If you were in school in the 70’s or 80’s, you probably read, at some point, A Wrinkle In Time
I didn’t read any of the follow-up novels that apparently came afterwords, but it was nonetheless sad to read today that their author, Madeleine L’Engle, had died today:
Madeleine L’Engle, 88, a prolific author whose best-known novel, “A Wrinkle in Time,” won the top prize for children’s literature and was considered among the most enigmatic works of fiction ever created, died Sept. 6 at Rose Haven nursing home in Litchfield, Conn.
The cause of death was not disclosed by the family, but she reportedly had a cerebral hemorrhage in recent years.
“A Wrinkle in Time,” published in 1962, won the American Library Association’s Newbery Medal for best children’s book. It went through more than 60 printings, was adapted for television and other media and helped establish Ms. L’Engle among the best-selling children’s authors of her generation.
Yet “children’s author” did not begin to describe the breadth of her output, which included more than 50 books of adult fiction and nonfiction, poetry, plays and many volumes of memoirs. Reviewers noted a timeless quality in her best fiction, which blended themes of adolescent pain, spiritual and emotional insight, ethical decision-making and, above all, adventure and entertainment.
Ms. L’Engle was a veteran author by the time “A Wrinkle in Time” was published, and the book cemented her reputation as a major literary figure. The novel weaved together aspects of theology and quantum physics and featured a female protagonist, which was unusual at the time.
The plot concerned three New England youngsters — the socially awkward Meg Murry, her young brother, Charles Wallace Murry, and her older, more popular friend, Calvin O’Keefe. They use time travel and extrasensory perception to free the siblings’ scientist father, who had vanished from the family after discovering a mysterious source of evil. They find him on a planet where absolute conformity rules.
The book introduced many readers to a “tesseract,” a principle, according to the narrative, that allows the youths to “travel through space without having to go the long way around.”
Ms. L’Engle tried to sell “A Wrinkle in Time” to a dozen publishers before Farrar, Straus and Giroux agreed — with the caveat that the author should not expect much public reaction. She, in turn, had it written in her contract that the company could have the rights to the book forever, anywhere in the universe, except the Andromeda galaxy.
“A Wrinkle in Time” was an instant sensation and attracted critical praise that culminated in the Newbery.
Quite honestly, I can’t say that I remember much about the book itself, other than that I was totally fascinated by it and that fascination carried over into the books that I’ve been reading ever since.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
A great author, clearly most remembered for A Wrinkle in Time, but also proving herself as such in the sequels that would follow. She is at least one influential source that got me interested in sci fi. Hopefully, there are still many kids reading A Wrinkle in Time and turning it into an interest in reading as ever.