Talk:George MacDonald

Infobox caption broken

Don't know enough about the infobox templating, but the source says the "name" = "George Mac676r5e65e" and "caption" = "George MacDonald", yet when displayed shows "George Mac676r5e65e" as the caption above the box. zsh (talk) 15:51, 10 April 2011 (UTC)

Proper capitalization of MacDonald

Mac-D-onald, not Macdonald please.

In The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis spells it Macdonald, although I agree that that is likely unusual. Snowboardpunk

Scottish Romantic?

Shouldn't George MacDonald be added to the list of Scottish Romantics? I'm not too sure about it, so I would appreciate any feedback on this... --84.160.137.171 22:29, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

No, Romantics came slightly before MacDonald's era. He was more of a Victorian Author, like his friend Lewis Carroll. Puddyglum 16:41, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

I take it back, he may be considered a Scottish Romantic, but I'm not an expert one way or another. I just did some research an found that MacDonald's religious views and writing styles are difficult to label. I personally think he was Victorian, based on the years he wrote, and the fact that he was influenced by some Romantics, but wrote beyond their approach. Puddyglum 16:50, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

I think it's fair to put him in w/ Scottish Romantics, especially his Scottish novels fit the bill. Dating is a small difficulty because periods in British Lit. are Anglo-centric. Whereas English lit. has clearly defined boundaries between Romantic and Victorian, Scottish lit. does not. Skeggi210 (talk) 09:55, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Denomination

He is categorized as a Christian, but what is his denomination? Pictureuploader 16:03, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

He was Congregationalist by education, Calvinist by upbringing, but more what is modernly considered non-denominational..

"MacDonald had come to the conviction early in his education that it was possible for everyone to attain salvation, in contrast to the Calvinist teachings of election that he had grown up with; this view was seen as subversive, which made it difficult for him to find employment as a minister in any 19th-century denomination (Knowles and Malmkjær 164)."

http://www.northern.edu/hastingw/light_princess.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by Puddyglum (talk • contribs) 23:06, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Older edits

This sentence is rough, so I'm getting rid of it as well as bringing a little bit more clarity to the description of MacDonald's religious thought: "Yet he is emphasizing the divine providence very much." Gabriel2000

A person can not be cremated and buried. Presumably it was his ashes that were interred at Bordighera. 81.77.221.116 15:41, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

"Partial list of works"

The "partial list of works" is actually quite long. I propose that we cut it down to the twenty-or-so most important works and spinoff the rest into a separate article to be entitled List of George MacDonald's works. Any thoughts? ---RepublicanJacobite_{The'FortyFive'} 23:48, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

New file File:George MacDonald by Sir George Reid.jpg

Recently the file File:George MacDonald by Sir George Reid.jpg (right) was uploaded and it appears to be relevant to this article and not currently used by it. If you're interested and think it would be a useful addition, please feel free to include it. Dcoetzee 00:54, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

What is "pop culture"?

What exactly counts as pop culture? If a punk band most people have never even heard of records a song titled George MacDonald, how is it popular culture? It's fringe culture, genre culture. I have no idea what it has to do with George MacDonald though. In my opinion, nothing. If I make an mp3 called George MacDonald where I sing some of his lyrics, can I refer to this "pop culture" recording on this page? Could I include a footnote for people who might want to buy the mp3? My point is that none of those bands have anything to do with George MacDonald, so they have no place in an encyclopedic article about him. If you start to collect such vacuous references, you could fill every single article on Wikipedia with "pop culture" references. It's just stupid and meaningless, and it has nothing to do with George MacDonald. If Madonna (i.e. millions of people know who she is) recorded a tributary album using George Macdonald's words, it MIGHT be worth mentioning as a cultural reference because the scale is so enormous. Some average pop band saying "George MacDonald" in their lyrics is not relevant in any way. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.114.249.181 (talk) 13:25, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

MacDonald's non-fantasy works "realistic"?

Quote from this article as written 2009-07-28 1400 CST: "MacDonald's non-fantasy novels, such as Alec Forbes, had their influence as well; they were among the first realistic Scottish novels, and as such MacDonald has been credited with founding the "kailyard school" of Scottish writing."

I have not read MacDonald, but I believe this must be an inaccurate assessment of MacDonald's non-fantasy works if he is, in fact, credited as one of the founders of the "Kailyard School". By definition, "Kailyard school" writers described Scottish rural life as simplistic and overly sentimental, hardly realistic. See the Wikipedia stub on the "Kailyard School" at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=2874624. —Preceding unsigned comment added by LTCUSARet (talk • contribs) 19:15, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Realistic doesn't prohibit romanticism. It's simply used in MacDonald studies to identify those stories which, even if including supernatural or romantic elements, are not fantasy, i.e. there is no "other world" nor any magic, etc. It's not to say these works are "Realism," just to differentiate them from the fantastic novels. It's a distinction which is often used in Victorian studies. Skeggi210 (talk) 10:00, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Nationality, place of birth

The article has always described George as being born in Scotland and being Scottish. Recently an editor decided to change the article to show he was both in Scotland, United Kingdom, and was of British nationality. This isn't in keeping with other articles. For example, a random selection of other Scottish poets such as Alexander Anderson (poet), Thomas Aird and Robert Aytoun (that's the A's) are all consistent in this regard. --HighKing (talk) 21:26, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

OR in Theology

Paras 3, 4 and to a lesser extent 1 in section "Theology" seem too OR-ish as they stand. Rewrites could help, or some RS. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 107.77.228.106 (talk) 10:42, 27 August 2016 (UTC)

Biography + literary influences

For those interested, here is a journal article with a lot of interesting biographical and literary details on MacDonald - a lot of this stuff should be included in the wikipedia entry! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.233.92.63 (talk) 10:36, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

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Best biographies

These are older biographies.

• Macdonald, Greville, 1856-1944 George Macdonald and his wife, 1924 this Doesn't have some new material, e.g. on father.
• Golden Key a Study of the Fiction Of George MacDonald. Robert Lee Wolff 1961 this
• George Macdonald by Reiss, 1972 this
• Raeper, William (1987). George MacDonald 1987 this

Missing This is the latest biography

• George MacDonald, Scotland’s Beloved Storyteller, by Michael Phillips, 1987