Madeleine L'Engle

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

  From MWT:

Shakespeare In Love has a tavern scene in which the cast learns that Christopher Marlowe is dead.  Ben Affleck/ Mercution/ Ned Alleyn stands up to say,

"He was the first man among us.  A great light has gone out."

Madeline L'Engle
Nov. 29, 1918 - Sept. 7, 2007
 

Comments

[fabricalchemist.livejournal.com]

T_T

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

What?? No!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't even know she was dying! What happened? Argh! I never wrote her a letter telling her how much I loved her books! Gah! I can't even speak coherently!

Why do people have to die? >.

[avian-xj.livejournal.com]

What an appropriate quote T_T

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Willow, she was 88 and died of natural causes. Here is a news story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/08/books/07cnd-lengle.html?ref=arts

repeating myself for the last three minutes, out loud, bereft

[karatelunch.livejournal.com]

Oh, no. Oh no.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I just saw the news today on CNN's website. I'm very sad, because she's one of my all-time favourite authors. But she lived a full life, and published many amazing books, and the world was blessed to have her.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Actually, Willow, a local bookseller who knew her had told me recently that she was suffering from dementia and no longer recognized people, so I was expecting this, and it was probably a blessing in some ways.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

1) I love that movie. And I love that quote. (When Ben Affleck first appeared on the screen, I burst out laughing from the unexpected, yet perfect, casting.)

2) That article is much better than the one I linked to. *borrows*

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

Sorry for overreacting. I didn't know she was that old, and I was startled. She was a constant of my childhood... things you think will always be there. But these things always crumble.

Sorry for spazzing. :-(

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

Yes, it may have been. I'm sorry for overreacting (see above comment); I just wasn't expecting this. I mean, not that you ever expect it, but...

[(Anonymous)]

willow,

i felt exactly the same.

mwt

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know she was still alive, and it still makes me feel lonely.

Her writings on art are a mainstay for me.
I hate that such an openhearted woman died in a nursing home (or so I hear) too.

[sclerotia.livejournal.com]

Madeleine L'Engle has written memoirs. The only one I have read is "A Circle of Quiet" which I unfortunately read at a moment when what I really wanted was wild escapism, which it wasn't. So I didn't go ahead and search out any of her others.

(Pauses to find book.)

On the cover it lists two more. "The Summer of the Great-grandmother" and "The Irrational Season". "A Circle of Quiet" was published in 1972, so there may be still others out there from the intervening years to keep insatiable fans partly satiated.

[starlitscribe.livejournal.com]

I saw it in my newspaper just today...I was dreading it, because I saw on a website a few months back that her health wasn't very good...

I really loved her books, especially the subtle depth she put into them...(and I can understand why she said she disliked the "children's books" classification). I read most of them when I was younger, but I still love them and often go back to my favorites.

Willow, it's OK--you weren't really overreacting. I was shocked when I saw it, too, and I even had some idea that it might be coming. It's really saddening, especially, as anachred and philia_fan mentioned, that she died in a nursing home, possibly unable to remember anyone. But she's left behind a long legacy....and at least she's at peace now.

[alineadrklrdsis.livejournal.com]

=( That's a good quote, it fits. *Sniffles

[myng.livejournal.com]

The first science fiction/fantasy book I ever read was A Wrinkle in Time. I was 12 and have not strayed far from this genre since. I owe the best books in my life to her.

[bookaddict88.livejournal.com]

I'm the same way. I didn't know much about her in recent years, so I couldn't have told you if she was still alive. But I'm still really sad she's died.

Her books were favorites of mine when I was young.