The Light Princess, George Macdonald (365 Books, Day 250)

[rushthatspeaks]

A fairy tale I had somehow missed in the phase when I was going through and reading lots of George Macdonald for the first time; mind you, that was before Project Gutenberg.

The plot is fairly traditional. There is of course a christening curse, and it is that the princess will lose all her gravity. The most interesting aspects of the book are the implications of this, which are carried through pretty thoroughly-- not only does she float, but she has nothing grave in her character; she cannot cry, cannot love, and greets every situation with a laugh. There's a note missing in her laugh, too, the note that comes from the possibility of eventual sadness.

And of course there's a prince, and they spend a great deal of time in a lake together, because when she is in water the princess is pulled down by it as other people are, and also comes her closest to human emotions. And the way he finds to save her is more of a test than this sort of story usually has.

This is one of those books where there are some wonderful images and some really well-thought-out things and some genuine emotions in it, but it just does not move me. I may be too old, or too annoyed by the totally extraneous labeling of the caricatures of metaphysicians who attend the princess as Exotically Oriental, or I may be sick of Macdonald's poetry, or I may just be in a bad mood.

Or expecting too much of Macdonald, who has written several things I find much more beautiful. Lilith is one of my comfort rereads, and I know that apparently these days not many people like Phantastes, but I always have.

Ah well. There is plenty more of his catalog for me to work through, now that vast quantities of it are online and I am no longer dependent on the caprice of libraries and the things at the back of the piles on the shelves of used bookstores.

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

apparently these days not many people like Phantastes, but I always have

Put me down as another Phantastes fan. I read it on C. S. Lewis's recommendation (he picked up a second-hand copy at Leatherhead railway station, according to his memoir, and had his mind blown), and while I didn't have quite his reaction I do recall setting the Ballad of Sir Aglovaile to guitar as a teenager, and many of its phrases cobweb my skull to this day.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I bonded early with The Princess and Curdy, and nothing else by Macdonald has ever been quite the same for me. I know The Light Princess because there's a Bodley Head edition with Maurice Sendak illustrations.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Sendak? Good Lord!

I can't remember the names of the delicate bouyant illustrators it should have. But at worst an Oz illustrator, as it reminded me so much of Dorothy and the Wizard floating down to the Mugaboo world. (And how did I remember Mugaboo right the first time, after all these decades?)

[sovay]

and they spend a great deal of time in a lake together, because when she is in water the princess is pulled down by it as other people are, and also comes her closest to human emotions.

I like that.

[deliasherman.livejournal.com]

I love both Phantastes and Lilith with a great and abiding love, and must re-read them (as soon as I find them--I suspect they're in one of those boxes in storage I'm supposed to do something about next week). "The Light Princess," to me, was MacDonald trying too hard to keep his allegory under control. He did best when he let the emotional logic of his well-furnished subconscious have free reign, as he did in "The Golden Key," for instance, which is virtually impossible to parse, but a very beautiful and moving thing. The Grandmother in the Curdie books comes out of that same numinous, mysterious place: whatever else she may putatively represent, she is most importantly herself. The Princess hews too close to her fairytale roots, and her purpose is just too didactic.

So yeah, I agree. Minor MacDonald at best.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I can intellectually appreciate "The Light Princess," and the scene where the boy nearly drowns for her is powerful, but the metaphysics bore me and, even though it's the point, the princess is so incredibly unsympathetic (and the boy is a drip).

Have you read "The Golden Key?" It's one of my very favorite stories ever.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

It's slight Macdonald, though I do like the weight of water. I love "The Golden Key," which is numinous and inexplicable.

Nine