Reviews & Recommendations: Lilith by George MacDonald

For the first book examined on this blog, I'm going to start with a somewhat lesser known author: George MacDonald, a Scottish writer and minister from the late 19th early 20th century.  I say "lesser known" because although MacDonald's name has reemerged in the mainstream after nearly fading into obscurity, I do not hear his name said very often, which is a shame.  Many famous authors, such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, considered him a master storyteller, and W. H. Auden likened MacDonald to Poe in his skills.  What's more, MacDonald mentored Lewis Carroll, author of the classic Alice in Wonderland stories.

Admittedly, for a while I actually regarded MacDonald quite lightly, even with his resume.  Yes, I enjoyed reading The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie, and The Light Princess.  Also, while it does not attract me much in terms of story, I could see some skillful writing and teaching with At the Back of the North Wind.  However, liking an author's story does not equal admiring the author himself.  I did not understand what these famous authors meant in describing MacDonald as a great teacher and storyteller, at least not until I read Lilith.

Lilith is a novel narrated in first person by a Mr. Vane who, after meeting a mystical raven, is taken  through a mirror into a world of magic and peril.  After losing himself in this other world, Mr. Vane faces the true nature of life and death while seeking redemption for what he once abandoned.  It's a story difficult to describe without spoilers, so I'm afraid I must leave my summary here.

Before continuing, let's get one thing straight: I think MacDonald a better teacher than writer. In many of his stories, Lilith included,  MacDonald's characters are flat.  What's more, the plot starts slow, an often off-putting issue.  Worst of all, though, is that MacDonald has a somewhat convoluted writing style.  Much of the time he is great, with engaging imagery and insightful dialogue, but there are also many places where he writes sentences so long and complicated that I still don't comprehend it even after rereading, yanking me out of the story.  Because of this, the first forth of Lilith proved difficult, and I took a couple weeks to read what I can usually cover in a few hours.

However, after passing that first forth, MacDonald finally began to draw me in when the protagonist, Mr. Vane, meets a group of children in a country of giants.  This episode only covers two chapters, but the children were so likable that I found myself invested.  Then, at the end of the section, MacDonald integrated biblical teaching in such a natural way that I literally stopped and stared at the sentence.  

Perhaps it seems contradictory to say biblical teaching was inserted "naturally" when I ended up arrested in my reading by its surfacing.  What I mean by "natural" is not that it wasn't obvious but rather that there was no sense of being forced into the text.  In my experience, many stories containing Scripture would have been better without it because it's been crammed into the story, slathered on so thick and stuffed so much where it doesn't fit that I feel suffocated.  Even C. S. Lewis's works I think sometimes feels slightly forced, but in that ending sentence of Lilith's 14th chapter, I read a near quote of Scripture as if there were nothing else that could fit there.  It belonged there.

From then on, I raced through the tale like a child on a treasure hunt, having fun on my adventure in an intriguing story and world while watching for allusions to or direct inserts of Scripture.  I found many pieces of theology scattered throughout the story, and those pieces always fit; I never felt suffocated.  In fact, the Scripture enhanced the story by providing plot twists, motivation, and depth.  For the first time, I understood the power of MacDonald's writing and his skills as a teacher.  I have read that Lilith is inferior to MacDonald's novel, Phantastes, due to its direct approach to Scripture rather than allegorical, but even should this be so, I would still place Lilith on the list of "books that every Christian should read," if just as an example of weaving Scripture into story without any apparent seams.

That being said, MacDonald's incorporation of Scripture is not the only reason I recommend this book, especially to Christians.  MacDonald held a rather unorthodox strain of Christianity.  Those who know legends surrounding the character of Lilith might know one of these unorthodoxies, and I find these elements make the book more worthy of mention.  This book stirs thought.  It occasionally presents teachings that are not supported by Scripture and at times might even conflict with the traditional understanding of the Bible; I think Christians need this kind of interaction.  We need to be able to examine a story critically, pointing out and rejecting what is wrong while gleaning what is good.  Shall we throw out the seed because of the husk?  Though there are many stories with which critical thinking could be practiced, I hold Lilith to be an especially profitable story with much more wheat than chaff.

Does this mean I will recommend all books I read for the sake of finding the "seeds" in them?  No, of course not.  Not all tales are beneficial.  Would you make wine of diseased grapes?  Furthermore, the purpose of story is not just to teach but also to entertain.  If I do not enjoy a book, I will not recommend it, even if it should contain 100% sound Doctrine.  In the case of Lilith, I did enjoy it.  I think its story engrossing (when it got started) and world enchanting, and I also think there is much truth worth mining, even if there be the occasional goblins.  But when we should encounter them, let us not despair but instead sing a little tune of truth, for everyone knows goblins hate singing (especially when it is clever), pick up our lanterns and pick axes, and continue digging.  You never know what gem might be just a page turn away.

Lilith (c) George MacDonald