The twelve novels MacDonald set in his homeland make frequent use of Scots dialogue, which has posed a problem for many would-be readers. This new edition of DONAL GRANT, the sequel to SIR GIBBIE, and book four in the translation series, provides the complete original text, but places English side-by-side with the Scots. Also featured is an introduction by renowned MacDonald authority and best-selling author Michael Phillips, along with more of the distinguished artwork of SIR GIBBIE’s illustrator Carrie Stout.
In his preface, translator David Jack praises DONAL GRANT as “a story-sermon par excellence” in which MacDonald blends his powerful mythmaking with his no less powerful preaching: the result being “a kind of fairy-tale for grown-ups.” Donal himself he compares to the author, claiming that both bring us (as Donal brings the proud but unhappy heiress Lady Arctura) “news from a far country, for the lack of which she had been slowly perishing.”
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.
Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence."
Even Mark Twain, who initially disliked MacDonald, became friends with him, and there is some evidence that Twain was influenced by MacDonald.
MacDonald grew up influenced by his Congregational Church, with an atmosphere of Calvinism. But MacDonald never felt comfortable with some aspects of Calvinist doctrine; indeed, legend has it that when the doctrine of predestination was first explained to him, he burst into tears (although assured that he was one of the elect). Later novels, such as Robert Falconer and Lilith, show a distaste for the idea that God's electing love is limited to some and denied to others.
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