fangirlfangirlfangirl

George MacDonald is basically my favorite.

He might be one of 8 favorites, but he is still basically my favorite.

The man wrote fairy tales for a living.

I received The Princess and the Goblin as a Christmas present when I was young; back then the 'Penguin Classics' seal on the front of the book was a deterrent rather than an attraction, so it sat lonely and unloved on my bookshelf for several years (woe). Two summers ago, I decided I wanted to read something that was not Golden Age Russian literature (because everything else I read was), and that was the icebreaker of choice.

What a choice.

I've read it a few times now, and I finally got my hands on the sequel: The Princess and Curdie.

Now, I could wax long and eloquent-ish on the value of the fairy tale as an art form, etc etc. But because I wouldn't be particularly good at it just yet, I shall refer you to other people who have said it all with silver tongue and fireflies:

Tolkien, On Fairy-Stories 

Chesterton, The Ethics of Elfland

Now, if I know you/have talked to you about things that make me happy in the past 6 months, I have probably referred you to these two essays already. There's a reason. Read them.

MacDonald utters a little meta-explanation for Why Fairy Tales Are Necessary in The Princess and Curdie. (It's meta because the book itself is a reason for Why Fairy Tales Are Necessary, and here Curdie's father gives his own apologetic.)

'Still,' said Curdie, looking a little ashamed. 'I might have dreamed my duty.'
'Then dream often, my son; for there must be more truth in your dreams than in your waking thoughts.'

Maybe truth and reality are not so synonymous as would be comfortable to think.