This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work at MJMunoz.com.
Welcome to Story Over Everything. I am recording this intro probably a couple
weeks after I recorded the actual body of the episode so hopefully that doesn't
throw you off too much. I basically just jump right into it but I'm talking about
George McDonald's The Princess and the Goblin and yes I'm gonna go ahead and let
myself talk about the book now so enjoy.
I literally just right now finished listening to George McDonald's The
Princess and the Goblin and this is going to be my second book, my second issue of
Skimming Leaves and I think it's a great choice. I don't remember why I picked
this. I think actually I had it on a list and I was gonna do something with fantasy
going back you know into history because I really want to get to the Oz books but
I kind of want to do some other fantasy books before I get to those.
Oz is pre-Narnia, it's pre Lord of the Rings but
McDonald, George McDonald's is also pre Narnia and Lord of the Rings. In fact I
hear that CS Lewis and George, or J.R.R. Tolkien both were fans of McDonald and
for a while I suspected that they were perhaps influenced by Baum's work,
L.Frank Baum being the author of the 14 original Wizard of Oz books or I guess I
should just say Oz books because they're not about the wizard they're about the
land of Oz and Ozma of Oz and other wonderful wonderful characters but
there's an absurdity and a looseness and a I don't know a warm charm to the Oz
books that is I think typical of books of a certain era where the author or the
narrator yeah I guess it's the narrator speaks of the characters in the book as
if they are his friends and your friends as well as the reader and he gives you
little insights and makes it sound as if these events really happened and he
heard about them afterwards from them. Lewis does that a lot at least in the
line the witch and the wardrobe I don't think he does it in the others so much
that kind of voice is absent from Tolkien's books and it's present a
slight amount in McDonald's as well as the Oz books at least in the Princess
and the Goblin I don't know what the others yet and while George McDonald has
I'm gonna say around ten books that are in this children's fantasy category I
guess I wasn't aware that there was actually a second story of the Princess
and the Goblin for some reason I thought it would be the Princess and the Goblin
too or something like that but I think it's actually called
Kurtie and the Princess if if I'm remembering that correctly so and at the
very end like the last couple lines it mentions that there will be more stories
with Kurtie and the Princess that will be told in another place and another
volume it says and I just thought oh that's a nice you know fantastical way
to say things that's like the 14th Gundam fight I never got to see that but
no it's a real thing that exists and I'll talk about that later but for right
now I just want to go over real quick some information from Wikipedia again
this is a casual book chat where I'm casually talking about this book I
didn't take any notes I just listened to it and I just want to talk about it for
a few minutes before I move on so the Princess and the Goblin is children's
fantasy novel by George McDonald it was published in 1872 by Strahan and Co. with
black and white illustrations by Arthur Hughes
Strahan had published the story and illustrations as a serial in the monthly
magazine good words for the young November beginning November 1870 so it's
24 chapters long I believe so it could have been published one chapter a month
or perhaps one chapter a week 24 chapters that's either 24 weeks 24 months
I don't think it says the frequency so over you know minimum you know about a
year minimum a few months but maximum two years so anyway that's the little bit
of range mode like 1872 that's old L Frank Baum wrote the first Oz book in
about 1905 1902 something like that maybe was 1900 so that would have been a 28
years minimum this and that means Princess and the Goblins at least 28
years older than L Frank Baum L Frank Baum could have grown up having this
story read to him or reading it himself which is kind of crazy to think about
but yeah I I don't know if I'm gonna read any more of the information from
here I don't think I am I'm not going to I'm just gonna write and say this it's a
weird beautiful book I gotta say I have no idea the concept like I don't even
know where George McDonald's from this kid just says he's English is that right
hello it doesn't say he's English Scottish who knows what lots of people
lots of different peoples it's from the United Kingdom which that encompasses a
lot because you know for a time the Sun would never set on the British Empire but
anyway it's a really weird book like I was honestly so scared for Princess
Irene through the whole thing and I'm actually I'm not gonna tell you anything
about the book well I'm not gonna formally tell you anything I'm just
gonna let things come out as I'm talking about it except I will say this no no
you should go read the book stop right now and go read the book if you need to
be convinced it's a wonderful magical book I fell in love with it the first
time I've listened to it and honestly listen to it the second time it just I
was charmed my my heart swelled with like I don't know warmth and love it's
just it's a very beautiful book and I really like it I don't know what it's
about I believe George McDonald was a Catholic or some form of Christian and I
believe he tried to work themes of his faith into it and I don't think it's
themes of the Catholic faith I think it's themes of faith in God of some sort
and it's broad enough and unspecific enough that I think anybody of any faith
would be able to listen to this and feel comfortable with it and feel like oh
this is talking about you know believing in a higher power believing in something
that you can't quite see believing in God and maybe even you know secular
humanists woo spiritualistic type people would like it because there's something
out there man you know the universe and I I like that I actually like it it's
very charming how the supernatural and the natural converse with each other
let's say in this book because they do and it's called the princess and the
Goblin there are goblins in this book they are real they are not in your face
but they're very much there and they're not shied away from it all and the way
that they're presented though is almost in a matter of fact historical manner
and I will say this the way this is spoilers for Lord of the Rings and the
Hobbit I guess if you pay attention what those books are saying Tolkien presents
the books at least within the narrative of the books as if they are part of the
literal history of the world of earth where we live now the third age of
Middle-earth is where all the most of the adventures happen that's the Hobbit
and the Lord of the Rings trilogy but he has tales of the second age of Middle-
Earth and before even the creation in the Cimmerlian and he goes on at the
end of Return of the King basically it's stated that the third age of the third
age is ending and the fourth age is beginning and I guess we're in the fourth
age now baby I guess that's what it would be because part of the reason that
like the elves leave so wherever they leave I don't know what it's called and like Bilbo and Frodo and
Gandalf go with them to the Grey Havens is because they need to depart from they
need to depart to that other place in the world in order to let I guess the
course of the rest of the world unfold it's very weird and even Alexander
Lloyd Alexander does something similar in the Chronicles of Bredain which is
funny and I almost wonder if it was a little bit of a nod to his affection for
Tolkien's work but it's honestly something that is unappealing to me when
it's done so overtly versus I almost feel like the Princess and the Goblin is a
historical document from a fantasy world where goblins really do exist did exist
do exist and that I'm I don't know like I'm part of that fantastical world
that's being spoken of and it's really interesting how you present it and it's
I don't know it's very interesting and I like it a lot but I'm gonna think about
this a little more I'm gonna pause and then come back in a little bit with some
more thoughts about this wonderful book all right so I'm no longer on the road
but now I'm outside where there's wind noise yeah hopefully my my audio tools
can take care of that but I'm also cupping the phone in my hand so we'll
see how this works out anyway I thought about it some more and it's just a
beautiful book it's a beautiful beautiful book and those notes or notions
or hints at like the supernatural and God and you know something beyond this
world they're soft enough that I really don't think they should offend anybody's
sensibilities don't think they should offend anybody anyway but like even if
you're a you know not a believer I would think you would be able to enjoy this
and like I said I think anybody from any faith could enjoy this for you know the
the plain face you know fantasy writing of it and also for the spiritualistic
elements in it which I think are really interesting so I'm gonna go ahead and
give like a tiny summary which is that basically a you know in a world in a
world where one man I know in a world where humans and goblins live together
at the same time and know of each other's existence and they don't live
side-by-side or in cooperation at all the there is an issue where there's a
goblin kingdom underneath a human kingdom or at least near where a human
king's castle is and as far as we can tell well I'm getting too in-depth and
the plan for peace between humans and goblins is for the goblin king to abduct
the human princess in order to marry off to his goblin son for them to well have
a you know like a political union that brings peace between their two kingdoms
which is something done in the human kingdom and or has been done in human
kingdoms for thousands of years probably and that might sound weird it might if
you think about it too hard it won't you know like it's gonna work I'll get back
to that in a minute and the that's the plan that the goblins have they have a
backup plan plan B which both get executed sort of and anyway along the
way this princess has an encounter with her great big old grand grandmother and
it's confusing as to what that means it's as confusing to me as it as it is
to you to hear it for the first time you got to go through the book to really get
it I mean I could spell it out but I don't want to because it's such a joy to
experience and I didn't know what to expect I didn't read I just knew this was
a classic so learning that the well no I summed up for you probably what's that's
that's really the blurb a princess in a is you know plans it a goblin king plans
to abduct a princess to marry off to his son to bring peace between his goblin
people and the human people above ground who they call the children of the Sun
and you know the princess gets saved through mysterious means and through not
so mysterious means and what basically happens is that her great to whatever
degree grandmother ends up through supernatural means helping to save the
princess and she also aids this boy Kurtie who the princess meets in the
book fairly early on and through aids of through means of her magical assistance
that she's able to give them she's able to save them both and help them save
each other and ultimately save the kingdom of men from the goblins and
ultimately peace is brought about but it's in an interesting way and it's not
quite what you would expect there's no grand war against the goblins there's
no gosh I don't know it's just it goes about it all in a very interesting way
and I made allusion to this by didn't finish what I was saying earlier I was
so afraid for the princess throughout this whole book or the first time anyway
throughout most of the book I was so scared what was gonna happen to her
because I knew they wanted to abduct her and I didn't know what to think of this
great-grandma ma who shares her name she's Queen Irene and this is Princess
Irene that we're dealing with and it's just all it's also mysterious and it's
not spelled out at all so you don't really know what's going on until you
get to the end of the book and I'm not even sure by the time I finished the
first time I understood it in fact I don't think I did understand it I bet I
hope I want for Kurti and the princess to have more information in it that makes
me or that helps me understand the context of what was going on because the
Queen Irene refers to things that you know the princess Irene is too young to
know about I I can tell old she's eight years old she a little older than that
it's probably the max she could be maybe nine sheltered naive princess like that
all cooped up in the castle that would make sense and then you know Kurti
probably is 12 13 maybe 14 at the most and there's no like there's a friendship
and a kinship between them or not kinship and there's an appreciation for
each other and there's not a romantic subtext to it at all but at the same
time I don't know if it's because it's a fairy tale or it's because you know I'm
not seeing these kids or what but like I want there to be a you know following
book that has them you know eventually falling in love and getting married
because it just seems appropriate like Kurti is a really good kid he's a really
good guy he's noble he's kind he's helpful he's generous he loves his mom
and his dad and he wants to help them out and it's very clear to them you know
narrative and it's really interesting so that I mean the book is about the
princess but you know princess Irene but it's it's like she's our point of view
person I mean it really is her and Kurti both that takes you into this
fantastical world but the way that it's revealed to her in her innocent child
like way where she just like sweetly accepts things that are going on and
like I don't know like lovingly and faithfully embraces that life is gonna
be good for her and treat her well it's it's really beautiful something about
the naivete of a child and you know the fact that she's not my kid like all
makes it really wonderful and I think I just really think that this is a classic
that should remain like I know my eldest read it and I want to read this to my
other kids because it's just that wonderful so I'll have to work on that
pretty soon we're reading through Oz books right now and I know like this is
like I really enjoy the Oz books but this is almost like way better I like
how many Oz books there are though it's nice that there are so many and that
they're so fun and so cute but it's more like they're like candy as opposed to I
don't know wholesome you know roast or something like I don't know how to like
this is like a stew this book is like a stew it's wonderful and warming and
comfortable or comforting but it's also like nourishing to the soul and it's
just really beautiful I don't know what else to say about it we have the cast of
characters is pretty small you have Kurtie you have the princess Irene you
have her nurse who she calls nursey whose name is actually Lutie or something
close to Lutie then there's her father the king I already mentioned Queen Irene
her grandmother you have Kuri's mom and dad which they're the Petersons his dad's
name is Peter and then he's Peters and like a couple soldiers and just like
some other random people and other than that is like the the king of the
goblins and his wife and the prince and a little goblin family and I know it's
just really interesting these like examinations of people that you get and
like the goblins you know humans are foreign to goblins and goblins are
foreign to humans so like there's this like mutual like fear and distrust they
have of each other but like you can also appreciate each of them in their own
cultures and like who they are and that they're coming from like vastly
different perspectives and they both look down on each other you know like a
mirroring way where you know humans are oh those terrible creatures they're so
ugly and they hide underground and they don't appreciate the Sun and the goblins
say oh those humans those gigantic ugly creatures they live under the Sun which
is so glaring and terrible and hurts our eyes and you know they don't know what
beauty or intelligence is or you know they're you know vicious and things like
that and I know it's really interesting I don't think I mean this was from the
1870s right so I don't think this guy was like you know a post-racial I know
he could have been like a freedom fighter or like a abolitionist or
whatever I don't even know when slavery ended sorry this is a literature podcast
not a history podcast okay but I'm just saying in the context of his time he
very well might have been racist and other things but like he presents such a
human world such a warm loving world such a gentle world especially because
it's through Princess Irene's perspective mostly and Curtis too and
he's such a sweet kid but like these people are you know warm and generous and
helpful and loving yeah to their kin and how would they react to other people I
don't know it doesn't matter it's not in the narrative the point is you know you
are gonna read this in your family in your home and it's gonna tell you it's
gonna show you it's gonna inspire you to be more loving more kind more gentle more
trusting to give the benefit of the doubt to people in your family in your
circle who you love and who are closest to you because they are the closest
people to you so therefore you should treat them with this deference and
humility so that you can all get along better can you can have a flourishing
meaningful more joyful life and it's just I know this is a really good book
it's really interesting and like the more I think about it them the better it
gets this is one of my second time reading it I think this will become one
of my I don't know how frequently I won't want to read books I remember
hearing about Christopher Lee sir Christopher Lee would read Lord of the
Rings and the Hobbit or just flip that reverse it every year over like his
Christmas break or whatever and that's kind of cool you know it's neat there's
a lot of hours worth of content right there to read but if you're sitting home
and you know foggy UK I guess you could do that so yeah I don't know there's
there's a couple of books that I thought I'll read this every year but if I do
that then I'll be reading all those books every single year a year and year
out but I think this is definitely something to revisit every couple years
you know every two years read this again it's really really fantastic and I
appreciate it so much I hope you got something out of this casual book chat
because I don't really have more to say and I don't want to belabor the point I
feel like I've kind of repeated myself a little bit already but I mean I just
finished this book and it's that much having an impact on me that I just kind
of want to rave about it a little bit without going into too many details
because I want to leave it open for you to to read for yourself and experience
it firsthand because it really is something to experience firsthand it's
it's really wonderful the only thing I'll say about it is the fear that I
felt for Irene I don't know some youtuber a while ago a couple years back
talked about the purple feeling I think is what he called it I know if that's
what it is or not but like like how 80s kids shows would legitimately scare you
and you were scared and wanted to look away but you stuck around and stayed
because something about the way everything was balanced in the
presentation of those stories maybe even like the never-ending story and things
like that which are you know grotesque and wonderful and scary but also
beautiful and sweet like those things made you feel that weird tension and
maybe I felt that same sort of tension you know as an adult with kids of my own
reading for reading this book especially from Princess Irene's perspective because
I'm a father and I know what it's like to have your kids wander off and
basically this kid keeps wandering off and getting lost in her own home and
that's that's a scary thought especially for today's day and age where we don't
let our kids go very far and maybe we should maybe we should anyway that's it
for this casual book chat I didn't really do a strong formal intro to this
so this is story over everything episode I think it's 25 is what this should be
and it should be airing on or publishing on June 30th 2023 so I'm putting all that
stuff at the back here it doesn't need to go at the front necessarily and I'll
go ahead and let the outro roll except where I will say check out all my other
stuff I have a weekly roundup post that I've been doing on mgmwnews.com where
you can see everything that I've written everything that I've drawn everything
that I've done analysis for because I'm an author artist and analyzer and
therefore I want to make sure that I'm writing every day pretty much drawing
every day pretty much and I don't need to analyze something every day but the
the stuff that I like it's being very prolific with its output right now so
I'm analyzing a lot and I'd like to analyze less I'd like to do like three
things a week and then devote the rest of my time to writing and thinking about
writing and drawing and stuff so anyway I'd really appreciate if you checked all
that out you can you know like this share this subscribe tell other people
about it check out my work as I'm chronicling my journey as an author
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good meaningful stories by you know just writing doing the work of writing which
I'm doing writing in public I'm basically sharing everything with you as
I write my current series of books I'll just put it that way and as time goes on
I think I'll continue to do that and have that stuff be free on the website
you can find it all you know there and I'll link it in a nice way so it's all
you know tidy and pretty easy for you to find everything and read a whole book or
series of chapters or whatever in your chronological order where like I said
it was easy to find user-friendly and then you know eventually when they get
published off links for them and also do call to action to help try to raise
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now and writing these stories and then doing the campaigns and then gathering
money together for an artist to do the work for me at least that aspect of the
work so yeah so you can find all that stuff there and that's that's all I'm
gonna say for now so I'm gonna go ahead and get out of here I hope that you are
well that you continue to be well this is MJ signing out I hope you enjoyed
that go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions comments or other feedback you
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