Customer Reviews

Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women (George MacDonald Original Works)

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The following review is given specifically for the Johannesen edition (George MacDonald Original Works) of Phantastes.

First of all, the book has a slick, dark green cover that is waterproof. The front cover and spine are engraved with gold leafing, which gives the book a beautiful antique appearance. Furthermore, the spine is well-rounded and appears to be enforced for a lifetime of handling (this is obviously important for a serious book collector!). Also, the sewn pages within are acid-free and are of a light cream color which makes it easy on the eyes while reading.

Secondly, Johannesen has included all thirty-three illustrations by Arthur Hughes. No other modern printing of this text includes these illustrations. Although it may sound silly to wish for these illustrations, it really adds a touch of delightful nostaglia to Phantastes

Thirdly, the Johannesen editions are considered authoritative editions, which hold significant weight for the literary student or MacDonald scholar.

Although the price may seem a bit steep, the product is well worth it. This is an attractive edition which may be passed down through your family for generations to come. I hope that this brief review has been helpful - happy shopping!

This was an amazing book by George MacDonald. It was absolutely beautiful and I could not put it down. When I had to put it down, my thoughts were constantly drawn back to the story of Anodos and his journey through the Land of Faerie.

As I read, I could see that he was showing me much more than just the skin of the story. There was so much underneath that I could see, like shadows of fish in pond. You can see them, but can't particularly tell what kind they are. Perhaps this is due to lack of intelligence on my part, yet, there was much that I did not understand about the story. Even so, it added to the beauty and mystery of the book.

Also, this version by Johannesen is great. The illustrations by Arthur Hughes are perfect to go along with the book.

I first had to read Phantastes for a college English class, but i've since reread it dozens of times for my own enjoyment. MacDonald virtually transports the reader into the mind and heart of Anados (the main character) as he journeys through Fairyland. Here, Fairyland is a deeply dreamlike, sometimes nightmarish place where everything and everyone has a signifigance far beyond the surface. For me, the best part of this story is the fact that one can read it as a simple adventure or as a spiritual journey. The allegorical aspects of Phantastes are everpresent, though not blatant. MacDonald's flowery, Victorian prose allows the reader to draw only as much from Phantastes as he would like to get. However, if you read this, it will probably suck you right into the heart of the story. If you are looking for a dark, rich fantasy, this is the original...

A warning should be printed on the title-page of this beautiful, unique book, preferably curling around a romantically decorated Gothic archway: Caution, You Are Now Entering the Realm of Dreams. Many would-be readers have found themselves bored or confused through ignorance of this simple fact. "Phantastes" is perhaps the most truly dream-like book ever written. As in a dream, one scene morphs into another; objects acquire an intense emotional significance for no apparent reason; explanations are offered and happily accepted despite their obvious failure to explain anything.

George MacDonald is sadly little known, and he might have disappeared altogether but for the enthusiasm of C.S. Lewis, who called MacDonald his Teacher and said that reading "Phantastes" "baptised his imagination". I can only say that this perplexes me. Christian interpretations of this book seem to me neither more nor less plausible than Freudian ones. Interpreting a dream is like building a little cage for a soap-bubble. The same with fairy-tales, of which MacDonald was also a master. Do fairy-tales have "meanings"? If the story had a meaning that could be told, what need would there be for the story?

So MacDonald was an Explorer of what we now call the Subconscious, which we consider to be Inside Us. But remember that he wasn't as clever as we are, he thought of this Realm as neither Inside nor Outside: and of course he was right. It wouldn't be true to say he was the first. Both English and German Romantics influenced him; but while they waded ever deeper and deeper, he let go and began to swim. (He acknowledges his debt with the inset story of Cosmo in Chapter 13, which could have been written by the German Romantic Novalis.)

"Phantastes" is the dream we wish we could have, like opulent music, full of mossy forests, water, flowers, moonlit nights, courtly lovers, solemn buildings. It will always divide opinion: some will fling it away after a few chapters, others will treasure it, re-read and re-read it.

Phantastes, by George MacDonald, was first published in 1858. The somewhat rambling prose style reflects the writing of that era. In spite of the wordiness, the story is delightful and very interesting. I was impressed that the yearnings of the main character and the yearnings of us 21rst- century humans are largely the same. On the whole, I much enjoyed the tale.

If you didn't read the preface to this edition, or you weren't shopping for an illustrated copy of McDonald's wonderfully engrossing story, perhaps you wouldn't know what you were missing.

Sadly, I did both. The ONLY illustration in this book is on the cover. McDonald's son wrote the preface (to the 1905 edition, bewilderingly included in this version), and made pointed mention of the fact that illustrations had been added in by McDonald's good friend.

However, illustrations are nowhere to be seen in the pages of the book.

I am VERY curious to know if there are any editions out there that have illustrations throughout. I would love to read the version that this preface accurately accompanied. That being said, the story is fantastic thus far, and I certainly am not disappointed with the author's content.

This is not the edition you want to own!

This is a great story by George MacDonald but if you want an easy to read large print, look for another edition. First it's a wide format paperpack (I should have checked the dimensions). But worse than that, the margins are too narrow sothat it's difficult to open the book wide enough to read the text near the bound edge of the pages.

While I'm not inclined to Freudian analysis, either McDonald intended this as a moral allegory to illustrate "appropriate" sexual behavior, or he thought his readers too naive to perceive some very suggestive symbolism. The book begins as the narrator, Anodos, is officially celebrating his entry into manhood on his 21st birthday. A beautiful woman magically appears and offers him a visit to Fairy Land, which he accepts. Anodos then wanders through a magical forest experiencing encounters of two kinds. The first kind are with women old enough to be his mother or grandmother. These women not only feed and lodge him, but (though perfect strangers) listen to him, dry his tears, stroke him, and generally cosset him; which he thoroughly enjoys.

The mother-figures also warn Anodos against some encounters of the second kind, which is with women more or less his own age. One is a magical tree woman who rescues him from danger, holds him in her arms all night, and says she loves him. When he leaves her sorrowing in the morning he reasons that "she has all the pleasures she ever had" and "her life will perhaps be richer" for his memory, even though he did not stay. He brings a stone woman to life with poetry (the weakest aspect of this book is the abundance of second-rate poetry), but he is not supposed to touch her, and she flees from him. He encounters a second tree woman who takes him into her cave-bower. She tells him her life story, in which she continually refers to her own beauty, and "what followed I cannot clearly remember"-but when the story resumes, it's the next morning. He encounters a "little maiden . . . almost a woman" who carries a fragile globe. He keeps trying to touch it, and breaks it when he does so by force. She weeps, crying repeatedly that he has "broken her globe."

Anodos does start to feel guilty about his behavior, the guilt represented by a black shadow that follows him everywhere regardless of the sun. However, he finds a fairy palace, which is probably a Christian allegory, where he meditates, reads, and contemplates. Healed from the wrong he has done others, he generously forgives himself and returns home (alleviating the anxiety his two little sisters have felt over his disappearance for three mortal weeks). The moral conclusion is, "what we call evil is the only and best shape, which, for the person and his condition at the time, could be assumed by the best good."

Of course, there is the problem of what happened to all the women Anodos wronged . . .His only punishment is that the stone woman marries someone else--a knight he greatly admires, and he soon decides they are fully worthy of each other.