Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women Hardcover – June 1, 2011

I looked so forward to this audiobook but the female narrator was awful. At times she talked so low I couldn't make out what she was saying. I was very disappointed.

I'm new to George Macdonald. I became aware of him from having read C.S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce." Lewis made him a character in his story so I googled him and learned that Lewis so revered him he called him his "master." So I read a children's story of his, "The Light Princess," and absolutely LOVED it.But Phantastes was the first Macdonald book Lewis had ever read and it made a huge impression on him, so I determined it was my next Macdonald book. I guess I had high expectations. They weren't met. Not even close. You're just kind of meandering thru this fairyland story with no real sense of a major dramatic question. Our protagonist observes some kinda strange creatures and gets in some odd fantasy scrapes but there's no consistent force of antagonism. In one chapter it's a shadow, in another it's some goblins, then another there's some giants, etc. All the time I'm going - is this worth finishing? Meh, I have 30 pages left so I guess I'll stick it out.The best part in the whole book is a story that the protagonist reads in a book while he's in fairyland. Seriously, a whole chapter in Phantastes is our hero reading a story in a book that is FAR MORE INTERESTING than the one we're reading. This chapter is riveting but it's only one chapter and then we're back in our hero's wandering shoes wondering why we're here and when can we leave? As I mentioned earlier, I got 30 pages and then I'm outta here.But I'm really excited to get onto another Macdonald book. I LOVED the Light Princess. I'm excited for Lilith and the Golden Key. I think they'll be a little more structured and their conflict will be more clear. Phantastes has occasionally interesting insight, but not enough for me to recommend a read. Go for one of the other ones unless you're an avid fan and must read all his works. But this would be more down the list after you've tasted of the better ones. I'd compare this to deleted scenes on a favorite DVD or something. Kinda interesting but not compelling.

I'm a complete bookworm, I love the written word and any and all chances I have, I always take it. One of my absolute favorite Authors is C.S. Lewis, I can't even begin to tell you how may times I have read all of the books in The Chronicles of Narnia. I also love reading J. R. R. Tolkien and he and C.S. Lewis were great friends. What I found out, quite accidentally, is that George MacDonald inspired both and I can 100% understand why. As a matter of fact, C.S. Lewis quite often quotes MacDonald and I hadn't realized just how much until I re-read his works. I guess you can say, if it weren't for George MacDonald, who knows if we'd have the literary works we have to treasure. George MacDonald wrote a beloved story with this and when I read it and re-read it, I understand and appreciate what I'm reading all the more, not only for it's contained beauty, but for having a very real respect and admiration of just how much influence he still has!

Must read… flex your imagination and all that is possible!

Anyone who loves fantasy tales will really enjoy this book. The language is simply beautiful and is an example of the type of prose that we don’t see being written in today’s literature. The story exhibits an illustration of innocence and love. Truly an enjoyable book .

George MacDonald was a good novelist if the reader is comfortable with the idiom of his era, but this recent Hendrickson deluxe edition is not a good one--publishers have pretty much lost the gift of good book design. The paper is thin, the book is badly shaped, fancy and gussied-up doodads are on every page but there is no margin to speak of. I wish I had found an earlier edition at an affordable price.

MacDonald is the original creator of a 'dream-world of magic.' He is a wondrous story teller and an enormous influence on Lewis and Tolkien. If called a faerie, he would see it as a complement and he very well should considering his story is delicately woven with detail, fantasy, and hope. Is man looking past a world that is rich and full,yet does not fit the agendas of the modern human being? So grow a pair of phan-testes and dive into MacDonald's whimsical prose.

There are plenty of reviews of the story Phantastes with the other editions. So I won't go into detail on the story itself. I love this story and had a very old paperback copy of it. I am so happy I found this beautiful hardback copy to replace my old yellowed paperback. The illustrations, done by a friend of the author George MacDonald, are perfect. They were colorized for this edition but I think beautifully so. The pages are glossy - the kind that will make this book a treasure for years to come. If you love the story or have yet to discover it, this is an excellent edition to buy. A true gem for bibliophiles!

The text is probably an automatic translation of a foreign text, and makes no sense in english. The text deviates considerably from the original english composition. DO NOT BUY THIS VERSION. Not worth any stars

Lovely quality book - a joy to hold

I was reminded of George MacDonald's writing by a friend on Google+, and he has been a great find. I already knew that CS Lewis acknowledged him as a major inspiration, but had not expected to find out just how large an influence he has been on modern fantasy as an entire genre.I devoured two of his works in rapid succession - Phantastes and Lilith - and found them to have substantial differences as well as similarities. In both cases, MacDonald felt the need to devise a means for his protagonist to make the transition from the world we live in, into the particular fantasy world of the title in question. This is definitely a feature of the era, also seen in some equally inventive traveller's tales stories of the 19th century which never aspire to magic or the land of Faerie. Many modern authors would probably begin his or her story directly in the other realm, but Lewis used various devices such as the well-known Wardrobe, or the `Wood between the Worlds' to this end. For MacDonald and his contemporaries, the transition, and the relationship between the worlds, was an important ingredient.Some of MacDonald's ideas have become so commonplace that some readers may think there is little originality in the books. Tolkien's ents are here, along with Lewis's courtly culture and virtues, and just about everyone's goblins and elves. In common with a great many other writers, the societies are basically medieval in outlook. People ride horses, fight with bladed weapons, and communicate face to face. Limited magical abilities are present, but not as learned talents for just anyone - they are an innate faculty of some beings and inaccessible to others.Of the two books, Lilith is much more overtly concerned with Christian themes, building on the tradition that the woman of that name was Adam's first wife. Some familiarity with Christian elaboration of this idea helps, but is not essential, since the tradition MacDonald is using comes from outside the written text of the Bible. His profound commitment to principles of eternal hope and redemption drives the conflicts and resolutions of the book's characters. Themes of life and death fill the book, together with the Christian duty to lay aside the everyday life in order to put on a new kind of life. It is a duty which comes no more easily to the book's main character than to any of the rest of us.Phantastes, subtitled `A Faerie Romance for Men and Women`, is, perhaps, a more conventional fantasy tale. It describes a quest and trial of passage in which the central character has to identify and master his shadow side - just as Ged has to in Ursula LeGuin's EarthSea books. There are mysterious beings, often women, locked inside wood or stone and waiting to be released by the right individual. There are warnings about particular actions or pathways, most of which are ignored by the protagonist who has a rather exaggerated sense not only of his own safety, but also the ability of the wider world to survive his rash deeds unscathed. The theme reaches back to Greek mythology (if not earlier), and forward to our own ecological travails. And finally there is the necessary noble deed which cannot be accomplished except through the gates of death.The books, especially Phantastes, will not just appeal to fantasy fans, but are also of interest to students of psychology. Some passages anticipate the later formal development of psychotherapeutic understanding. Students of the life and work of, say, Freud and Jung will already know just how much of their thinking rested on earlier foundations laid by artists, philosophers, and authors. Here in 1858 we already have MacDonald writing about the "forgotten life, which lies behind the consciousness", and the mutual dependence of external objects with the "hidden things of a man's soul".Having said all that, some people will, no doubt, be impatient with these works. For me they were definitely both five star books, not least because many of my favourite authors have so obviously been influenced by them. They have survived over 150 years of literary development remarkably well, but inevitably use some constructions and habits of thought which will seem dated to the modern reader. If you are keen on exploring one of the foundational authors of modern fantasy, and willing to work with the conventions of the 19th century, these books are for you.

Das Buch wurde im Selbstverlag herausgebracht, weil das Urheberrecht 70 Jahre nach dem Tod des Autors erloschen ist. Dementsprechend scheint hier niemand korrekturgelesen oder auf Vollständigkeit geprüft zu haben. Ich entscheide mich dann doch lieber für eine ältere Ausgabe von einem richtigen Verlag.

“Algumas horas mais tarde, após ler “Phantastes” eu sabia que tinha ultrapassado um grande fronteira” – escreveu C.S. Lewis – autor de “As Crônicas de Narnia”. É marcante também a influência desta obra em “O Hobbit”, de J.R.R. Tolkien. O mundo de fadas criado por MacDonalds tem inimigos fantasmagóricos, senhoras do bem e do mal, cavaleiro de armadura cintilante, estátuas que dançam, para citar alguns. É como se o leitor fosse carregado para o outro lado da fronteira de um novo mundo; como se tivesse morrido e nunca poderia explicar como chegou vivo neste novo mundo; tudo foi alterado. As melhores partes da narrativa são a cena da floresta e o Palácio das Fadas. O nome do viajante é Anodos, e, após ser transportado para o mundo das fadas, é perseguido por um tempo por sua própria sombra. A sombra simboliza seu superego, caracterizado por atitudes racionalistas que o impedem de perceber a importância espiritual do que ele encontra. Durante a viagem, Anodos visita um família na qual a mãe está em estreito contato com a realidade do mundo das fadas, enquanto que seu marido só enxerga as coisas materiais. Ao manipular estes dois traços, MacDonald claramente favorece a visão não-materialista do homem. Outra pérola muito bem manipulada pelo autor em “Phantastes” é a descrição do desejo como uma experiência espiritual; os anseios indicam um necessidade que não pode ser satisfeita por nada nesta terra e, portanto, aponta para Deus. Claro que esta ideia já tinha sido expressa em outro livro – “As Confissões de Santo Agostinho” (ver resenha) – quando ele diz: “tu nos fizestes para ti, e nosso coração está inquieto até que descansem em ti”. Mas ninguém, nem mesmo Santo Agostinho, descreve esta experiência como MacDonald muito bem o faz em ‘Phantastes”. Assim, o tema principal parece resolver o problema da busca dos anseios e desejos pessoais; a preocupação surge porque o processo natural de buscar as satisfações dos desejos humanos é egocêntrico, e o egocentrismo é espiritualmente destrutivo. O apelo ao Cristianismo na obra, conforme o leitor já percebeu, é muito forte – “Acredito no Cristianismo como acredito no nascer do sol, não só por que posso vê-lo, mas porque pela sua luz eu vejo todo o resto.” Em suma, se você leitor acha que estou te iluminando com um feitiço, talvez eu esteja. Mas lembre-se que em contos de fadas os feitiços são usados para quebrar encantamentos, bem como para induzi-los. Hum...aqui estou tentando quebrar tua resistência em ler a obra do maior mestre de contos de fadas vitoriano. Consegui?