George MacDonald
(1824-1905)

Died aged c. 81

George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including Lewis Carroll, W. H. Auden, David Lindsay, J. M. Barrie, Lord Dunsany, Elizabeth Yates, Oswald Chambers, Mark Twain, Hope Mirrlees, Robert E. Howard, L. Frank Baum, T. H. White, Richard Adams, Lloyd Alexander, Hilaire Belloc, G. K. Chesterton, Robert Hugh Benson, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Fulton Sheen, Flannery O'Connor, Louis Pasteur, Simone Weil, Charles Maurras, Jacques Maritain, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, C. H. Douglas, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit, Peter S. Beagle, Elizabeth Goudge, Brian Jacques, M. I. McAllister, Neil Gaiman and Madeleine L'Engle. C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later, I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence". Elizabeth Yates wrote of Sir Gibbie, "It moved me the way books did when, as a child, the great gates of literature began to open and first encounters with noble thoughts and utterances were unspeakably thrilling." Even Mark Twain, who initially disliked MacDonald, became friends with him, and there is some evidence that Twain was influenced by him. The Christian author Oswald Chambers wrote in his Christian Disciplines that "it is a striking indication of the trend and shallowness of the modern reading public that George MacDonald's books have been so neglected".

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Commemorated on 5 plaques

George MacDonald 1824-1905 story teller lived here 1860-1863

20 Albert Street, Camden, NW1, London, United Kingdom where they lived (1860-1863)

The author and poet George MacDonald lived here from 1850 to 1853 while Minister of Arundel Independent Church

Tarrant Street, Arundel, United Kingdom where they lived (1850-1853)

George MacDonald poet and novelist lived here 1867-1877

25 Upper Mall, W6, London, United Kingdom where they lived (1867-1877)

In questa "casa coraggio" tra il 1879 ed il 1902 visse ed opero lo scrittore Scozzese George MacDonald 1824-1905

Casa Coraggio, Bordighera, Italy where they lived (1879-1902)

George MacDonald Poet & Novelist Lived Here 1857-1860

27 Tackleway, Hastings, United Kingdom where they lived (1857-1860)