Year of Epic Fantasy Reading: Day 7 (The Princess and the Goblin)

Title: The Princess and the Goblin
Author: George MacDonald
Themes: Childhood
Quote: "That is the way fear serves us: it always sides with the things we are afraid of."
Reading/Listening Time: 5 hours, 36 minutes

Review:

I read that book is supposed to be one of the very first modern fantasy stories. If that's so, it's really surprising to me that one of the very first modern fantasy stories would have to do with what it means to be a princess. One of the main characters is literally a princess, but the story makes it clear that by 'princess' he isn't even particularly referring to female children: it's just kids in general and how precious they are.

It kinda starts out feeling like a regular fairy tale, and it ends kinda feeling like a fairy tale. But in the middle, there's definitely a lot that's atmospheric and nuanced that I really enjoyed. It has something of the quality of going into Narnia, even though the characters never really go into a distinctly magical realm.

The magic in this book is in nighttime,

and starlight,

 and caves,

and the wonder in experiencing something new and mysterious!

This is something I really appreciate on an aesthetic level...

The main characters are a 8 year old princess named Irene and a miner's son named Curdie.

Because the story is called "The Princess and the Goblin" I kept expecting a particular goblin protagonist or antagonist to show up, and sadly they didn't. (Curdie doesn't even turn out to be a goblin in disguise! BOO!) Actually there are several goblins, some of whom are revealed to be quite antagonistic, but I never felt like there was one particular goblin who was up against them.

(I guess it should be called "The Princess and the Goblins" instead...)

The goblins are just another race of human being, and they've cut themselves off from the surface world because they felt like they were being treated like second class citizens in Irene's kingdom. I like that, while they are antagonistic, they are never made out to be monstrous. I think it would have been cool to have central character who represented this tho...

Anyway the little girl has a really sheltered upbringing until she meets a grandmotherly figure who encourages her to explore, and gives her a magical spidersilk-string that will lead her back to where she came from.

When we were first introduced to "the grandmother", I was totally freaked out:

UM NO! DO NOT DO WHAT THE CREEPY LADY TELLS YOU TO!!

But really the point in the story is that it's important for kids to be able to explore the world under the supervision and protection of a parental figure. In this case, she turns out to be Irene's actual grandmother who *SPOILER ALERT* has kind of been put away because she was married to a Goblin at one time, and

[END SPOILER]

might be trying to convince other people that you don't need to be afraid of people just because they're different from you.

The little boy is learning to be a miner. I think it's funny that, like, they single Curdie out as the prince archtype in this story. Little girls might want to be born a princess, but typically young boys want to feel like they've earned it, or at least that they've exhibited some heroic qualities. And Curdie certainly does: He has the confidence of his father, who allows him to spend the night in the dark caves, he keeps his cool when confronted by the kobolds and hears their plans. But ultimately, I think it's interesting, that he can be saved by Irene and her grandmother and it doesn't diminish his bravery in any way.

I mean, it's politically correct before politically correct even existed.

Kudos Mr MacDonald!

Rating: 4/5 Stars