Home > The Book Page > Archives > 2007 > September > 07 > Entry
Madeleine L’Engle, R.I.P.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Madeleine L’Engle, award-winning author of many children’s and science-fiction books, including “A Wrinkle in Time,” has died of natural causes in Connecticut, accordintg to her publisher. She was 88.
L’Engle wrote in many genres over an incredibly productive lifetime, but “Wrinkle” is the book that made her name. Published in 1963, it won the Newberry Award for children’s literature, and according to the New York Times, had sold more than 6 million copies by 2004.
That’s not quite up to “Harry Potter” numbers, but for several generations, “A Wrinkle in Time” was sort of our “Harry Potter.” I first encountered it in elementary school - I don’t remember which grade - and it is the first book, other than the works of Dr. Seuss, that I can rememer being passionately in love with. (Another Potter similarity: Because the book departs from a Christian concept of God, it’s been the target of book banners.)
“Wrinkle” told the story of Meg Murray, a somewhat bookish girl, who gets swept away on a series of grand adventures in space and time with her weird little brother, in an attempt to rescue her father, a famous scientist who had disappeared. L’Engle built in a lot of real science - relativity and all that - but to kids, it’s just a bang-up adventure.
She went on to write a series that spun off from “Wrinkle,” called the “Time Fantasy” series, as well as books for grown-ups. But the only thing I ever read by her, I’m sad to say, was “A Wrinkle in Time.”
I’ve given it to various young relatives as a gift over and over, and now I need to think of a young person in my life to give a copy.
I’d love to hear about other encounters with the works of Madeleine L’Engle.
Rest in peace.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By jct
September 7, 2007 8:53 PM | Link to this
I am so sad for her family. I read Wrinkle when I was in 7th grade. I also read the follow-up book. I loved both books. I was educated in Connecticut and she was required reading when I was in junior high school.
By Lucille Willoughby
September 7, 2007 9:06 PM | Link to this
A Wrinkle In Time is perhaps one of the finest books published in chidlren’s literature, right up there with Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, and Charlotte’s Web. In terms of its style and genuine content it puts the Harry Potter books to shame. Tend her well, Aunt Beast.
By gobucks2006
September 7, 2007 10:01 PM | Link to this
To be honest I don’t recall reading any of her books. However I do remember her for she wrote the foreword for She Said Yes which was one of the books written after the Columbine shootings. It was a brief foreword so I presume D’Engle had some faith.
By avidreader
September 7, 2007 10:19 PM | Link to this
I too remember reading A Wrinkle in Time over and over again. It was one of my favorite books as a child. I believe it led me to a lifelong interest in science. I never read any of her other books but I think I will have to find them and read them now. It is a sad day indeed.
By BJ
September 7, 2007 10:33 PM | Link to this
Wrinkle in Time was probably one of my all time favorite books growing up.
She had a long good life—
By slp
September 7, 2007 10:42 PM | Link to this
while her children’s books were superb, so were her adult books, both fiction and journal-type books…extremely well-written and such a blessing…she was a gifted and uplifting author…
By formeratlgirl
September 7, 2007 11:40 PM | Link to this
I’m very sad to hear of the passing of such a talented woman. I read many of her time travel books as an adolescent and still have copies of my favorites, though I’ve long since become a grown-up.
For those who are questioning her faith as a Christian, please do a Google search on her writings. In addition to her vast fictional fantasy writings, she also co-wrote a few Christian religious texts, such as Glimpses of Grace and Prayerbook for Friends. All of her works make for excellent reading.
I find it alarming and vastly disheartening that we are revisiting the mistakes of the past made in the name of religion. Just because someone invents a fantasy world does not mean that he or she has a lack of faith. All of us would do well to remember this. Madeline L’Engle should be remembered her vivid imagination and for being the great writer she was. All the questioning of her faith is distasteful and truly dishonors the dead.
By Amanda
September 7, 2007 11:52 PM | Link to this
From the time I was eleven years old (I’m now 41!), Madeline L’Engle has been my favorite author. I read the entire Wrinkle in Time series and the Austin series when I was in middle and high school. It wasn’t until I got to college, however, that I read the book she wrote that had the biggest lasting impression on me, A Ring of Endless Light. This beautiful novel gives such a hopeful view of death and dying that the ideas stay with you long after you close the book. With all of the young adult novels today that portray the depression and despair associated with death, this novel portrays that for people of faith, death is also a time of hope. In honor of the death of Madeline L’Engle today, I want to share my favorite passage:
Grandfather’s voice was low, and yet it could have been heard a mile away, I thought. “You only are immortal, the creator and make of mankind; and we are mortal, formed of the earth, and to earth we shall return. For so did you ordain when you created me, saying, ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return.’ All of us go down to the dust; yet even at the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.” No one could miss the joy in Grandfather’s voice as he said those alleluias, and his face was so alive, so alight, that I didn’t hear what he was saying next.
I have no doubt she is in heaven, rejoicing, today! Mrs. L’Engle, you and your work will be missed!
By Joe Cobb
September 8, 2007 1:00 AM | Link to this
It’s cliche, but her books created a life long avid reader in me.
I can remember no other work having such a profound and lasting impression on my younger years… just the mention of her name brings back memories of sorting through the shleves of the library… yearing for more.
Godspeed Madeleine L’Engle.
By James Tyler Johnson
September 8, 2007 1:31 PM | Link to this
I’m currently reading her treatise on being a Christian artist “Walking on Water”. Truly this woman had an immense insight into the nature of both art and religion. To quote her, all good art was Christian, though not all “Christian” art was good. To quote the lady herself, “Bad art is bad religion, no matter how pious the subject.” I can’t wait to continue through this book and pick up another of hers.
By comp133xi7y
September 8, 2007 7:09 PM | Link to this
So many people today use “Christian” interchangeably with “fundamentalist”. For them, “Christian writer” means that one must espouse the narrow-minded garbage that those hate-mongers who wrote the “Left Behind” were so fond of.
L’Engle was a marvelous writer, and any religiously inspired material would have had far more in common with the brilliant works of C.S. Lewis than with the anti-intellectual trash of Kenneth Copeland.
By Laura
September 9, 2007 11:07 AM | Link to this
I’m saddened that there will be no more Madeleine L’Engle books, but immensely grateful for the ones she left behind. Her faith, her love of science and nature, her imagination and her willingness to make herself vulnerable by writing about hard times in her life are a gift to us all. When you feel like you know a writer you have never met, you know she has a wonderful gift.
By Peaches
September 9, 2007 4:24 PM | Link to this
L’Engle’s Walking on Water has been an encouragement to many Christian writers and artists. She understood the broader dimension of calling and the whole of life subject to the authority of God, reflecting his goodness and beauty. The comments on this blog about her writing and the joy it brought to her readers are an endorsement of what it mans to be a Christian Artist in the best sense of that word.