FOUR BOOKS IN ONE In one, beautifully laid-out volume, four of the best beloved fantasy novels by George MacDonald—the 19th century Scottish author and Christian philosopher who was the pioneer of modern fantasy literature. Aside from being a compelling and poignant writer in his own right, he has been cited as a major influence of variety of writers who came after him, including Lewis Caroll, G.K. Chesterton, W. H. Auden, J. M. Barrie, Oswald Chambers, Mark Twain, L. Frank Baum, T.H. White, Richard Adams, Hilaire Belloc, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Madeleine L'Engle, and countless others. Included in this volume
Author
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. He was educated at Aberdeen University and after a short and stormy career as a minister at Arundel, where his unorthodox views led to his dismissal, he turned to fiction as a means of earning a living. He wrote over 50 books. Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, MacDonald inspired many authors, such as G.K. Chesterton, W. H. Auden, J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later," said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence." Elizabeth Yates wrote of Sir Gibbie, "It moved me the way books did when, as a child, the great gates of literature began to open and first encounters with noble thoughts and utterances were unspeakably thrilling." Even Mark Twain, who initially disliked MacDonald, became friends with him, and there is some evidence that Twain was influenced by MacDonald. For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George\_M...
