Synopsis:
Unique features of this edition of Sir Gibbie:*** Eleven original illustrations by artist Carrie Stout*** English translations of all Scots dialogue, by David Jack, side-by-side with the original text*** Introduction by best-selling author Michael Phillips GEORGE MACDONALD (1824-1905), Scottish poet, novelist, and minister, was a mentor to Lewis Carroll, friend of Mark Twain, and an inspiration to countless Christians. C.S. Lewis, author of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA,said of MacDonald, “I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself.” G.K. Chesterton wrote, “If we test the matter of originality of attitude, George MacDonald was one of the three of four greatest men of the 19th century.”The twelve novels MacDonald set in his homeland make frequent use of Scots dialogue, which has posed a problem for many would-be readers. This new edition of SIR GIBBIE, book three in the translation series, provides the complete original text, but places English side-by-side with the Scots. Also featured is an introduction by renowned MacDonald authority and best-selling author Michael Phillips.In his preface, translator David Jack identifies two of SIR GIBBIE’s most striking features: its “ineluctable fairy-tale quality” and “the purity of its gospel message.” The hero of the novel, Gibbie himself, he describes as belonging to a world of marvels, and argues that “throughout Gibbie’s adventures not only strangers, but even his intimate friends find themselves naturally falling into this way of regarding the diminutive, elfin ‘creature’, and are unable to shake off the impression save by a conscious effort.”
Review:
"George MacDonald is one of the greatest and perhaps most forgotten writers of ourmodern world. This may in part be because of his frequent usage of Doric,the language of the North-Eastern Scots which is barely comprehensible to therest of us. Sir Gibbie is an astonishingly beautiful book,filled with joy, love, devotion, adventure, and, at the same time, hardship.David Jack has now made it available to all with his two-columned technique, the English in the one column and the Doric in the other. I havealready read and enjoyed his earlier two works, Robert Falconer and CastleWarlock, and have noreservations at all in recommending Sir Gibbie."
Douglas Gresham
Stepson of C. S. Lewis
Series Producer, The Chronicles of Narnia
"Finally! For decades people have been asking me where to turn if they want to read MacDonald'soriginal Scottish novels, yet struggle with the sections written in dialect.Thanks to this labour-of-evident-love by David Jack, MacDonald 'in theoriginal' is now accessible to all. Jack's parallel text functions as both translationof and introduction to the 'mither tongue'; not one of MacDonald's carefullychosen words is lost, even whilst deeper understanding is gained. Any readermay now delight in the wisdom and charisma of one of MacDonald's best-loved and most influential novels."
Dr Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson
MacDonald scholar and co-editor of Informing the Inklings
"Sir Gibbie is the charming story of asimple good boy who grew to be a simple good man. It is charming in two ways--byits power to give delight and arouse admiration and also because it does so ina magical way. Such is MacDonald's power as a novelist. This unabridged,illustrated edition is further enhanced by the occasional Scots Doric dialectappearing side-by-side with an English translation. Readers of all ages willenjoy this classic story of a long time ago in Scotland."
Robert Trexler
Winged Lion Press
"Ourhearts long for stories that provide a compelling vision of goodness. It can befound in Tolkien's Middle-earth or the Narnia tales by C. S. Lewis; some modernfantasy and children's stories offer a glimpse of it, too. This rare ability toexpress pure goodness (without sounding cheap, cheesy, tinny, sappy, orcontrived) is one of the things George MacDonald does best. And as far as thatincomparable gift is concerned, SirGibbie is, pure and simple, his masterpiece."
Diana Pavlac Glyer
Professor in theHonors College at Azusa Pacific University; Author of The Company They Keep and Bandersnatch: C. S. Lewis, J R R Tolkien, andthe Creative Collaboration of the Inklings
GeorgeMacDonald was a novelist, a poet, a father, a Scotsman, and most important ofall, a person whose life was marked by an attention to the love of God. Oftenovershadowed by the fame of authors who loved him (Lewis, Tolkien, et al.),MacDonald is not as well known as he should be. This is why I'm so excitedabout this new edition of Sir Gibbie! This edition, with Carrie Stout'sbeautiful new illustrations, and David Jack's excellent translations of theportions of the text in Scots, will make SirGibbie come alive to a new generation of readers. I highly and happilyrecommend this book. Read, enjoy, and be changed!
Joy Clarkson
PhD candidate atSt Andrews University and narrator of the podcast Speaking With Joy
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