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Lilith Mass Market Paperback – May 19, 1981

by George MacDonald (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 730 ratings
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Introduction by C. S. Lewis

“Lilith is equal if not superior to the best of Poe,” wrote W. H. Auden in his introduction to the 1954 reprint of George MacDonald’s Lilith, which was first published in 1895.

It is the story of Mr. Vane, an orphan and heir to a large house -- a house in which he has a vision that leads him through a large old mirror into another world. In chronicling the five trips Mr. Vane makes to this other world, MacDonald hauntingly explores the ultimate mystery of evil.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    264 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Eerdmans
  4. Publication date
    May 19, 1981
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.44 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0802860613
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0802860613
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Lilith is equal if not superior to the best of Poe," the great 20th-century poet W.H. Auden said of this novel, but the comparison only begins to touch on the richness, density, and wonder of this late 19th-century adult fantasy novel. First published in 1895 (inhabiting a universe with the early Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and Oscar Wilde--not to mention Thomas Hardy), this is the story of the aptly named Mr. Vane, his magical house, and the journeys into another world into which it leads him.

Meeting up with one mystery after another, including Adam and Eve themselves, he slowly but surely explores the mystery of the human fall from grace, and of our redemption. Instructed into the ways of seeing the deeper realities of this world--seeing, in a sense, by the light of the spirit--the reader and Mr. Vane both sense that MacDonald writes from his own deep experience of radiance, from a bliss so profound that death's darkness itself is utterly eclipsed in its light. --Doug Thorpe

About the Author

(1824-1905) The great nineteenth-century innovator ofmodern fantasy, whose works influenced C. S. Lewis, J. R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. "I do not write forchildren," MacDonald once said, "but for the childlike,whether of five, or fifty, or seventy-five."

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Eerdmans (May 19, 1981)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 264 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802860613
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802860613
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.44 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 730 ratings

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George MacDonald

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
730 global ratings
TINY FONT!
1 Star
TINY FONT!
The font in this book is equivalent to a size 6, (most standard paperbacks are a 10 or 11). I cannot comment to the subject of the book as I cannot even read it with my glasses. Give a little consideration to the 60% of Americans that are far-sighted and need glasses to read. Even glasses are not helpful in this book and I find it uncomfortable to use a magnifying glass just to read..
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Top reviews from the United States

Claudia Gennari Lacerda
5.0 out of 5 stars I love George MacDonald!
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2024
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Finding out that George MacDonald wrote fairy tales for adults has been a delight! This book is excellent and I loved reading and thinking about the legend of Lilith (Adam’s first wife) and to see the beautiful symbolism of good and evil. Wonderful book!
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Julie Brennan
4.0 out of 5 stars Haunting story, influence on Lewis and Tolkein is obvious
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2005
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I would give 5 stars, but for the fact that MacDonald's writing can get a bit hard to follow - others have said this better than I. But the story has stuck with me long after I finished the book. I have read C.S. Lewis' Pilgrim's Regress many times, and I can see the influence of MacDonald on his writings. The Madeline L'Engle quote on the back cover says it beautifully: "Surely, George MacDonald is the grandfather of us all - all of us who struggle to come to terms with truth through fantasy."

I want to address comments by the reviewer who felt the worldview was "clearly Universalistic" and not appropriate for Christians. I almost didn't finish the book based on his comments, but I am glad now that I did and could form my own impressions.

His statement is pure projection from my observation. Up until the end, free will determines whether a person is "good" - and that is the free will to be willing to die - completely - before one can became "changed" by God. I even re-read the ending to see if I could find out why this reviewer posted this, and I cannot.

He also felt Lilith's repentance was forced. Was Paul's conversion on the Road to Damascus voluntary, or forced? Was Jonah's repentance forced? The repentance of Lilith was not forced any more than these examples. But (I am putting my impressions of what the allegory means) God was fed up with the damage she was causing, and intervened to stop her evil. She had a choice to either repent, or to be destroyed. It was the end of the line, so to speak. She very nearly chose destruction.

Finally, he states that MacDonald believes Satan will eventually repent. I believe he refers to Chapter XL in the scene where Lilith is afraid to lie down and sleep the sleep of death - which is really living (dying to self - and it takes time to perfect us to life) - she fears the return of the Shadow. From [...]

"When the Shadow comes here, it will be to lie down and sleep also.--His hour will come, and he knows it will."

"How long shall I sleep?"

"You and he will be the last to wake in the morning of the universe."

And a bit later, as the sun rises and the Shadow is forced to depart: "It is the great Shadow stirring to depart. Wretched creature, he has himself within him, and cannot rest!"

"But is there not in him something deeper yet?" I asked.

"Without a substance," he answered, "a shadow cannot be -yea, or without a light behind the substance!"

I feel the reviewer has placed a negative theological interpretation that may or may not be what was in MacDonald's mind. There is no mention of how the Shadow will come to his hour, or what will happen when his hour comes. One would have to infer that.

At the end, Mr. Vane does wake up from his dream, and realizes it was a vision. This WAS a vision, not direct theological text.

I completely agree with him that the most important theme to a Christian is that true life is reached through death to self. About two thirds of the way through the book, I almost quit. Mr. Vane's repeated pig-headed refusal to "die" to his self, his headstrong following of his own will in spite of disastrous results, reminded me of how hard it is to die to our selves, even as we know we MUST, that we cannot enter into life without that self death. The point where I stopped was a point where Vane was metaphorically saying, "Okay, I know now that I am Yours, and I will need to face this death to self, but let me exercise MY will and do what my nature wants to do just this one more time before I give in." My discomfort with this may very well be the fact that Christians face this choice all their lives.

The theme of whether we are predestined to salvation / repentance or exercise free will is a huge theological issue that is about as understandable as how God can be three but one or how he could be timeless, omniscient, omnipresent, etc. I believe it is one of those issues we must take on faith, that our human understanding cannot fully comprehend this aspect of God, so it is fruitless to argue. MacDonald's allegory, I feel, beautifully represented both of these spiritual principles in comfortable proximity to each other. People who feel strongly polarized to one or the other may be uncomfortable with and criticize this proximity.

I agree one should not read this *for* theology (get that straight from your Bible), but I disagree that it is "unbiblical."

I hope that helps anyone else interested in MacDonald's writings and their influence on generations of writers after him.
97 people found this helpful
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S. C. Dixon Photography
5.0 out of 5 stars An American Magnum Opus...
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2005
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"Lilith"

Simply put, this is one of the finest novels I have ever read and I have wondered, as have others before me, why this book is not recognized as superlative, right up there with any other novel (by any novelist) that one cares to name.

I first read it is a teenager in the 1960's. It has stayed with me ever since and from time to time I come back to it. As an artist I've drawn much inspiration from this work. It is at once disheartening and yet uplifting, full of dark underpinnings and at the same time it is full of light, exhausting and inspirational. It also stands as functional poetry.

I once had a chance to see the movie but declined. I could see no point to trying to capture such perfection of prose and such insight to emotion via the medium of film. The book is one of those rare works where, indeed, the words are worth more than pictures.

It was out of print for a while and during that time I scrounged around used book stores and at garage sales, and periodically I would find a copy. These I presented to several friends over the years. I have been thanked repeatedly ever since by those who received the book and, to the very person, each claims it to be indispensable.

Spread the word. Then or now, this work deserves far more recognition than it receives.
29 people found this helpful
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BookishMom
3.0 out of 5 stars Hit or miss for a modern audience
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2023
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After reading Lilith, it is easy to see how George MacDonald, a pioneer of fantasy fiction, was a major influence on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien among many others. This novel was written in 1895 and definitely reflects the extremely detailed and flowery writing style of the time. The details of the bizarre dark wonderland in which Mr. Vane finds himself are vivid and fully realized, and the description of Lilith's palace is borderline futuristic. The novel explores themes of life and death, good and evil, divine and mortal love, sin, free will and redemption, and the nature of consciousness in experiencing the world. This is fitting, considering MacDonald was an ordained minister. It is ambitious, but can also be taxing for a modern reader, as most of the novel consists of endless meandering in the dark wonderland, meeting a constant parade of characters (including Adam and Eve) and animals, and holding long, philosophical conversations laden with circular riddles. There are times when I wondered what was the point of so much time spent on certain characters and conversations, but I pushed through to see how they would come together in some greater meaning by the end. The relationship of the characters to one another became clear by the end of the novel, and I could appreciate many of the ideas that MacDonald was exploring, but the ending left me strangely unsatisfied. A dedicated fantasy reader may find great enjoyment and interesting thoughts in Lilith, but a reader with a modern mindset may get frustrated.
A note about the audiobook (version read by Rebecca K. Reynolds): Reynolds does an excellent job with intonation which helped bring alive most of the dialogue and kept the momentum going during the longer narrative passages. However, her voice would sometimes lower to a softer volume as part of her reading style, and this became a bit distracting.
4 people found this helpful
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James
5.0 out of 5 stars Lilith Book
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2024
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Love it a lot thanks.
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BF
1.0 out of 5 stars Producto equivocado
Reviewed in Spain on January 29, 2019
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El producto estaba equivocado y no he podido devolverlo.
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Jo Ambruz
5.0 out of 5 stars Dreams
Reviewed in Australia on July 10, 2023
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What is being a live means.? Can we enjoy all of it, maybe we can. Even the painful experiences to teach us that both light and darkness is but the same. Like a piano and the octaves played. Fantastically addictive. Thank you
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Decano
5.0 out of 5 stars read this
Reviewed in Canada on March 24, 2014
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Superb. To enter this is to taste the Christian imagination that fired CS Lewis. This is mysticism taking literary flight. The ineffable strains for words and finds MacDonald audaciously humble to glean them as the Another slips by.
3 people found this helpful
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Richard Abbott
5.0 out of 5 stars A book by one of the early fantasy authors
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2014
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I was reminded of George MacDonald's writing by a friend on Google+, and he has been a great find. I already knew that CS Lewis acknowledged him as a major inspiration, but had not expected to find out just how large an influence he has been on modern fantasy as an entire genre.

I devoured two of his works in rapid succession - Phantastes and Lilith - and found them to have substantial differences as well as similarities. In both cases, MacDonald felt the need to devise a means for his protagonist to make the transition from the world we live in, into the particular fantasy world of the title in question. This is definitely a feature of the era, also seen in some equally inventive traveller's tales stories of the 19th century which never aspire to magic or the land of Faerie. Many modern authors would probably begin his or her story directly in the other realm, but Lewis used various devices such as the well-known Wardrobe, or the `Wood between the Worlds' to this end. For MacDonald and his contemporaries, the transition, and the relationship between the worlds, was an important ingredient.

Some of MacDonald's ideas have become so commonplace that some readers may think there is little originality in the books. Tolkien's ents are here, along with Lewis's courtly culture and virtues, and just about everyone's goblins and elves. In common with a great many other writers, the societies are basically medieval in outlook. People ride horses, fight with bladed weapons, and communicate face to face. Limited magical abilities are present, but not as learned talents for just anyone - they are an innate faculty of some beings and inaccessible to others.

Of the two books, Lilith is much more overtly concerned with Christian themes, building on the tradition that the woman of that name was Adam's first wife. Some familiarity with Christian elaboration of this idea helps, but is not essential, since the tradition MacDonald is using comes from outside the written text of the Bible. His profound commitment to principles of eternal hope and redemption drives the conflicts and resolutions of the book's characters. Themes of life and death fill the book, together with the Christian duty to lay aside the everyday life in order to put on a new kind of life. It is a duty which comes no more easily to the book's main character than to any of the rest of us.

Phantastes, subtitled `A Faerie Romance for Men and Women`, is, perhaps, a more conventional fantasy tale. It describes a quest and trial of passage in which the central character has to identify and master his shadow side - just as Ged has to in Ursula LeGuin's EarthSea books. There are mysterious beings, often women, locked inside wood or stone and waiting to be released by the right individual. There are warnings about particular actions or pathways, most of which are ignored by the protagonist who has a rather exaggerated sense not only of his own safety, but also the ability of the wider world to survive his rash deeds unscathed. The theme reaches back to Greek mythology (if not earlier), and forward to our own ecological travails. And finally there is the necessary noble deed which cannot be accomplished except through the gates of death.

The books, especially Phantastes, will not just appeal to fantasy fans, but are also of interest to students of psychology. Some passages anticipate the later formal development of psychotherapeutic understanding. Students of the life and work of, say, Freud and Jung will already know just how much of their thinking rested on earlier foundations laid by artists, philosophers, and authors. Here in 1858 we already have MacDonald writing about the "forgotten life, which lies behind the consciousness", and the mutual dependence of external objects with the "hidden things of a man's soul".

Having said all that, some people will, no doubt, be impatient with these works. For me they were definitely both five star books, not least because many of my favourite authors have so obviously been influenced by them. They have survived over 150 years of literary development remarkably well, but inevitably use some constructions and habits of thought which will seem dated to the modern reader. If you are keen on exploring one of the foundational authors of modern fantasy, and willing to work with the conventions of the 19th century, these books are for you.
5 people found this helpful
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Richard Armin
4.0 out of 5 stars More than reads the eye.
Reviewed in Canada on June 20, 2019
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I bought this to understand better clarity in prose. Exceeding my expectations, MacDonald achieves a transparency revealing a kind of multiple exposure within a given sentence. His epigraph on the title page is the incipit.
3 people found this helpful
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