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= Madeleine_L'Engle =
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Introduction
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Madeleine L'Engle (; November 29, 1918 - September 6, 2007) was an
American writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young adult
fiction, including 'A Wrinkle in Time' and its sequels: 'A Wind in the
Door', 'A Swiftly Tilting Planet', 'Many Waters', and 'An Acceptable
Time'. Her works reflect both her Christian faith and her strong
interest in modern science.
Early life
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Madeleine L'Engle Camp was born in New York City on November 29, 1918,
and named after her great-grandmother, Madeleine Margaret L'Engle,
otherwise known as Mado. Her maternal grandfather was Florida banker
Bion Barnett, co-founder of Barnett Bank in Jacksonville, Florida. Her
mother, a pianist, was also named Madeleine: Madeleine Hall Barnett.
Her father, Charles Wadsworth Camp, was a writer, critic, and foreign
correspondent who, according to his daughter, suffered lung damage
from mustard gas during World War I.
L'Engle wrote her first story aged five and began keeping a journal
aged eight. These early literary attempts did not translate into
academic success at the New York City private school where she was
enrolled. A shy, awkward child, she was branded as stupid by some of
her teachers. Unable to please them, she retreated into her own world
of books and writing. Her parents often disagreed about how to raise
her, and as a result she attended a number of boarding schools and had
many governesses.
The Camps traveled frequently. At one point, the family moved to a
château near Chamonix in the French Alps, in what Madeleine described
as the hope that the cleaner air would be easier on her father's
lungs. Madeleine was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. In
1933, L'Engle's grandmother fell ill, and they moved near
Jacksonville, Florida to be close to her. L'Engle attended another
boarding school, Ashley Hall, in Charleston, South Carolina. When her
father died in October 1936, Madeleine arrived home too late to say
goodbye.
Education, marriage, and family
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L'Engle attended Smith College from 1937 to 1941. After graduating
'cum laude' from Smith, she moved to an apartment in New York City.
L'Engle published her novels 'The Small Rain' and 'Ilsa' prior to
1942. She met actor Hugh Franklin that year when she appeared in the
play 'The Cherry Orchard' by Anton Chekhov, and she married him on
January 26, 1946. Later she wrote of their meeting and marriage, "We
met in 'The Cherry Orchard' and were married in 'The Joyous Season'."
The couple's first daughter, Josephine, was born in 1947.
The family moved to a 200-year-old farmhouse called Crosswicks in the
small town of Goshen, Connecticut in 1952. To replace Franklin's lost
acting income, they purchased and operated a small general store,
while L'Engle continued with her writing. Their son Bion was born that
same year. Four years later, seven-year-old Maria, the daughter of
family friends who had died, came to live with the Franklins and they
adopted her shortly thereafter. During this period, L'Engle also
served as choir director of the local Congregational church.
Writing career
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L'Engle determined to give up writing on her 40th birthday (November
1958) when she received yet another rejection notice. "With all the
hours I spent writing, I was still not pulling my own weight
financially." Soon she discovered both that she could not give it up
and that she had continued to work on fiction subconsciously.
The family returned to New York City in 1959 so that Hugh could resume
his acting career. The move was immediately preceded by a ten-week
cross-country camping trip, during which L'Engle first had the idea
for her most famous novel, 'A Wrinkle in Time', which she completed by
1960. It was rejected more than thirty times before she handed it to
John C. Farrar; it was finally published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
in 1962.
In 1960 the Franklins moved to an apartment on the Upper West Side,
in the Cleburne Building on West End Avenue. From 1960 to 1966 (and
again in 1986, 1989 and 1990), L'Engle taught at St. Hilda's & St.
Hugh's School in New York. In 1965 she became a volunteer librarian at
the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, also in New York. She later
served for many years as writer-in-residence at the cathedral,
generally spending her winters in New York and her summers at
Crosswicks.
During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, L'Engle wrote dozens of books for
children and adults. Four of the books for adults formed the
'Crosswicks Journals' series of autobiographical memoirs. Of these,
'The Summer of the Great-grandmother' (1974) discusses L'Engle's
personal experience caring for her aged mother, and 'Two-Part
Invention' (1988) is a memoir of her marriage, completed after her
husband's death from cancer on September 26, 1986.
On writing for children
=========================
Soon after winning the Newbery Medal for her 1962 "junior novel" 'A
Wrinkle in Time', L'Engle discussed children's books in 'The New York
Times Book Review'. The writer of a good children's book, she
observed, may need to return to the "intuitive understanding of his
own childhood," being 'childlike' although not 'childish'. She
claimed, "It's often possible to make demands of a child that couldn't
be made of an adult... A child will often understand scientific
concepts that would baffle an adult. This is because he can understand
with a leap of the imagination that is denied the grown-up who has
acquired the little knowledge that is a dangerous thing." Of
philosophy, etc., as well as science, "the child will come to it with
an open mind, whereas many adults come closed to an open book. This is
one reason so many writers turn to fantasy (which children claim as
their own) when they have something important and difficult to say."
Religious beliefs
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L'Engle was a Christian who attended Episcopal churches and believed
in universal salvation, writing that "All will be redeemed in God's
fullness of time, all, not just the small portion of the population
who have been given the grace to know and accept Christ. All the
strayed and stolen sheep. All the little lost ones." As a result of
her promotion of Christian universalism, many Christian bookstores
refused to carry her books, which were also frequently banned from
evangelical Christian schools and libraries. At the same time, some of
her most secular critics attacked her work for being far too
religious.
Her views on divine punishment were similar to those of George
MacDonald, who also had a large influence on her fictional work. She
said "I cannot believe that God wants punishment to go on interminably
any more than does a loving parent. The entire purpose of loving
punishment is to teach, and it lasts only as long as is needed for the
lesson. And the lesson is always love."
In 1982, L'Engle reflected on how suffering had taught her. She told
how suffering a "lonely solitude" as a child taught her about the
"world of the imagination" that enabled her to write for children.
Later she suffered a "decade of failure" after her first books were
published. It was a "bitter" experience, yet she wrote that she had
"learned a lot of valuable lessons" that enabled her to persevere as a
writer.
Later years, death, and legacy
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In 1972, L'Engle and her husband, Hugh Franklin, established the
Crosswicks Foundation, a family foundation.
L'Engle was seriously injured in an automobile accident in 1991, but
recovered well enough to visit Antarctica in 1992. Her son, Bion
Franklin, died on December 17, 1999, from the effects of prolonged
alcoholism. He was 47 years old.
In her final years, L'Engle became unable to teach or travel due to
reduced mobility from osteoporosis, especially after suffering an
intracerebral hemorrhage in 2002. She also abandoned her former
schedule of speaking engagements and seminars. A few compilations of
older work, some of it previously unpublished, appeared after 2001.
L'Engle died of natural causes at Rose Haven, a nursing facility close
to her home in Litchfield, Connecticut, on September 6, 2007,
according to a statement made by her publicist the following day.
She is interred in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan.
In 2018, her granddaughters Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Léna Roy
published 'Becoming Madeleine: A Biography of the Author of A Wrinkle
in Time by Her Granddaughters'.
'A Light So Lovely: The Spiritual Legacy of Madeleine L’Engle' by
Sarah Arthur was also published in 2018.
L'Engle's 'A Wrinkle in Time' was adapted into a film twice by Disney.
A television film, directed by John Kent Harrison, premiered on May
10, 2004. When asked in an interview with 'Newsweek' if the film "met
her expectations", L'Engle said, "I have glimpsed it. ... I expected
it to be bad, and it is." A theatrical film, directed by Ava DuVernay,
premiered March 9, 2018.
In celebration of L'Engle's centenary year, Writing for Your Life
hosted the inaugural Madeleine L'Engle Conference: Walking on Water on
November 16, 2019, in New York City, New York, at All Angels' Church
on the Upper West Side. Katherine Paterson served as the keynote
speaker.
Awards, honors, and organizations
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In addition to the numerous awards, medals, and prizes won by
individual books L'Engle wrote, she personally received many honors
over the years. These included being named an Associate Dame of
Justice in the Venerable Order of Saint John (1972); the USM Medallion
from The University of Southern Mississippi (1978); the Smith College
Medal "for service to community or college which exemplifies the
purposes of liberal arts education" (1981); the Sophia Award for
distinction in her field (1984); the Regina Medal (1985); the ALAN
Award for outstanding contribution to adolescent literature, presented
by the National Council of Teachers of English (1987); and the Kerlan
Award (1991).
In 1985 she was a guest speaker at the Library of Congress, giving a
speech entitled "Dare to be Creative!" That same year she began a
two-year term as president of the Authors Guild. In addition she
received over a dozen honorary degrees from as many colleges and
universities, such as Haverford College. Many of these name her as a
Doctor of Humane Letters, but she was also made a Doctor of Literature
and a Doctor of Sacred Theology, the latter at Berkeley Divinity
School in 1984. In 1995 she was writer-in-residence for 'Victoria
Magazine'. In 1997 she was recognized for Lifetime Achievement from
the World Fantasy Awards.
L'Engle received the annual Margaret A. Edwards Award from the
American Library Association in 1998. The Edwards Award recognizes
one writer and a particular body of work for a "significant and
lasting contribution to young adult literature." Four books by L'Engle
were cited: 'Meet the Austins', 'A Wrinkle In Time', 'A Swiftly
Tilting Planet', and 'A Ring of Endless Light' (published 1960 to
1980). In 2004 she received the National Humanities Medal but could
not attend the ceremony due to poor health.
L'Engle was inducted into the New York Writers Hall of Fame in 2011.
In a 2012 survey of 'School Library Journal' readers, 'A Wrinkle in
Time' was voted the best children's novel after 'Charlotte's Web'.
In 2013, a crater on Mercury was named after L'Engle.
At Smith College, a fellowship is available in L'Engle's name to visit
and use the special collections available there. This fund provides
stipends to support travel by researchers--from novices to advanced,
award-winning scholars--to explore the resources available in the
Smith College Archives, Mortimer Rare Book Collection, and Sophia
Smith Collection of Women's History.
The Madeleine L'Engle Collection
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Since 1976, Wheaton College in Illinois has maintained a special
collection of L'Engle's papers, and a variety of other materials,
dating back to 1919. The Madeleine L'Engle Collection includes
manuscripts for the majority of her published and unpublished works,
as well as interviews, photographs, audio and video presentations, and
an extensive array of correspondence with both adults and children,
including artwork sent to her by children.
In 2019, a collection of 43 linear feet of L'Engle's family, personal,
and literary papers came to the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's
History at Smith College. They had been donated by her literary
estate.
Bibliographic overview
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Most of L'Engle's novels from 'A Wrinkle in Time' onward are centered
on a cast of recurring characters, who sometimes reappear decades
older than when they were first introduced. The "Kairos" books are
about the Murry and O'Keefe families, with Meg Murry and Calvin
O'Keefe marrying and producing the next generation's protagonist,
Polyhymnia O'Keefe. L'Engle wrote about both generations concurrently,
with Polly (originally spelled Poly) first appearing in 1965, well
before the second book about her parents as teenagers ('A Wind in the
Door', 1973). The "Chronos" books center on Vicky Austin and her
siblings. Although Vicky's appearances all occur during her childhood
and teenage years, her sister Suzy also appears as an adult in 'A
Severed Wasp', with a husband and teenage children. In addition, two
of L'Engle's early protagonists, Katherine Forrester and Camilla
Dickinson, reappear as elderly women in later novels. Rounding out the
cast are several characters "who cross and connect": Canon Tallis,
Adam Eddington, and Zachary Gray, who each appear in both the Kairos
and Chronos books.
In addition to novels and poetry, L'Engle wrote many nonfiction works,
including the autobiographical 'Crosswicks Journals' and other
explorations of the subjects of faith and art. For L'Engle, who wrote
repeatedly about "story as truth", the distinction between fiction and
memoir was sometimes blurred. Real events from her life and family
history made their way into some of her novels, while fictional
elements, such as assumed names for people and places, can be found in
her published journals.
Novels for young adults
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'Chronos & Kairos' series:
* 'Chronos' ('The Austin Family Chronicles'):
**# 'Meet the Austins' (1960)
**# 'The Moon by Night' (1963)
**#: 2.5. 'The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas' (1984) )The two
Christmas books are shorter works, heavily illustrated but not
actually picture books. The events in each of these stories take place
prior to the events of 'Meet the Austins'.
**# 'The Young Unicorns' (1968)
**# 'A Ring of Endless Light' (1980) (Newbery Honor Book)
**#: 4.5. 'The Anti-Muffins' (1980)
**# 'Troubling a Star' (1994)
**#: 5.5. 'Miracle on 10th Street: And Other Christmas Writings'
(1998), a short story collection including 'The Twenty-four Days
Before Christmas' (1984) and 'A Full House: An Austin Family
Christmas' (1999)
**#: 5.6. 'A Full House: An Austin Family Christmas' (1999) )
**#: 5.7. "Rob Austin and the Millennium Bug", a short story included
in the anthology 'Second Sight: Stories for a New Millennium' (1999)
* 'Kairos' ('The Murry-O'Keefe Family Chronicles'):
*# First-generation ('Murry' series):
*## 'A Wrinkle in Time' (1962; Newbery Award Winner)
*## 'A Wind in the Door' (1973)
*##: 2.5. 'Intergalactic P.S. 3' (1970)
*## 'A Swiftly Tilting Planet' (1978) --National Book Award in
category Children's Books (paperback).
*## 'Many Waters' (1986)
*# Second-generation ('O'Keefe Family' series):
*## 'The Arm of the Starfish' (1965)
*## 'Dragons in the Waters' (1976)
*## 'A House Like a Lotus' (1984)
*## 'An Acceptable Time' (1989)
Stand-alone releases:
* 'And Both Were Young' (1949), revised and reissued with new material
(1983)
* 'The Journey with Jonah' (1967)
* 'The Joys of Love' (2008)
Novels
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'Katherine Forrester Vigneras' series:
# 'The Small Rain' (1945)
#* 'Prelude' (1968), no ISBN, an adaptation of the first half of 'The
Small Rain'
# 'A Severed Wasp' (1982)
'Camilla Dickinson' series:
# 'Camilla Dickinson' (1951), later republished in slightly different
form as 'Camilla' (1965), novel of young adult
# 'A Live Coal in the Sea' (1996)
Stand-alones:
* 'Ilsa' (1946)
* 'A Winter's Love' (1957),
* 'The Love Letters' (1966), revised and reissued as 'Love Letters'
(2000)
* 'The Other Side of the Sun' (1971)
* 'Certain Women' (1992)
'Note: some ISBNs given are for later paperback editions, since no
such numbering existed when L'Engle's earlier titles were published in
hardcover.'
Children's books
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Picture books:
* 'Dance in the Desert' (1969)
* 'The Glorious Impossible' (1990)
* 'The Other Dog' (2001)
* 'A Book, Too, Can Be a Star' (2022), a picture book biography of
Madeleine L'Engle
Short stories
===============
Collections:
* 'The Sphinx at Dawn: Two Stories' (1982), collection of 2 short
stories:
*: "Pakko's Camel", "The Sphinx at Dawn"
* '101st Miracle: Early Short Stories by Madeleine L'Engle' (1999),
collection of 12 short stories:
*: "Poor Little Saturday", "Six Good People", and more. (Although
there is an ISBN listed, there is no record of this title ever being
published.)
* 'The Moment of Tenderness' (2020), collection of 18 short stories
Poems
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Collections:
* 'The Weather of the Heart: Selected Poems' (1978)
* 'Wintersong: Christmas Readings' (1996, with Luci Shaw)
* 'Mothers And Daughters' (1997)
* 'The Ordering of Love: The New and Collected Poems of Madeleine
L'Engle' (2005), collection of nearly 200 poems, including 18 that
have never before been published:
*: "Lines Scribbled on an Envelope", "The Weather of the Heart", "A
Cry Like a Bell", and more
Plays
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* '18 Washington Square South: A Comedy In One Act' (1944)
Non-fiction
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;Autobiographies and memoirs
'Crosswicks Journals' series:
# 'A Circle of Quiet' (1972)
# 'The Summer of the Great-grandmother' (1974)
# 'The Irrational Season' (1977)
# 'Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage' (1988) (U.K. and
Australia title: 'From This Day Forward)'
Stand-alones:
* 'Glimpses of Grace: Daily Thoughts and Reflections' (1996, with
Carole F. Chase)
* 'Friends for the Journey' (1997, with Luci Shaw)
* 'My Own Small Place: Developing the Writing Life' (1998) (Although
there is a ISBN for this title, there is no record of it having ever
been released.)
*
;Religion
Genesis Trilogy:
# 'And It Was Good: Reflections on Beginnings' (1983)
# 'A Stone for a Pillow' (1986)
# 'Sold into Egypt' (1989)
Stand-alones:
* 'Everyday Prayers' (1974)
* 'Prayers for Sunday' (1975)
* 'Spirit And Light: Essays In Historical Theology' (1976)
* 'Ladder of Angels: Stories from the Bible Illustrated by Children of
the World' (1979)
* 'Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art' (1980)
* 'Trailing Clouds of Glory: Spiritual Values in Children's
Literature' (1985)
* 'The Rock that is Higher: Story as Truth' (1993)
* 'Anytime Prayers' (1994)
* 'Penguins and Golden Calves: Icons and Idols in Antarctica and Other
Spiritual Places' (1996)
* 'Bright Evening Star: Mystery of the Incarnation' (1997)
* 'Miracle on 10th Street: And Other Christmas Writings' (1998)
*: Includes two short stories about the 'Austin Family Chronicles'
series.
* 'A Prayerbook for Spiritual Friends' (1999, with Luci Shaw)
* 'Mothers and Sons' (2000)
;Writing
* 'Dare To Be Creative!: A Lecture Presented At The Library Of
Congress, November 16, 1983' (1984)
* 'Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?: The Celebrated Speech' (2012)
Adaptations
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* 'A Ring of Endless Light' (2002), telefilm directed by Greg Beeman,
based on young adult novel 'A Ring of Endless Light'
* 'A Wrinkle in Time' (2003), telefilm directed by John Kent Harrison,
based on young adult novel 'A Wrinkle in Time'
* 'Camilla Dickinson' (2012), film directed by Cornelia Duryée, based
on young adult novel 'Camilla Dickinson'
* 'A Wrinkle in Time' (2018), film directed by Ava DuVernay, based on
young adult novel 'A Wrinkle in Time'
External links
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*
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* [
https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/2/resources/1618
Madeleine L'Engle papers] at the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith
College
*[
https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/p17208coll5/id/65584/rec/69
Interview with Madeline L'Engle] about her 1990 Kerlan Award, 'All
About Kids! TV Series' #47 (1990)
License
=========
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_L'Engle
