At The Back Of The North Wind

With 13 children of his own clamouring for bedtime stories it isn't surprising that author George MacDonald discovered he had a gift for composing fairy tales. But these were fairy tales with a difference. At the Back of the North Wind, the first to be published, became a Victorian favourite and marked something of a milestone in children's fiction. While owing a debt to Hans Andersen, Dickens and Kingsley, MacDonald created a distinctive imaginary world existing in parallel with the grim social realities of mid-19th-century England. "A fairy tale is not al allegory," he once remarked. It is, of course, but the trick was to disguise it, to entertain the reader as well as instruct, leaving them to draw a moral if they pleased, or else simply to enjoy the fantasy. Children for over a hundred years have been enchanted and moved by the story of Nanny the crossing sweeper, her lame friend Jim, and above all Diamond, the poor coachman's son, whose life is transformed by a brief glimpse of a beautiful country "at the back of the north wind". The first edition (1871) was illustrated by the pre-Raphaelite artist Thomas Hughes, whose romantic and highly individualistic drawings are reproduced in the Everyman edition.

The Complete Fairy Tales

George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a minister who was rejected by his congregation, and struggled thereafter to support his family of eleven children by writing.  In his own day he was celebrated as poet, preacher, and lecturer, and as the author of numerous novels.  He is best known today for his vivid children's stories.<br/>
U. C. Knoepflmacher has published widely on children's literature and the Victorian period.

George MacDonald occupied a major position in the intellectual life of his Victorian contemporaries.   This volume brings together all eleven of his shorter fairy stories as well as his essay "The Fantastic Imagination".  The subjects are those of traditional fantasy: good and wicked fairies, children embarking on  elaborate quests, and journeys into unsettling dreamworlds. Within this familiar imaginative landscape, his children's stories were profoundly experimental, questioning the association of childhood with purity and innocence, and the need to separate fairy tale wonder from adult scepticism and disbelief.

The Princess And The Goblin

First published in 1870-1 as a serial in GOOD WORKS FOR THE YOUNG, a magazine of Christian outlook, George MacDonald's fantasy is reguarded by his admirers as his finest novel. The story of the virtuous Princess Irene and the wicked goblins with heads as hard as stone has a strong moral overtone but is enjoyed by readers of all ages. The author said: 'I do not write for children, but for the child-like, whether of five, or fifty, or seventy-five'. Arthur Hughes, a follower of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, was a close friend of the author and provided the perfect illustrative accompaniment to his work.

George MacDonald

Arthur Hughes

Ursula Le Guin

Princess Irene lives in a castle in a wild and lonely mountainous region. One day she discovers a steep and winding stairway leading to a bewildering labyrinth of unused passages with closed doors - and a further stairway. What lies at the top? Can the ring the princess is given protect her against the lurking menace of the goblins from under the mountain?

George MacDonald

The Princess and the Goblin

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