Lily Fairy – Luis Ricard Falero ~ source Wikipedia Novalis, an author of the early German Romanticism which influenced MacDonald, explains it more eloquently, and MacDonald prefaced the beginning of the book with his words (translated from German): And so like a stream of consciousness novel, I allowed it to wash over me and was rewarded with a completely different experience. Our dreams often don’t follow expected flow or outcomes and in this case, nor did Anodos’ dream. I finally understood that, as the first sentence indicated, Anodos’ experiences were a dream of sorts. Flash-forward to my second reading this year and an epiphany! …. When I couldn’t find it, I was left somewhat disappointed and unimpressed. I just couldn’t figure out the point of the story. While there were instances of adventure and situations where he had to employ his strength and good sense, these instances seemed solitary experiences that did not connect to the whole. What I received was a sort of lazy, fanciful wandering by Anodos as he continually encountered faerie princesses and maidens, along with a knight, giants and other evil malefactors.

So many questions swirled around in my head as to the plot, such as why Anodos, the main character, decided to go to a particular place and why he didn’t listen to advice and what was the point of his wanderings? I approached the book as I would a book like The Lord of the Rings where I was expecting an obvious quest in the culmination of something grand. I read Phantastes for the first time in 2012, and while reading it, I was very confused with the progress of the story. Phantastes: A Faerie Romance: “I awoke one morning with the usual perplexity of mind which accompanies the return of consciousness.”

Phantastes a faerie romance