Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women

MacDonald corresponded with a literary circle that included Lewis Carroll, John Ruskin, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Dickens, Thackeray, and Trollope. Later writers influenced—directly or indirectly—by MacDonald include Edith Nesbit, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Susan Cooper.

A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens

This story reflects the Romantic veneration for “Paganism” as an expression of beauty (authentic truth) and emotion (authentic path to truth) The story contains many elements of the “pagan” Saturnalia and midwinter celebrations that predated the Protestant Reformation.

• SuperSummary Study Guide A Christmas Carol

The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871) by Lewis Carroll

These books are among the most enduring and best-beloved children’s stories of the 19th century. Lewis Carroll, a contemporary and friend of MacDonald’s, was a mathematician and fantasist who slipped little mathematical puzzles and social satire into a Romantic story with elements of the Picaresque. The stories represent Alice as a picaresque hero: an outsider and a bit of a rogue with a penchant for trespassing, eating, and drinking whatever came to hand.

The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), The Book of Dragons (1899), Five Children and It (1902), The Railway Children (1906), and The House of Arden (1908) by Edith Nesbit 

These are a few of the books written by Edith Nesbit (1858-1924). Her work is often credited as the earliest fantasy stories written specifically for children.

Wind in the Willows (1908) by Kenneth Graham

This book is a Romance venerating nature. It contains “pagan” elements including a chapter featuring the god Pan playing his pipes while standing watch over a lost otter child.

The Secret Garden (1910;1911) by Frances Hodgson Burnett

This book contains extensive use of “pagan” symbolism and a Romantic veneration of nature as a road to enlightenment.

• SuperSummary Study Guide The Secret Garden

Peter and Wendy (1911) by J. M. Barrie

This is the story of a “nature” boy literally named after the god Pan. He avoids civilization and lives in a world of nature and make-believe.

The Dark Is Rising (1965-1977) series by Susan Cooper

Cooper was influenced by Tolkien and Lewis. Like MacDonald, Cooper used Arthurian legend and the “pagan” history of England to create an enduring fantasy world.

• SuperSummary Study Guide The Dark Is Rising

Works by Charles Williams

In addition to Tolkien and Lewis, the Inklings literary group included Charles Williams, a theologian with an idiosyncratic theology. He was a novelist, playwright, poet, literary critic, and one of C. S. Lewis’s best friends. He struggled to publish his work but was better known in his time than Tolkien and Lewis, whose work has lasted longer.

War in Heaven (1930)

The Holy Grail appears in an English parish and causes conflict,

Many Dimensions (1930)

A villainous antiquarian acquires the Stone of King Solomon, which allows its owner to defy space and time.

The Place of the Lion (1931)

Archetypal figures manifest around an English country town, challenging the moral strengths and flaws of the residents.

The Greater Trumps (1932)

A Tarot deck enables users to work magic.

Shadows of Ecstasy (1933)

A student magician learns to extend his life, making himself virtually immortal by dying and resurrecting his own body. His followers undertake to overturn European civilization.

Descent into Hell (1937)

A scholar becomes obsessed with a succubus.

All Hallows’ Eve (1945)

Two women die and, looking back at their lives, contrast the results of selfish choices versus loving ones.