Stephen Barkley

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David Elginbrod coverGeorge Macdonald’s early literary career took an interesting turn with David Elginbrod. His first love was poetry, as evidenced by his narrative poem Within and Without, published in 1855. He also loved fairy stories. The remarkable Phantastes was published in 1858. It was only with the publishing of his first full-length novel, David Elginbrod, that writing became a sustainable career path for the Victorian storyteller.

This novel is challenging to read, due the prevalence of the Elginbrod family’s thick Scottish dialect, especially in the first third of the novel. Hear the wisdom of David as he prays:

Grant that more an’ more thochts o’ thy thinkin’ may come into our herts day by day, till there shall be at last an open road atween thee an’ us, an’ thy angels may ascend and descend upon us, so that we may be in thy heaven, e’en while we are upo’ thy earth: Amen.” (loc. 4611-4614)

A slow reading of these passages is rewarding. MacDonald loved to contrast the wisdom of simple country-folk with the cultured. You could say that he chose the foolish of his literary worlds to confound the wise.

Like all of MacDonald works, there’s a pervasive goodness within. My Gen-Z students would call it wholesome—a wholesomeness is rooted in holiness. MacDonald’s vision of God is gracious and compelling. Consider young Harry’s reflections on the need to repent of his sins.

“They say I must repent and be sorry for my sins,” said he. “I have been trying very hard; but I can’t think of any, except once that I gave Gog” (his Welsh pony) “such a beating because he would go where I didn’t want him. But he’s forgotten it long ago; and I gave him two feeds of corn after it, and so somehow I can’t feel very sorry now. What shall I do? — But that’s not what I mind most. It always seems to me it would be so much grander of God to say: ‘Come along, never mind. I’ll make you good. I can’t wait till you are good; I love you so much.’” (11055-11060)

Following this, Harry breaks down in tears at the very thought that God could be that loving. We would do well to slow down and catch sight of the God who can’t wait until we are good, but who makes us good.


MacDonald, George. David Elginbrod. 1863. In The Complete Works of George MacDonald. E-book ed., Delphi Classics, 2015. EPUB.

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