Blajeny, Ecthroi, ProginoskesMrs. What, Mrs. Who, Mrs Which. Screwy cherubim, mystical feathered pluralities, telepathic baby brothers. A dog named Fortinbras. And of course: tesseracts. What the hell am I talking about? The young adult books of Madeleine L'Engle (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet) who passed away yesterday at the age of 88.
The trio of books above (as well as a couple sequels) introduced me, a bespectacled nerd of eight waaay too into ABBA and Greek philosophy for my own good (gay! gay! gay!), to the wonders of physics, theology, and biology -- no one but L'Engle could make a mitochondrion the scene an apocalyptic battle between good and evil. Plus: damn good writing.
These books, along with Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea Trilogy (soon to be a Narnia-like movie or three) and a few other young adult gems challenged and enchanted me, and did much to fly me past all the bruising I endured on the schoolyard (see? I WAS smarter than those bullies! Ha! Bite me.)
Farewell, Ms. L'Engle, and thanks for not talking down to kid geeks.
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Comments (5)
Like you, I was a geek who felt loved by an author I'd never met (I did meet her later on several occasions). It's a sad day for us all.
ps: it's "proginoskes" with an i. :)
Posted by mitchell | September 7, 2007 03:47 PM
ah! thanks mitchell! I totally was thinking of Progo, his/its nickname ... ;)m.
Posted by Marke B. | September 7, 2007 04:45 PM
I too adored those books, esp. A SWIFTLY TILTING PLANET (the year that came out, I lived in a town where you could NOT get a book in any store - then a bookstore opened for about a month...so I was glad of it, though I'd read WRINKLE and A WIND IN THE DOOR when I lived in a bigger city a few years earlier).
Charles Wallace was my hero, along with Meg (it's the geeky beardyke in me :) ).
Goodbye, Miss L'Engle... :(
Posted by Tim | September 7, 2007 07:01 PM
Thank you for this blog entry. The character I fell in love with was Polyhymnia. We shall miss you, Ms L'Engle.
Posted by Mouse | September 7, 2007 09:50 PM
I fell in love with Meg and Charles Wallace and Calvin all for different reasons. Ms L'Engle always managed to transport me away from the bullies and made me proud to be a geek.
Peace be with all who mourn her passing
Posted by Gene | September 8, 2007 07:26 AM