TRAITS OF MYTHOLOGY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH LITERATURE: A STUDY
ProEtica- Revistă Culturală
ISSN 2734-8954
ISSN-L 2734-8954
11.03.2022
TRAITS OF MYTHOLOGY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH LITERATURE: A STUDY
ANCA ȘMULEAC
ȘCOALA GIMNAZIALĂ "DR. GHEORGHE TITEˮ SᾸPẬNȚA
"What he does best is fantasy - fantasy that hovers between the allegorical and the mythopoeic. And this, in my opinion, he does better than any man." (C.S. Lewis)
When allured by the magical worlds of fiction, readers appreciate most about every writer that power of imagination which enables the unfolding of human spiritual experience through fantasy literature. Such is the case of George MacDonald, a 19th century Scottish writer, and his work, mostly filled with realistic novels, fantasies and theological studies.
This paper explores the way George MacDonald, a nineteenth-century writer, appreciated the power of imagination and its possibilities to enable human spiritual experience through fantasy literature. Throughout his work, mostly filled with realistic novels, fantasies and theological studies, the Scottish writer unveils the impact of the Victorian socio-cultural transformation upon individuals, but also the struggle to attain a cathartic experience by means of literary manifestations.
As mentioned before, George MacDonald's fantasies generally make use of plots woven with mysticism, religious symbolism, and even allegorical frameworks meant to enable that feeling of transcendental experience. Hence, they can be analysed on multiple levels and much more as Richard Reis highlights also the use of a gallery of characters with archetypal patterns and storylines displaying elements of mythology. Although, Reis initially describes the characters as quite plain embedded in "formulaic plots" (121), or rather simple and linear, the critic admits that, when provided with a fantasy setting, they are empowered by deep meanings. Moreover, the scholar explains that a mythological influence is noticed in the usage of a few general topics, (such as the divine punishments through natural disasters causing population extinction), but overall a more personal touch comes from the fact that "MacDonald's characteristic plot-myth is the search for a divine unity, an unrealized but hoped-for goal" (Reis, George MacDonald 122).
As already mentioned, MacDonald's tendency to direct his stories towards the religious sphere is quite dominant, and this is why, Rolland Hein explains it is better to analyse the influence of myth from a Christian point of view, while assuming that "Christian myth is that species of imaginative writing that causes a catch of a breath, a faster beating of the heart, because it offers moments that arouse a deep-seated conviction that one has had a fleeting glimpse of Reality" (24). Actually, some of the biblical scenes considered of great reference for MacDonald served him as sources of inspiration. One such is example, prevailed in the sequel The Princess and Curdie, is represented by Curdie's trial scene as the boy's faith is tested when being asked by the old lady to put his hands in the fire. It surely brings similarities with that scene from the Old Testament, of Moses and the burning bush. Talking with God, Moses was proven that by having faith he could lead his people out of Egypt. Despite Rolland Hein's recommendation, Kirstin J. Johnson considers the influence of the Greek mythology as relevant for the analysis of MacDonald's work (40). For example, the goblins' attempt to kidnap princess Irene and take her into the underground realm reminds readers of the myth of Persephone.
His adaptations and literary works are deeply influenced by Platon's philosophical beliefs when analysing Stephen Prickett's statement: "MacDonald is a temperamental Platonist, only interested in the surface of this world for the news it gives him of another, hidden reality, perceived, as it were, in a glass darkly" (Victorian Fantasy 193), hence the feeling that the plots embed parallel realities driven by the mobile of fantasy whilst providing the ease to incorporate myth narratives. Later writers appreciated MacDonald's talent of restyling myths, or reshaping them into contemporary ones, hinting at social phenomena, and for such he was even regarded as a source of inspiration. In his Anthology of MacDonald, C.S. Lewis gathers arguments for nominating the term mythopoeia as being representative for the creation of new myths or for the infusion of mythical elements in MacDonald's work. He also provides quite a distinctive description pointing at the need of adaptating and finding new frameworks appropriate to modern times:
"Most myths were made in prehistoric times, and, I suppose, not consciously made by individuals at all. But every now and then there occurs in the modern world a genius-a Kafka or a Novalis-who can make such a story. MacDonald is the greatest genius of this kind whom I know. But I do not know how to classify such genius. (...) It begins to look as if there were an art, or a gift, which criticism has largely ignored." (xxvii-xxviii)
Also, in order to have a clearer picture of the manner in which the Inklings categorized as mythopoeic certain elements used by them or George MacDonald, Kirstin J. Johnson finds it relevant to mention that they actually resized the sphere of mythology since they considered the book of Bible as one of the greatest myths, "not meaning that it did not happen, but (...) its story is one that has persisted across time and cultures, and has repeatedly been considered relevant by at least some part of the population despite how incredibly different their culture might be" (31). Moreover, the scholar concludes that MacDonald's genius and his particular manner of delivering mythopoeic plots enable the reader to experience cathartic or at least life-changing moments.
References
Hein, Rolland. Doors In: The Fairy Tale World of George MacDonald. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2018,www.scribd.com/read/399747378/Doors-In-The-Fairy-Tale-World-of-George-MacDonald. Accessed 3 June 2021.
Johnson, Kirstin Jeffrey. "Rooted Deep: Discovering the Literary Identity of Mythopoeic Fantasist George Macdonald." Linguaculture, vol. 2014, no. 2, 2015, pp. 25-44, www.cyberleninka.org/ article/n/665697. Accessed 7 June 2021.
Lewis, C. S. George MacDonald: An Anthology, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1947.
MacDonald, George. The Princess and the Goblin. New York: Book of Wonder, 1986, www.archive.org/details/princessgoblin000macd. Accessed 2 February, 2021.
Prickett, Stephen. Victorian Fantasy. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2005.
Reis, Richard. George MacDonald. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1972, www.archive.org/details/georgemacdonald0119reis. Accessed 5 February 2021.