A young man wanders a dreamlike Fairy Land of shadows, knights, and temptations in search of an ideal. MacDonald's pioneering adult fantasy.
Books mentioned in Phantastes (11)
The White Cat by Madame d'Aulnoy: “Why, my wife actually believes the story of the 'White Cat.”
The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser: “The noble hart that harbours vertuous thought And is with childe of glorious great intent, Can never rest, until it forth have brought Th' eternall brood of glorie excellent." SPENSER, The Faerie Queene.”
The Revenger's Tragedy by Cyril Tourneur: “I think man's happiest when he forgets himself." CYRIL TOURNEUR, The Revenger's Tragedy.”
Das Ideal und das Leben by Friedrich Schiller: “Ev'n the Styx, which ninefold her infoldeth Hems not Ceres' daughter in its flow; But she grasps the apple--ever holdeth Her, sad Orcus, down below." SCHILLER, Das Ideal und das Leben.”
Sir Andrew Barton: “Fight on, my men, Sir Andrew sayes, A little I am hurt, but yett not slaine; I'le but lye downe and bleede awhile, And then I'le rise and fight againe." Ballad of Sir Andrew Barton.”
The History of Graciosa and Percinet by Madame d'Aulnoy: “I went near, and peeping over her shoulder, saw that she was reading "The History of Graciosa and Percinet."”
The Pardoner's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer: ““And on the ground, which is my modres gate, I knocke with my staf; erlich and late, And say to hire, Leve mother, let me in.” CHAUCER, _The Pardoneres Tale_.”
Hesperus by Jean Paul: “From dreams of bliss shall men awake One day, but not to weep: The dreams remain; they only break The mirror of the sleep." JEAN PAUL, Hesperus.”
Titan by Jean Paul: “No one has my form but the I." Schoppe, in JEAN PAUL'S Titan.”
The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood by Charles Perrault: “I thought of the Prince of the Enchanted City, half marble and half a man; of Ariel; of Niobe; of the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood; of the bleeding trees; and many other histories.”