Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of George MacDonald

The Scottish writer, speaker and pastor George MacDonald was born on December 10th 1824, 200 years ago today. 

His goblins are mentioned in the article about Michael de Larrabeiti's Borribles, and a spot-on comment he made is featured in a post about unsatisfactory politicians.

His name is in the list of of writers with Celtic connections; he also appears in the list of Sagittarian writers, where I said this:

“It is time to take another look at some of his work, which I last read when still at school.”

While the reader's dilemma of 'so many books, so little time' applies here, I have refreshed my memories of a few of his stories that I particularly liked; I have also learned a little about their author. 

While the details of George MacDonald's life are very interesting and some of his fantasy stories are still enjoyable to read despite their being very dated, he and his many works do not on the whole inspire much in the way of commentary. However, two books that made a very big impression when I first discovered them deserve a mention here.

The Princess and the Goblin 
I remember my first encounter with the works of George MacDonald very clearly; I was seven years old at the time. I came across a very old, illustrated edition of The Princess and the Goblin and found it fascinating. 

I thought that the goblins with their hard heads and soft toeless feet were both sinister and very funny. I loved the little poem that the miner's son Curdie makes to frighten off the goblins. It includes these lines:

“One, two—
Hit and hew!
Three, four—
Blast and bore! 
…

There's a toad
In the road!
Smash it!
Squash it!
Fry it!
Dry it! ...“

Curdie and Princess Irene being pursued by a goblin:

The Princess and  Curdie
The Princess and  Curdie is the sequel to The Princess and the Goblin. 

I really liked the story when I first read it, but I was too young to have got much from the philosophical statements that the book contains.

A very relevant quotation from the writer George MacDonald

The recent general election in the UK was held on July 4th, a day of great significance in the US; the impending presidential election in the US will be held on November 5th, a  a day of great significance in the UK.

Some of the people standing for and elected to office do not inspire much confidence. Is this really the best that the political parties can do? Why can't they come up with better people?

The Victorian author and poet George Macdonald, who has been mentioned in a few articles on here, said something that is very relevant to the current unsatisfactory situation: 

“It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to govern their fellow men.”

He could well be right about this.

Some more Sagittarian writers of interest

I noticed a while back that a few writers of interest were born at the end of November.  

I found some good connections while I was looking to see what these astrological Sagittarians had in common.

A few more writers whose work I like or at least am familiar with and/or who are of interest for other reasons were born under the sign of Sagittarius – some before the end of November and some in December.

Most of them have been featured or at least mentioned in articles in the past; there may be more to say about a few of them in the future. There may also be some new names to add to the list.

Jane Austen was born on December 16th 1775.
Although her books don't inspire commentary, she has been mentioned on here in a few articles in connection with suspicious deaths. She also appears in articles about tangled webs of connections.

She mentions a witch on one occasion:

“Ah, Mother! How do you do?” said he, giving her a hearty shake of the hand. “Where did you get that quiz of a hat? It makes you look like an old witch...”

From Northanger Abbey

The Reverend Richard Harris Barham was born on December 6th 1788. 
His Ingoldsby Legends, which contain some stories about witches, are praised by Allan Quatermain in Sir Henry Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines and its sequel.

Lucy M. Boston was born on December 10th 1892.
She lived to the age of 97. One of her Green Knowe books features the witch Dr. Melanie Powers, who is mentioned in a few places on here, and her autobiography is the subject of an article.

Flying horses, which were mentioned in connection with writers born in late November, appear in The River at Green Knowe.

Frances Hodgson Burnett was born on November 24th 1849.
Her children's classics A Little Princess, The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy are her most famous works. They are rather dated but still selling well. She was involved with metaphysical matters; I will investigate this once the people and topics of current interest are finished with.

Something about Michael de Larrabeiti’s Borribles

Just like Alan Garner’s Owl Service, Michael de Larrabeiti’s Borrible books are for me once read, never forgotten.

The Borrible books are urban fantasy; the Borrible people whose adventures they recount are something of a wainscot society.

The three Borrible books, which were later published in one volume, are:

The Borribles (1976)
The Borribles Go for Broke (1981)
Across the Dark Metropolis (1986).

There are no metaphysical elements in these books and they don’t contain much material that is relevant to this blog, but they do inspire some commentary.

The Borrible books are intended for older children but have a much wider appeal. Although I discovered them only as an adult, I found them fascinating; they left an immediate and permanent impression on the first reading. A big attraction for me is that they are set in London; they mention many places and features that I know well.

The Borrible books are a very good read, but they should have a warning for the faint-hearted and squeamish! They contain some vile, cruel, dangerous and sinister characters, there is much violence and killing, and some of the action takes place in very filthy and squalid surroundings such as sewers and junkyards.

In addition to that, they are sometimes seen as subversive. Across the Dark Metropolis, the third book in the series, was originally scheduled to be released in 1985, but the publishers pulled out at the last moment because of the riots in London. They felt that its strong anti-police message and glamourising of lawlessness made it unsuitable for publication in the climate of the time. By coincidence, some of the riots took place in areas of London that are mentioned in the book, Brixton for example.

What are Borribles?
Borribles are feral runaway children who never grow into adults - so long as they remain at liberty and their pointed ears remain unclipped. Some of them are around one hundred years old, but they still look like children.