Customer Reviews

Lilith

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Breaking with my normal bias and preferences in the written word, I really enjoyed this little book in spite of the fact that the storyline is incredibly bizarre, fragmented and difficult to resolve in many places. This book is not for everyone.

Lilith is built upon a very old myth about the first wife of Adam-an angelic being-who was said to have been very rebellious and eventually was replaced by the more subservient human Eve (Lewis also references this myth in "That Hideous Strength"). I am not altogether certain where or how the story originated except that the Hebrew word which is translated "night specter" is lilyt, which must have somehow given rise to the story about the female demon who seeks to over power men. At points in the MacDonald narrative Adam reverts to King James old English in addressing Lilith, a touch I found a little disturbing. While the character of Lilith embodies the flesh in all of us-not just women-the use of the KJV linguistic style between Adam and Lilith seemed to adhere to the perceived rightness and superiority of the male-oriented theology of the middle ages (when the original myth was likely to have gained momentum as a means of shaming women into more subservient roles).

MacDonald uses this ancient myth to create a fantastic tale about the battle between spirit and flesh but in the telling he divulges vast philosophical/theological thoughts that take considerable energy to wade through. In the absence of realism, the philosophical core makes up for other narrative flaws. But, it's a very difficult story to read and absorb quickly. I made it about  of the way through several months ago but was only able to pick it up again to finish recently.

The world MacDonald creates in this book is incredibly opaque and over-painted with layer after layer of meaning. One could drill down into each sentence in some places and find a wealth of unending content to explore. It's almost a stream of consciousness style that leaves the reader feeling like they've just fallen, somehow, between the written words and their meaning. Often times I felt like I was barely touching on that deep significance before being carried away on a completely different current. He changes gears very quickly and uses an abundance of metaphorical images that get very mixed together like literary soup. I don't doubt that MacDonald had an incredible mind, but his manner of presenting the material is difficult to follow at best.

It is easy to see MacDonald's influence in Lewis' writings, although I would say that Lewis wields words (and ideas) a little more kindly.

Lewis was right when he described MacDonald as not a great writer, but perhaps the best myth-maker he had ever read. There are places where MacDonald could have used a good editor, sections that are unclear that could be made so, or where the feel is disjointed. However, there are other sections where the lack of clarity is simply because of the great depth, as one looks down into a storm-tossed pool extending into the Marianas'. Images and lines of Lilith stay with you and ruminate in your mind, such as individuals lying down on the cold slabs of Mr. Raven's house, the delightful children feeding the gentle giant, or the phrase, "When a man will not act where he is, he must go far to find his work."

A couple further capiats: MacDonald's belief in universal salvation is clearly demonstrated, and his argument that the only way Good can truly be greater than Evil is if all Evil will one day succumb to Good by becoming Good has a certain, if incomplete persuasion. It was also surprising to see MacDonald making use of ancient Gnostic/Jewish heresies such as Lilith, the first wife of Adam.

I highly recommend the book however for it's depth of imagery, for the ideas that can extend into one's mind and bring forth something new, as we give up the old ones. MacDonald's layers and repetitions hearken to something Biblical, or Joycian. In death there is life.

All of MacDonald's work is interesting, but Lilith is by far the best. It's a pity that some who only know his stories for children are not sufficiently moved to read Lilith, a very adult, dark, poetic, delightful excursion into uncharted regions of the human soul. A truly unique and worthy classic.

The arena of twentieth century British Christian fiction, which includes authors from Chesterton to Auden to C.S. Lewis, appears to owe a great deal to George MacDonald, whose Victorian fantasy as demonstrated in "Lilith" has a primitive and dark undercurrent. Nightmarish yet optimistic, "Lilith" is possibly the most vivid life-after-death parable since Dante's Divine Comedy.

The protagonist and first-person narrator is an excitable man named Mr. Vane who lives in an old house that has been in his family for generations. One day he notices an odd creature making its way through the library; this turns out to be the birdlike Mr. Raven, who introduces him to a mysterious world beyond a magic mirror stored in the garret of the house. A more modern author might be tempted to give this world a name to distinguish it from the real one, but to MacDonald it is merely an extension of Mr. Vane's conscience.

Mr. Vane is understandably frightened of but fascinated by this world. Part of it appears to be a realm of the Dead where skeletal apparitions dance and fight as though they were still living; part a forest where stupid, brutal giants and innocent, benevolent "little ones" share their habitats; part a murky moor where leopardesses roam in search of babies to eat and enchanting women are to be found. At the center of this world, embodying its evil, commanded by an entity known as the "Shadow," is the demon princess Lilith, a direct allusion to the Assyrian goddess and to the legend of Adam's first wife.

As a guide to this netherworld, Mr. Raven acts as a kind of Virgil to Mr. Vane's Dante; the structure of the story has a vague analogy to the sequence of Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. Mr. Vane's role is less clear; he could be considered a crusader against evil or an emissary of the living in the land of the dead. However, I wouldn't want to restrict my interpretation to a religious allegory because the novel works as pure mythology, although supplementary to Judeo-Christian theology.

For all his antiquated, overly formal prose, MacDonald displays a very poetic sensibility for symbolism; for example, he personifies the sun as "he" and the moon as "she," as if they were a married pair of celestial luminaries. There is also an implied notion of a library as a gateway to the imaginations of the innumerable deceased, which is a comforting thought that connotes potential immortality through the written word. If nothing else, "Lilith" functions as a bridge between two enduring traditions -- imaginative classic literature and twentieth century fantasy.

This is not theology. It is a mythic prose poem. Not unlike a mind altering molecule; but safer; maybe. Read this for the raven, the mirror,and the library if for nothing else.

Lilith is typical MacDonald. It is often tedious. It can leave you guessing as to what exactly is going on. It can leave you downright frustrated with the man. Yet it has moments of brilliance that make the whole endeavor more than worth the struggle. Lilith is one of MacDonald's most mature books. It is much darker than works such as The Princess and the Goblin or At the Back of the North Wind. It has some affinity with the works of MacDonald's friend, Lewis Carroll. At its core, it is an allegory for MacDonald's anti-Calvinist notions of Universalism. For all its obtuseness and periodical preachiness, it is a fine story in the end (I liken it to Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, which, for me, was a pain to read--but when it was over I loved the story). Just an aside--you should really read this book and then go on to C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. The two books go very well together.

This is a fantasy for adults. The beginning, middle, and end all seem quite unlike one another to me, with the end worth whatever effort it takes to get through the middle. The book could be quite a vocabulary enhancer, as this excerpt may exemplify: "For centuries I dreamed -- or was it chiliads? or only one long night? -- But why ask? for time had nothing to do with me; I was in the land of thought -- farther in, higher up than the seven dimensions, the ten senses: ... I dreamed cycles, I say, but, for aught I knew or can tell, they were the solemn, aeonian march of a second, pregnant with eternity." (The book provided my first encounters with "glode" and with "crown" -- rhymes with "grown".) Indeed the book can be interpreted as a series of dreams, at times perhaps confusing. Perhaps the best that can be said of any book is that it is rereadable, and I certainly plan to reread this one some day.

This edition contains a worthwhile introduction by C.S. Lewis. The punctuation in this edition is nearly invisible.

David Marshall Christian Fundamentalist and author of Jesus: True Son who teaches in an obscure Japanese college (the Asian equivalent of Jerry Fallwells Liberty university, or Bob Jones university) proffers a review that's a melange of mooniesm & unitarian universalism. People don't read such authors as MacDonald or C.S. Lewis because of their religions but because they're good WRITERS. Such sloppy effete preaching evinces the most ignorant criticism possible, the critic reads his own inadequacies into the text. Embarrassing. Tolkien's & Lewis's repeated admonitions NOT to read their books as allegories or parables is lost on such crude literalist's, and even Lewis's non-fiction is read because they're written by him not because of their subject. Unless you see a thematic continuity between Lewis and the authors of the Left Behind series you'll have to dismiss Marshall's ideological misreading. Poet W.H. Auden could hardly have admired these writers for such simplistic reasons. Lafcadio Hearn a fantasy writer of MacDonalds own time regarded Christianity with mostly contempt. Known as Koizumi Yakumo in Japan.

Deep, philosophical, spiritual, this is one of the best books I've read all year. It made me think about my beliefs and offered so much insight into Christianity, although not conventional views. The story explores the battle between good and evil. MacDonald's conclusion to this struggle is utterly profound. "Annihilation itself is no death to evil. Only good where evil was, is evil dead. An evil thing must live with its evil until it chooses to be good. That alone is the slaying of evil." This story captures the heart of forgiveness, redemption, and that of the Christian God. This book is not for everyone and it wasn't an easy read, but if you like to reflect on spiritual and philosophical issues, this book was written for you.

The real _masterpieces_ of fantasy, as opposed to the "entertaining reads," are not numerous. This is one of the masterpieces. It is not a perfect book, but it belongs in the company of the greatest, such as

The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion (Tolkien); Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength, and Till We Have Faces (Lewis); The Man Who Was Thursday (Chesterton); A Wizard of Earthsea (Le Guin); The Owl Service (Garner); Titus Groan and Gormenghast (Peake)... books of that caliber.

Don't miss MacDonald's magnificent tales such as "The Day Boy and the Night Girl" and "The Golden Key."

Read MacDonald's Lilith. If you are so moved, read it in conjunction with the detailed, free study guide available at the MacDonald "Golden Key" website: