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rushthatspeaksA 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.
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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.
You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost. There are
