Madeleine L'Engle

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Madeleine L'Engle (born November 29, 1918 in New York , † September 6, 2007 in Litchfield , Connecticut , USA ) was an American author of numerous books for children and adults.

Life

Madeleine L'Engle grew up as the daughter of journalist and author Charles Wadsworth Camp and pianist Madeleine Hall Barnett Camp.

L'Engle moved to Europe with her parents when she was twelve and lived in France and Switzerland , where she went to boarding schools . Her parents hoped that the air of the French and Swiss Alps would alleviate the symptoms of their father, who had burned his lungs with mustard gas during the First World War .

Two years later they returned to South Carolina , USA, where Madeleine Ashley Hall in Charleston , again attended boarding school, and studied English at Smith College after the death of her father . In 1941 she graduated with honors there. During her stay at college, L'Engle wrote plays and short stories .

The young college graduate moved to Greenwich Village , where she worked briefly as an actress in the theater and there she met her future husband, the actor Hugh Franklin .

In 1945 L'Engles first novel The Small Rain appeared , which she wrote more or less backstage and between rehearsals, followed by Ilsa (1946). After their wedding, L'Engle retired from the theater and now had more time to concentrate fully on writing. However, after the initial successes, most of the subsequent manuscripts were rejected by publishers. During this time, L'Engle gave birth to their first child, their daughter Josephine.

After her husband had turned his back on the theater in 1952, they bought a farmhouse in Connecticut and kept their heads above water by running a small shop. The family adopted a girl, Maria, and L'Engle had another son, Bion.

In addition to the daily chores in the business and the upbringing of her three small children, Madeleine L'Engle found the time to pursue her great passion, writing, at best at night. After only A Winter's Love was published in 1957 , she wanted to give up the writing because of the burden and the constant rejection on the part of the publishers, which she soon rejected.

1960 published L'Engle the children's book Meet the Austins ( We Austin ) - again after a long time of rejection. It later became one of her most popular books. At this time, L'Engle and Franklin decided to return to New York , where L'Engle could concentrate fully on writing again.

Finally, in 1962, the book was published, which undoubtedly represented the cornerstone of their success: A Wrinkle in Time (German editions under the title Die Zeitfalte , also Spiralnebel 101 and Das Zeiträtsel ). After L'Engle had offered the story to publishers in vain for two and a half years, this book won her the coveted Newbery Medal in 1963 - a great satisfaction. Writer Dan Brown told the New York Times that while reading the book he first became aware of "the magic of storytelling" and the "power of the printed word."

Inspired by her success, her return to New York and her work as the librarian of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine , L'Engle wrote a lot in the coming years, including continuing the popular Austin series ( The Moon by Night , 1963 and The Young Unicorns , 1968). By 1989, other novels followed that tied in with the events in Die Zeitfalte . L'Engles husband returned to acting and became the star of the soap opera All My Children .

From now on Madeleine L'Engle wrote unchecked. The loss of her husband, who died of cancer on September 26, 1986, could not stop her either.

It was not until the death of her son Bion on December 17, 1999 that she was so affected that her work almost came to a standstill. Bion, the real godfather of several central figures in their oeuvre, allegedly died of the consequences of his alcohol abuse. This was always vehemently denied by L'Engle. In addition, L'Engle had to undergo two hip operations in recent years and also suffered a stroke in 2002 .

After Madeleine L'Engle initially lived with her family in New York City, in early 2007 she moved to a care facility near her daughter Josephine in northern Connecticut due to her deteriorating health.

L'Engle died in September 2007 at the age of 88.

plant

Madeleine L'Engles literary role models are L. Frank Baum ( The Wizard of Oz ) , Lucy Maud Montgomery ( Anne of Green Gables ) and above all George MacDonald ( Lilith ) , whom she read at a young age, which she later describes as an impressive experience .

As a child, L'Engle was sent from one boarding school to the next, where she was marginalized by her classmates. As a result, many of their stories are about happy, strong families and the struggles of outsiders to integrate. Her enormous interest in the natural sciences also found its way into her stories. Especially the Murry-O'Keefes hit series, with A Wrinkle in Time as a starting point, shows her interest in quantum and astrophysics , chaos theory and human genetics .

From the 1970s onwards, references to Christian motifs in her works became increasingly important. The fictional publications mix with volumes of poetry and prayer. Figures from the Bible also appear more frequently in the novels .

Characteristic for the more than 60 published books is an unusual range of topics: science fiction , mystery , adventure , poems , prayers , biblical stories, plays, theological essays - many of them works for children, some for young adults, but also Texts for all ages.

In addition, there are cross-genre connections between a large number of her works. Many characters from different books or book series appear again and again and often have a significant influence on the lives of the protagonists in other book series. So everything, children's books and adult novels, come together to form a complex complete work with great depth.

She has received numerous prizes and awards for her work. The most highly decorated book, A Wrinkle in Time , was removed from the libraries of two American elementary schools in 1985 and 1990 . Reason: On the one hand, the book promotes witchcraft , crystal balls and demons , on the other hand, concerned parents complained that the name Jesus Christ is in the same breath as the names of great artists, philosophers, scientists and spiritual leaders, in connection with the fight against evil was called. However, these remained isolated cases.

Despite L'Engles' refusal for decades, she finally allowed the Disney studios to film two of her books. First came the 2002 television film A Ring of Endless Light ( The Voice of the Sea ), and two years later the Disney Channel broadcast its version of A Wrinkle in Time . Madeleine L'Engle said she was disappointed with the result.

Awards

bibliography

Murry family (Kairos novel cycle)
O'Keefe Family (Kairos novel cycle)
  • The Arm of the Starfish (1965)
  • Dragons in the Waters (1976)
  • A House Like a Lotus (1984)
  • An Acceptable Time (1989)
Austin family (cycle)
  • Meet the Austins (1960)
    • German: We Austins . Translator Lena Stepath. Klopp, Berlin 1963. Also as Ravensburger paperback # 114.
  • The Moon by Night (1963)
    • English: The moon over the hills. Übers. Inge M. Artl. Ueberreuter, Vienna & Heidelberg 1967.
  • The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas: An Austin Family Story (1964)
  • The Young Unicorns (1968)
  • The Anti-Muffins (1980)
  • A Ring of Endless Light (1980)
  • Troubling a Star (1994)
  • Miracle on 10th Street (1998)
  • A Full House: An Austin Family Christmas (1999)
Novels
  • The Small Rain (1955)
  • Ilsa (1946)
  • And Both Were Young (1949)
    • German: Philippa. Translated by Edith Kranz-Russell. Buje-Verlag, 1956
  • Camilla Dickinson (1965)
  • A Winter's Love (1957)
  • The Love Letters (1966)
  • The Journey with Jonah (1968)
  • Prelude (1972)
  • The Other Side of the Sun (1972)
  • Dragons in the Waters (1976)
  • A Severed Wasp (1984)
  • A House Like a Lotus (1984)
  • Many Waters (1986)
  • An Acceptable Time (1989)
Short stories
  • Poor Little Saturday (1956)
  • The Black Thing (1962)
  • Pakko's Camel (1982)
  • The Sphinx at Dawn (1982)
  • The One Hundred and First Miracle (1983)
  • The Connecticut Eskimo (1991)
Pieces
  • 18 Washington Square, South (1940)
  • How Now Brown Cow (1949, with Robert Hartung)
  • The Journey with Jonah (1967, first performed 1970)
Poems
  • Lines Scribbled on an Envelope and Other Poems (1969)
  • Weather of the Heart (1978)
  • A Cry Like a Bell (1987)
Children's books
  • Dance in the Desert (1969)
  • Everyday Prayers (1974)
  • Prayers for Sunday (1974)
  • Ladder of Angels: Scenes from the Bible Illustrated by Children of the World (1979)
  • The Glorious Impossible (1990)
Essays and miscellaneous
  • A Circle of Quiet (1972)
  • The Summer of the Great-Grandmother (1974)
  • The Irrational Season (1977)
  • Walking on Water (1982)
  • And It Was Good: Reflections on Beginnings (1983)
  • Dare to Be Creative (1984)
  • Trailing Clouds of Glory: Spiritual Values ​​in Children's Literature (1985, with Avery Brooke)
  • A Stone for a Pillow (1987)
  • Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage (1988, autobiography)
  • Sold into Egypt: Joseph's Journey into Human Being (1989)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Best-selling author Dan Brown turns 50
personal data
SURNAME L'Engle, Madeleine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Camp, Madeleine L'Engle (maiden name); Franklin, Madeleine L'Engle Camp (married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 2007
Place of death Litchfield (Connecticut)