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George MacDonaldScottish writer, poet and clergyman
Date of Birth: 10.12.1824
Country:  Great Britain |
Content:
- Biography of George MacDonald
- Early Life and Education
- Career and Influences
- Influence on Lewis Carroll
- Later Years and Legacy
Biography of George MacDonald
George MacDonald was a Scottish writer, poet, and clergyman. He was born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and grew up in a farming family from the MacDonalds of Glen Coe clan. MacDonald's works were primarily known for his touching fairy tales and fantasy novels, which inspired many famous writers such as John Tolkien, Wystan Hugh Auden, Clive Lewis, Edith Nesbit, Madeleine L'Engle, and Gilbert Chesterton.
Early Life and Education
MacDonald was raised in a Calvinistic atmosphere and educated in the Congregational Church. However, he found that Calvinism did not fully satisfy him, and the concept of predestination even brought him to tears. After completing his studies at the University of Aberdeen, MacDonald moved to London and enrolled in Highbury College.
Career and Influences
From 1850, MacDonald served as a pastor at the Trinity Congregational Church in Arundel, but his unorthodox beliefs, such as the universal love of God and the possibility of everyone being reunited with the Creator, cost him half of his salary. He later worked in Manchester but had to leave due to health issues. After spending some time in Algiers, MacDonald returned to London, where he became a teacher at the University of London. He also worked as an editor for "Good Words for the Young" and traveled to the United States in 1872 to deliver a series of lectures.
Influence on Lewis Carroll
MacDonald was a mentor and teacher to Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll. MacDonald and his numerous children convinced Carroll to publish "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." In his spare time, Carroll pursued photography, and he even took pictures of MacDonald's children.
Later Years and Legacy
In 1877, MacDonald received a pension, and in 1900, he moved to St George's Wood, Haslemere. His son, Robert Falconer MacDonald, designed the new house, and another son, Greville MacDonald, supervised the construction. MacDonald passed away on September 18, 1905, in Ashtead, Surrey. His body was cremated, and his ashes were buried in Bordighera.
George MacDonald's son Greville later became a renowned physician and also wrote magical fairy tales for children, diligently overseeing the publication of his father's works. MacDonald's influence extended across various literary circles, and he was esteemed by writers like Alfred Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Anthony Trollope, John Ruskin, George Henry Lewes, and William Makepeace Thackeray.
