There are some books that inspire us, some that intrigue, and there are others that stay with us for years!
Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time
Image Via Farrar, Strous & Giroux
This November the Library of America is celebrating L’Engle’s sci-fi fantasy epic with a specially edited two volume collection of all the books from the series for the first time ever!
The two volume set is being called Madeline L’Engle: The Kairos Novels.
Image Via The Library of America
Included in this collection are never-before-seen deleted passages along with essays and addresses that shed light on L’Engle’s inspiration and demonstrate her wide-ranging intellectual curiosity.
In an interview with Library of America, editor Leonard S. Marcus paints us a picture of how diverse and broad Madeline L’Engle’s interests were.
…she was a quester by nature and turned to books about astrophysics and molecular biology as well as theology in search of a unified theory of what she called the “real reality.” Although she was known for her longtime association with the Episcopal Church and took great pride in her role as writer in residence at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, L’Engle always left the door ajar for doubt. She kept a porcelain Buddha on her cathedral library desk as a reminder that no one group had all the answers.
Madeline L’Engle | Image Via Crosswicks Ltd.
You can definitely see these influences throughout her writing. Her work came at a time when the trend for storytelling in America was solely about bringing out realistic qualities and representing life as it truly is.
Sounds pretty bland when used repeatedly, but with L’Engle balancing the trend of realism with the imagination of fantasy, the trend shifted! Thus, it created a place for this world of fantasy that we see and love today!
Another addition to the collection is the new edits that pay homage to the original writing.
A book that has been reissued in numerous editions over more than half a century is bound at a minimum to have morphed in small, subtle ways. The LOA edition restores the text as first published in 1962
– Leonard S. Marcus, editor for Madeline L’Engle: The Kairos Novels
We’re so over the moon that Madeline L’Engle published A Wrinkle In Time, and I personally cannot wait to get my hands on Madeline L’Engle: The Kairos Novels.
The two volume collector’s edition will be officially published November 29th, just in time to celebrate what would be Madeline L’Engle’s 100th birthday.
Featured Image Via Disney