Monday, September 10, 2007 | by nathan
Walking On Water
Walking On Water
Madeleine L’Engle died last week. How sad. A Wrinkle In Time will always be one of my favorite books; she was one of the first people to show me that all literature, no matter the audience, the author, the genre, can speak to people. She showed me that even I, a child at the time, had a lot to learn from just reading fiction, that the stories weren’t just stories but meanings.
The greatest gift she gave me, however, was when I was twenty and I read Walking On Water for the first time. It’s probably the best book on writing ever written, because it’s one of few that acknowledges that, yes, writing is more than just putting words on paper. It’s sublime and spiritual, it’s all about obedience and patience and paying attention. It’s a beautiful book.
You’ll be missed, Madeleine.
| library |
Comment by Dylan
Unlike many kids… I wasn’t exposed to any of Madeleine L’Engle’s work until I was in college… in, what was definitely one of my favorite courses at Wake… “Faith and Imagination.”
It was during that course that I learned that Madeleine referred to herself as a “Christian Agnostic,” and I thought that to be one of the most simple but well stated ways of expressing a very complicated personal theological viewpoint. I’ve since adopted it for myself.
10 September 2007 1:10 pm
Comment by Nate
One of my great Wake Forest regrets was that I never took “Faith and Imagination.”
10 September 2007 3:01 pm
Comment by Burning Prairie
I used to haunt the dusty, young peoples’ section of the Claremore Public Library, visiting my friends the books. Her books were some of my best friends.
11 September 2007 12:01 am