George MacDonald - Lilith

[RaleC]

Anyone read Lilith by George MacDonald?

After a pile of books on recent wars I had the notion I might need to pour back in something less abyssal into my world-view. I don't recall how I settled on Lilith - I think it was mentioned in relation to Boehme, who I was reading to try and decode all the gnostic symbolism in Cormac McCarthy - but I'm curious as to what you folks, who seem impossibly well-read, think about it.

And also whether it'll reach an old cynic like me or I should just keep going with the gloom pile and read the book on the Bang Bang Club that I'm sure is a real chuckle bucket.

Thanks for your time.

[Bleak&Icy]

I confess, I have a thing for femme fatales--the dark side of the inner feminine, or anima, as portrayed by male artists--so when I spotted this paperback in a secondhand shop a few years ago, I purchased it immediately. First of all, the cover featured a reproduction of Rossetti's Pandora. Who can resist a languid lady clutching at her mysterious box, out of which some weird vapours are emanating? Second, the following two blurbs grabbed my attention:

"Most myths were made in prehistoric times, and, I suppose, not consciously made by individuals at all. But every now and then occurs in the modern world a genius--a Kafka or a Novalis--who can make such a story. MacDonald is the greatest genius of this kind whom I know." -- C. S. Lewis

"Equal if not superior to the best of Poe." -- W. H. Auden

Wow! Could there really be a writer on the level of Poe and Kafka of whose work the world was unfamiliar? Sadly, nope. I made it about fifty pages into the book before I put it down, utterly disappointed. My recollection of the reading experience is rather vague, but I do recall a feeling of twee innocence which I found, at the time, to be quite intolerable. If I gave up too soon, please let me know.

[bendk]

Quote Originally Posted by Bleak&Icy

I confess, I have a thing for femme fatales--the dark side of the inner feminine, or anima, as portrayed by male artists--so when I spotted this paperback in a secondhand shop a few years ago, I purchased it immediately. First of all, the cover featured a reproduction of Rossetti's Pandora. Who can resist a languid lady clutching at her mysterious box, out of which some weird vapours are emanating? Second, the following two blurbs grabbed my attention: "Most myths were made in prehistoric times, and, I suppose, not consciously made by individuals at all. But every now and then occurs in the modern world a genius--a Kafka or a Novalis--who can make such a story. MacDonald is the greatest genius of this kind whom I know." -- C. S. Lewis "Equal if not superior to the best of Poe." -- W. H. Auden Wow! Could there really be a writer on the level of Poe and Kafka of whose work the world was unfamiliar? Sadly, nope. I made it about fifty pages into the book before I put it down, utterly disappointed. My recollection of the reading experience is rather vague, but I do recall a feeling of twee innocence which I found, at the time, to be quite intolerable. If I gave up too soon, please let me know.

Similar to my experience, Bleak & Icy. I couldn't finish it either. I remember reading a few lines that were reminiscent of something C.S. Lewis would say, so I put it down in disgust.

[RaleC]

A write up by Auden is pretty impressive. I read his Age Of Anxiety a few months ago and really enjoyed it (as much as one can enjoy the internal chatter of neurotics, drunks and maudlin madmen.)

"I remember reading a few lines that were reminiscent of something C.S. Lewis would say" How so? I'm not as informed on his work as I could be.

[SwansSoilMe/SwansSaveMe]

With Lewis you get a fairly obvious theistic worldview, but there's a sense of integrity and he can usually say something smart/simple enough to throw you back to the atheistic drawing board. (Not a thumper or stumper, he.) If you're not even at such a board, perhaps having "transcended" the dilemma of search or else resigned to the futility of it, you should have no problem and be able to enjoy some of his perspectives as much as the next guy's. That's if you're into "enjoying" anyone's perspective at all...besides your own, or perhaps Tom's, heh-heh. The film Shadowlands may give you a good taste of Clive Staples Lewis if you don't wanna break into a book like The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, or Surprised by Joy. Or The Problem of Pain. I've always meant to read MacDonald, he's supposed to have known or influenced J.R.R. Tolkien. In Bible college way back when I was a Christian, GM was being read along with Lewis by those who had discovered God would allow them to read stories only vaguely religious, or also allegories, by men He had saved. Lewis' own fantasy and science fiction series come to mind. The Chronicles of Narnia is best known as literature for children of all ages.

[RaleC]

Quote Originally Posted by SwansSoilMe/SwansSaveMe

That's if you're into "enjoying" anyone's perspective at all...besides your own, or perhaps Tom's, heh-heh.

My own opinion is less of a concrete shibboleth. I just like reading as much as I can as education-cum-proxy-living in my off hours, transit, waiting-rooms &c. I know that I don't know.

Thanks for this - I'll check out Shadowland.