Season III: Post 4: At the Back of the North Wind

Hello, I'm Richard Nicholas Nimz, prospector of the written word.  Well, back to fiction again, and this one's another oldie, from an author named George MacDonald.  MacDonald was a big fantasy author and in fact is the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.  You can really see this in today's book: At the Back of the North Wind

MacDonald, G.  (2008).  At the Back of the North Wind.  Retrieved from: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/225/225-h/225-h.htm

Summary: In Victorian London lived a young boy named Diamond, the son of a poor cabbie.  Then, one night, he is taken along by the North Wind, and finds a way to the land behind her back, which is simply perfect.  He comes back, finding that he's been in a fever for a week.  Regardless, he lives his life as an ideal lad, a help to his family and friends.

Thoughts: In a simple phrase, it reads like a Miyazaki movie.  There isn't an over-arching story, just a series of events in a world with fantasy in it.  Diamond as a main character is one of those saintly children with very few flaws, but such a character type was often used in that time.  The main tension is in the situations of the characters around him, and I was interested in seeing how everything played out.

In addition, the poetry and fairy tale in the book are quite good.  A lot of the prose is rather nice as well.  In particular, I found one passage in chapter six, starting with "It's not like you" and continuing to the second-to-last paragraph in the chapter, quite interesting.  It deals with the North Wind being so nice to Diamond, but about to sink a ship full of people, likely drowning most of them.  It's an interesting passage about how people can be so full of apparent contradictions, but still be the same person due to their own reasons.

This book illustrates a change between the past and the future.  Prior to this point in time, children's books were more-or-less treatises on how to live a life by Christian principals.  However, at this point, message and religion took a back step to plot and character.  In addition, fantasy became more popular.  This book is sort of a crossing between the time of story-for-morals and story-for-story's-sake.  And it's still pretty good today.