Phantastes
core novel 1858 Phantastes
Record
| First published | 1858 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.89 (13,551 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780802860606 |
Synopsis
Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women (1858) follows young Anodos, who inherits his late father's writing desk and, on his twenty-first birthday, is visited by a fairy who emerges from it and draws him into Fairy Land, a realm existing alongside, and periodically overlapping with, his own. Once there, Anodos wanders through a shifting landscape of enchanted forests, ornate palaces and subterranean worlds, encountering figures both helpful and menacing as he searches for an elusive ideal of beauty embodied by a mysterious white lady he glimpses within a hollow tree. His journey through Fairy Land, governed by its own dreamlike logic rather than any conventional plot, becomes as much an exploration of his own inner life and desires as it is a literal adventure through an enchanted world.
Where it sits
- Universe: Phantastes
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: George MacDonald
Notes
- Subtitled 'A Faerie Romance for Men and Women'. Anodos, a young man, is pulled into a dreamlike fairy realm in search of his ideal of female beauty, and is pursued by his own shadow. Widely credited as one of the founding texts of modern fantasy, a direct influence on C.S. Lewis (who read it in 1916) and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Sources
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Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.