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LJ Cohen
Moderator
Username: ljc

Post Number: 7911
Registered: 07-2002
Posted on Friday, September 07, 2007 - 6:04 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/08/books/07cnd-lengle.html?ref=arts

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(This is a copy of my blog post about it)

Today the world is a little duller, stories a little flatter, and stars a little more distant. Madeleine L'Engle has died.

When I was a young girl and a lonely, voracious reader, I discovered Meg Murray and "A Wrinkle in Time." Here was a protagonist who didn't fit in and who more often than not was irritable and frustrated. She was smart, stubborn, intense, and utterly my hero.

"A Wrinkle in Time" was published the year I was born. By the time I read it, L'Engle had already published other books--both 'fantasy' books and more 'realistic' fiction. I read everything she wrote.

Her voice and her vision ignited my imagination and my passion for storytelling. One of my dreams was to meet her and tell her how much her work meant to me, then and now. A few years ago, I was thrilled to introduce my older son and then my younger son to the Time Quintet. Watching them read L'Engle's seminal works allowed me to relive my own discovery of her worlds.

I am saddened by her passing. Not just for me, but for the world of stories and storytelling.

Rest in Peace, Madeleine L'Engle. You will be missed.
Once in a Blue Muse Blog
LJCohen
Emusing
Senior Member
Username: emusing

Post Number: 4666
Registered: 08-2003
Posted on Saturday, September 08, 2007 - 12:26 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

How very sad. A Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorite books ever. I was 11 the first time I read it. My first sci-fi fantasy I guess. Thanks for letting us know. I'm motivated to read the rest of her works and see what other magic I've missed.

I am glad she was such a wonderful influence in your life.

e
www.wordwalkerpress.com
Emusing
Senior Member
Username: emusing

Post Number: 4667
Registered: 08-2003
Posted on Saturday, September 08, 2007 - 12:34 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Such a great article. Loved this:

She believed that experience and knowledge are subservient to the subconscious and perhaps larger, spiritual influences.

“I think that fantasy must possess the author and simply use him,” she said in an interview with Horn Book magazine in 1983. “I know that is true of ‘A Wrinkle in Time.’ I cannot possibly tell you how I came to write it. It was simply a book I had to write. I had no choice.

“It was only after it was written that I realized what some of it meant.”

What turned out to be her masterpiece was rejected by 26 publishers. Editors at Farrar, Straus and Giroux loved it enough to publish it, but told her that she should not be disappointed if it failed.
www.wordwalkerpress.com
Lazarus
Advanced Member
Username: lazarus

Post Number: 2109
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Saturday, September 08, 2007 - 8:36 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

I think I need to read this book. Thanks for letting us know we've lost a great one.

-Laz
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