Macdonald, George

Macdonald, George, 1824–1905, Scottish author. Ordained a Congregational minister, he eventually abandoned his vocation to become a writer and free-lance preacher. His first published works were several volumes of poetry, including the narrative poem Within and Without (1855), Phantastes (1858), and Lilith (1895), the last two both moral allegories. Macdonald achieved his first real success with his novels of life in rural Scotland, notably David Elginbrod (1863), Alec Forbes (1865), and Robert Falconer (1867). His lasting reputation, however, rests upon his superb allegorical fairy stories for children; they include At the Back of the North Wind (1871), The Princess and the Goblin (1872), and The Princess and Curdie (1882).

Bibliography

See biography by his son Greville Macdonald (1924, repr. 1971).