Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women (1858) by Scottish author George MacDonald follows a young man learning valuable lessons in a fantasy world then coming to terms with reality. MacDonald was heavily influenced by the Romantic movement, especially by William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley. A former priest, MacDonald was "fired" for his belief in universalism, i.e. that everyone will be saved despite the domination of their faith.Its themes include the development of morality, seeing beyond surfaces, and pilgrimage.Anodos (which means "pathless" in Ancient Greek) wakes up slightly confused about whatever happened last night on his 21st birthday. He had received several mysterious items as inheritance from his father. This includes an elderly sprite that introduces herself as the fairy grandmother. She then informs Anodos that he must go to Fairy Land. Thinking this nonsense, he went back to bed. But when he returns to consciousness, he's in a forest. He starts walking around and can't tell if he's dreaming or not. As he wanders through the forest meeting strange entities who talk with him, Anodos's ideas of truth and beauty are constantly reworked.He first encounters a mother and daughter in a cottage. They tell him to avoid the Ash and Alder tree: the spirits that live in both trees want to kill him (they can't go into why that is).As he wanders through this world, Anodos sees that the world is imbued with fairy power. Flowers glow so brightly because fairies live there.Anodos encounters the evil spirit that lives in the Ash Tree. He's able to escape with the help of the Beech Tree, a benevolent figure who claims she once was a maiden. But she wants to be a woman again. Just as Anodos always wanted to be part of Fairy Land, she wants to return to a world of humans.Some indeterminate time later, Anodos finds a beautiful marble statue of a woman. He starts singing to it, but then it sprints away. Once he's in an enclosed section of the forest, the beautiful woman reveals herself to be a spirit from the evil Alder Tree. The spirit is about to kill him when Sir Percival, a brave knight, comes to defeat the evil spirit. His fearlessness in combat provides a template of manhood for Anodos.When Anodos meets a beautiful woman, he figures that this marble figure is the kind of beauty he wants to spend the rest of his life seeking. Love and beauty become the main animating forces of his life. However, just as he starts to have some values in his life, his "shadow" appears to follow him through the rest of the story. The shadow constantly questions his quest, and mocks Anodos, trying to convince him that all of his efforts are futile.He starts to wonder how he can bring the goodness of Fairy-land into the everyday world of humanity.Anodos stumbles upon a palace that seemingly belongs to himself. There's even a "Sir Anodos" inscription in one room. He finds a hall of marble statues, and starts looking for the marble lady he found in the forest earlier in the story. He's willing to go anywhere for her, even to the dank basement of the castle.As he goes through this dirty world, it becomes clear that Anodos needs to stop searching and escape. After much fear that the tunnels will collapse before he can escape, he is able to find a window to flee.But the outside isn't much better: there's a major storm occurring. Fortunately, he doesn't have to wait long to board the boat. He lands on an island and befriends an old lady with youthful looking eyes who lives in another cottage. He walks through her house and notices that with each new door he opens, there's an entirely new world available. By opening these doors, Anodos relives moments of his painful past and catches glimpses of his future.......