Any study that seeks to trace the influences of English and European romanticism in "mythopoeic" fantasy must turn to the works of the Scottish author George MacDonald. He was a contemporary of Lewis Carroll (MacDonald's children read "Alice's Adventures Underground," an early version of the first Alice book, and encouraged the author to publish his story) and of Charles Kingsley. MacDonald's fiction has influenced twentieth-century fantasists, most notably C. S. Lewis, and his work has been praised by W. H. Auden. Readers familiar with MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin (1871) will see echoes of that work in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937).

MacDonald, son of George MacDonald and Helen MacKay MacDonald, was born on 10 December 1824 in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, and was one of six children. His mother died when he was eight years old, and his paternal grandmother, Isabella Robertson, provided a strong influence on his development. MacDonald's...