Beschreibung
TauMond
A fairy tale for adults by George MacDonald
translated from English, edited, and continued by Ulrich Taschow
with 44 fantastic illustrations by John Anster Fitzgerald, Ulrich Taschow, and others
280 pages, 44 illustrations, published in 2016, laminated paperback, series: avox fantasia, ISBN: 978-3-936979-18-3, Reading Sample, Preface
Target groups
Young readers aged 14 and up and adults, lovers of sophisticated fantasy literature and artistic illustrations
On his twenty-first birthday, Arian receives the keys to his late father’s old writing desk and, unexpectedly, to the long-desired path into Fairyland, to which his family is said to be mystically connected. Soon, however, he realizes that he has entered a story without a beginning, and therefore one that can find no ending.
Searching for that beginning, and with it a way back into the realm of human beings, Arian passes through many confusions and misdirections until he arrives at the house of the ogre and, out of curiosity, opens the cosmic door to his shadow, which waits for every human being in the Otherworld as an unholy demon.
On the thrilling search for redemption that follows, Arian nevertheless finds allies against the horror, such as a beech-tree lady, the knight Parzival as his alter ego, and the guardian of the house of the four doors.
A mystical library in the fairy palace, with millions upon millions of life-books already written and yet to be written, seems at last to reveal to him the deepest secrets of his existence. And a little peasant girl even prophesies redemption for him at TauMond. Unfortunately, Arian does not understand her words, although she is only prophesying his love ...
TauMond is so wondrously poetic, bizarre, strange, and captivating that every reader may feel certain they are holding the account of an actual journey through Fairyland. It is also perhaps the most beautiful, unusual, and profound love story, one that carries within it the power to change one’s own life. You need only give your story its beginning. Everything lies in your hand ...
The famous author Clive Staples Lewis wrote about his awakening as a writer through MacDonald’s extraordinary book Phantastes (TauMond):
“That night my imagination received its baptism. The rest of me took a little longer. In fact, I had no idea what I was getting into when I bought MacDonald’s book.”
George MacDonald’s TauMond, or the Birth of the Fantasy Novel
George MacDonald (1824-1905) was one of the most brilliant and visionary English writers of the nineteenth century and, seventy-nine years before Tolkien’s Hobbit, the true yet largely forgotten founder of modern fantasy literature:
Inspired by Novalis’s literary and metaphysical idea of the “true fairy tale,” George MacDonald, with his debut and most imaginative novel Phantastes, also known here as TauMond, built the inspired bridge between the German Romanticism of Novalis and the myths of the old English world of spirits and fairies, creating a new literary genre in the form of the modern fantasy novel.
In this way he became a model for the greatest authors of the fantasy firmament, including J. R. R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings), Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland), Mark Twain (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), W. H. Auden, G. K. Chesterton, Madeleine L’Engle, C. S. Lewis, and many others, some of whom revered George MacDonald almost like a god or first came to writing through him.
Ulrich Taschow translated this extraordinary work from English, retold and continued it in a form readable today, and thereby brought MacDonald’s original language and imaginative world back to life with great sensitivity. The opulent design of this elaborately artistic book, with 44 fantastic illustrations by John Anster Fitzgerald, Ulrich Taschow, and others, also gives the fantasy novel an unmistakable visual face.
Highly revered by his contemporaries and successors, George MacDonald’s books are now almost forgotten. This edition of TauMond aims to restore this grand first milestone of fantasy literature to its proper place and offers readers a pleasure of a very special kind. TauMond is an absolute must for every fan of sophisticated fantasy literature.
Contents
List of Illustrations 9
Prologue 11
Novalis: The True Fairy Tale 15
I. The Wish 17
II. The Transformation 25
III. Fairy Blood 29
IV. The Uncanny Encounter 50
V. The Rescue 59
VI. The Marble Tomb 67
VII. The Red Knight 77
VIII. The Rendezvous 82
IX. At the Edge of the Fairy Forest 92
X. The Shadow 108
XI. The Innocent Child 115
XII. The River 124
XIII. The Fairy Palace 133
XIV. The Snowdrop 144
XV. The Book of Life 149
XVI. The Lady in the Mirror 158
XVII. The Invocation 168
XVIII. Redemption 174
XIX. Awakening 182
XX. The Descent 199
XXI. The Sea 208
XXII. The Island 217
XXIII. The Decision 236
XXIV. The Story Begins 245
XXV. Union 251
XXVI. Death 256
XXVII. TauMond 260
Epilogue - Phantastes 269
(by Greville MacDonald)
