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Abstract
This
paper is a stylistic analysis of the imagery and function of woods
and forests as found in six of George MacDonald’s fairy tales that
contain allusions to woods and forests. George MacDonald (1824-1905)
was a Victorian Scottish author, poet, and minister. He is known for
his fairy tales and fantasy novels, and is believed to have
influenced later writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and G.K.
Chesterton. I use Max Luthi’s landmark works on folktales: The
European Folktale: Form and Nature,
and The Fairytale as
Art Form and Portrait of Man,
and Corinne Saunders’ The
Forest of Medieval Romance
to analyze the integral role that woods and forests play in the
composition and narration of each tale, and to prove how vital woods
and forests are in the lives of each human actor. This approach
prompts us to look at these tales in a new and contemporary light of
eco-consciousness, and observe how the romantic MacDonald uses forest
imagery as narrative strategy in each fantastic tale, as he, through
this motif, defines and determines the enduring relationship between
humans and their environment of woods and forests.
Keywords:
Woods & forests,
fairytales, George MacDonald, romance forest, truncated motif,
one-dimensionality, sublimation, depthlessness, “Little Daylight”
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