One of my most favorite authors has died. Madeleine L'Engle wrote stories of all kinds, and I've read as much as I could. Though her theology may not have always matched mine, I was often encouraged by her great sensitivity; her characters were heroic and also flawed. They could hurt deeply and yet she gave them hope. Though evil is real and terrible, good is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, and every person matters... these are the themes that come to mind as I think of her.
I wish I'd written a letter to her... maybe I'll still write one now. I'll pull out a copy of The Small Rain (her first, I think) and remember her. With thanks and love.
"A book, too, can be a star, 'explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly,' a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe." http://madeleinelengle.com/
reference/newberyspeech.htm
From the NY Times: Her deeper thoughts on writing were deliciously mysterious. She believed that experience and knowledge were subservient to the subconscious and perhaps larger, spiritual influences.
...“Why does anybody tell a story?" she once asked, even though she knew the answer. “It does indeed have something to do with faith,” she said, “faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”
