Adulthood Madeleine_L'Engle

1 adulthood

1.1 career
1.2 later years
1.3 religious beliefs
1.4 on writing children

adulthood

l engle attended smith college 1937 1941. after graduating cum laude smith, moved apartment in new york city. in 1942, met actor hugh franklin when appeared in play cherry orchard anton chekhov. l engle married franklin on january 26, 1946, year after publication of first novel, small rain. later wrote of meeting , marriage, met in cherry orchard , married in joyous season. couple s first daughter, josephine, born in 1947.

the family moved 200-year-old farmhouse called crosswicks in goshen, connecticut in 1952. replace franklin s lost acting income, purchased , operated small general store, while l engle continued writing. son bion born same year. 4 years later, seven-year-old maria, daughter of family friends had died, came live franklins, , adopted shortly thereafter. during period, l engle served choir director of local congregational church.

career

l engle determined give writing on 40th birthday (november 1958) when received yet rejection notice. hours spent writing, still not pulling own weight financially. discovered both not give , had continued work on fiction subconsciously.

the family returned new york city in 1959 hugh resume acting career. move preceded ten-week cross-country camping trip, during l engle first had idea famous novel, wrinkle in time, completed 1960. rejected more thirty times before handed john c. farrar; published farrar, straus & giroux in 1962.

in 1960 franklins moved apartment in cleburne building on west end avenue (sold estate $4 million in 2008). 1960 1966 (and again in 1989 , 1990), l engle taught @ st. hilda s & st. hugh s school in new york. in 1965 became volunteer librarian @ cathedral of st. john divine, in new york. later served many years writer-in-residence @ cathedral, spending winters in new york , summers @ crosswicks.

during 1960s, 1970s, , 1980s, l engle wrote dozens of books children , adults. 4 of books adults formed crosswicks journals series of autobiographical memoirs. of these, summer of great-grandmother (1974) discusses l engle s personal experience caring aged mother, , two-part invention (1988) memoir of marriage, completed after husband s death cancer on september 26, 1986.

later years

l engle injured in automobile accident in 1991 recovered enough visit antarctica in 1992. son, bion franklin, died on december 17, 1999 effects of extended alcoholism. forty-seven years old.

in final years, l engle became unable teach or travel due reduced mobility osteoporosis, after suffering cerebral hemorrhage in 2002. abandoned former schedule of speaking engagements , seminars. few compilations of older work, of unpublished, appeared after 2001.

l engle died of natural causes @ rose haven, nursing facility close home in litchfield, connecticut, on september 6, 2007, according statement publicist following day. interred in cathedral church of saint john divine in manhattan.

religious beliefs

l engle episcopalian , believed in universal salvation, writing redeemed in god s fullness of time, all, not small portion of population have been given grace know , accept christ. strayed , stolen sheep. little lost ones. result of promotion of christian universalism, many christian bookstores refused carry books, banned christian schools , libraries. @ same time, of secular critics attacked work being religious.

her views on divine punishment similar of george macdonald, had large influence on fictional work. said cannot believe god wants punishment go on interminably more loving parent. entire purpose of loving punishment teach, , lasts long needed lesson. , lesson love.

in 1982, l’engle reflected on how suffering had taught her. told how suffering lonely solitude child taught “world of imagination” enabled write children. later suffered decade of failure after first books published. bitter experience, yet wrote had learned lot of valuable lessons enabled persevere writer.

on writing children

soon after winning newbery medal 1962 junior novel wrinkle in time, l engle discussed children s books in new york times book review. writer of children s book, observed, may need return intuitive understanding of own childhood , being childlike although not childish. claimed, s possible make demands of child couldn t made of adult... child understand scientific concepts baffle adult. because can understand leap of imagination [which] denied grown-up has acquired little knowledge dangerous thing. of philosophy, etc., science, child come open mind, whereas many adults come closed open book. 1 reason many writers turn fantasy (which children claim own) when have important , difficult say.