Macdonald, George

Macdonald, George,

1824–1905, Scottish author. Ordained a Congregational minister, he eventually abandoned his vocation to become a writer and freelance 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).

Macdonald, George

 

Born Dec. 10, 1824, in Huntly, Aberdeenshire; died Sept. 18, 1905, in Ashtead, Surrey, England. Scottish writer.

A former clergyman, Macdonald turned to literature in the mid-1850’s. He wrote many novels drawn from Scottish life that are full of gentle humor and soft colors (David Elginbrod, 1863; Alec Forbes, 1865), in which he celebrates daily life in the villages and peasant labor. In his poems, written in a Scottish dialect, philosophical and religious motifs predominate. Macdonald popularized the works of R. Burns.

WORKS

The Lost Princess: A Double Story. London-New York, 1965.

REFERENCES

Parker, W. M. Modern Scottish Writers. Freeport (New York), 1968.
Wittig, K. The Scottish Tradition in Literature. Edinburgh-London, 1958.