Friday, September 7, 2007

Madeleine L'Engle died ...

Her LA Times obit ...

A nice profile, about 7 years old

An interview, last year.

One of the Christians I wholly admired. From the interview:

Did you see there are several books coming out refuting “The Da Vinci Code”?

L'Engle: That’s silly. It takes too much energy to be against something unless it’s really important. Now if you’re against evolution, that’s important.

I stopped reading her as an adult, and then started again when my kids started reading her. She holds up really well across the years.

6 comments:

SF said...

My wife and I just reread A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I don't think the plot holds up at all -- the setup and resolution are both amazingly silly. But it still strikes me as a beautiful and moving book. Made me want to finally track down some of her other books (I've only read the trilogy plus maybe one random other book) and read them.

SF said...

BTW, that interview is awesome. Thank you for posting the link.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the links, Dan!

First read a Wrinkle In Time in sixth grade (1968) as a Scholastic Book club edition. Read what I thought were the other three books in the series as they appeared. I was surprised and happy to see in the wikipedia entry that there are four more books in the Murray Family series.

Watched the TV movie version of Wrinkle in Time and liked it but still like the images of Meg, Charles Wallace, Calvin and the three Mrs. W's that have been in my head for almost 40 years better.

A great lady. She will be missed.

maurie

Daniel Keys Moran said...

She made it to 88. That's a good run, for when she was born. We should all do as well.

I just, within the last few months, re-read Ring of Endless Light. It was pretty touchy feely in places, but it moved well and wasn't embarrassed by its sincerity. That's a saving grace, right there.

SF said...

Dan, I think you may have just put your finger on it. The sincerity is why aSTP works so well. The hurt and the joy are real, even when the plot is daft.

Daniel Keys Moran said...

Yeah -- conviction has rescued a lot of otherwise mediocre material. It's why second rate talents have careers -- most of us (certainly including me) -- would rather watch someone work at his/her limits than watch someone of superior talent throw something off. "This is the best I can do" is a seductive pitch -- and almost all the difference between the first and second Star Wars trilogy, if everyone's not bored with that observation from me.