MacDonald, George
MacDonald, George , ( 1824 – 1905 ),son of a Scottish miller, was briefly a Congregationalist minister, but was rejected by his congregation, and thereafter struggled to support his family of 11 children by writing. In his own day he was celebrated chiefly as poet, preacher, and lecturer, and as the author of numerous novels, including David Elginbrod ( 1863 ), Alec Forbes of Howglen ( 1865 ), and Robert Falconer ( 1868 ), often with banal melodramatic plots and cardboard villains, but illuminated by compassionate affection for humanity and nature. The Scottish setting of his best novels helped to found the ‘Kailyard school ’ of fiction. MacDonald is now best known for his children's stories, including At the Back of the North Wind ( 1871 ) and The Princess and the Goblin ( 1872 ), memorably illustrated by Arthur Hughes, and for his two allegorical fantasies for adults, Phantastes (...
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