will update George MacDonald's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Height
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Weight
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Hair Color
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Eye Color
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Measurements
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George MacDonald Religion, Education, and Hobbies
Religion
Not Available
Hobbies
Not Available
Education
University of Aberdeen
George MacDonald Spouse(s), Children, Affair, Parents, and Family
Spouse(s)
Louisa Powell ​(m. 1851)​
Children
Children's literature
Dating / Affair
Not Available
Parents
Not Available
George MacDonald Career

MacDonald was appointed minister of Trinity Congregational Church, Arundel, in 1850, after briefly serving as a locum minister in Ireland. However, his sermons—which preached God's universal love and that everyone was capable of redemption—met with little favour and his salary was cut in half. In May 1853, MacDonald tendered his resignation from his pastoral duties at Arundel. Later he was engaged in ministerial work in Manchester, leaving that because of poor health. An account cited the role of Lady Byron in convincing MacDonald to travel to Algiers in 1856 with the hope that the sojourn would help turn his health around. When he got back, he settled in London and taught for some time at the University of London. MacDonald was also for a time editor of Good Words for the Young.

Writing career

MacDonald's first novel David Elginbrod was published in 1863.

MacDonald is often regarded as the founding father of modern fantasy writing. His best-known works are Phantastes, The Princess and the Goblin, At the Back of the North Wind, and Lilith (1895), all fantasy novels, and fairy tales such as "The Light Princess", "The Golden Key", and "The Wise Woman". "I write, not for children", he wrote, "but for the child-like, whether they be of five, or fifty, or seventy-five." MacDonald also published some volumes of sermons, the pulpit not having proved an unreservedly successful venue.

After his literary success, MacDonald went on to do a lecture tour in the United States in 1872–1873, after being invited to do so by a lecture company, the Boston Lyceum Bureau. On the tour, MacDonald lectured about other poets such as Robert Burns, Shakespeare, and Tom Hood. He performed this lecture to great acclaim, speaking in Boston to crowds in the neighbourhood of three thousand people.

MacDonald served as a mentor to Lewis Carroll: it was MacDonald's advice, and the enthusiastic reception of Alice by MacDonald's many sons and daughters, that convinced Carroll to submit Alice for publication. Carroll, one of the finest Victorian photographers, also created photographic portraits of several of the MacDonald children. MacDonald was also friends with John Ruskin, and served as a go-between in Ruskin's long courtship with Rose La Touche. While in America he was befriended by Longfellow and Walt Whitman.

MacDonald's use of fantasy as a literary medium for exploring the human condition greatly influenced a generation of notable authors, including C. S. Lewis, who featured him as a character in his The Great Divorce. In his introduction to his MacDonald anthology, Lewis speaks highly of MacDonald's views:

Others he influenced include J. R. R. Tolkien and Madeleine L'Engle. MacDonald's non-fantasy novels, such as Alec Forbes, had their influence as well; they were among the first realistic Scottish novels, and as such MacDonald has been credited with founding the "kailyard school" of Scottish writing.

Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence", in showing "how near both the best and the worst things are to us from the first ... and making all the ordinary staircases and doors and windows into magical things."

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