George MacDonald is generally remembered as a benevolent preacher who wrote fairy-tale books for children. Closer reading, however, reveals one of the most startlingly inventive, slyly subversive Scottish writers of the nineteenth century. His writings for children emerged from his own long struggle with faith and doubt in the face of multiple bereavements, chronic illness, and the persistent threat of early death.
Haunted Childhoods in George MacDonald reconsiders death and divine love in MacDonald's writings for children. It examines his private letters and public sermons, obscure early writings, and most beloved stories. Setting his work alongside texts by James Hogg and Andrew Lang, it argues that MacDonald appropriated traditional Scottish folk narratives to help child readers apprehend his mystically-inclined understanding of mortality.
- ISBN10 9004420592
- ISBN13 9789004420595
- Publish Date 27 August 2020
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country NL
- Imprint Brill
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 222
- Language English
- URL brill.com/product_id4055583