The Horror of a World Without Madeleine L'Engle
I'm having a bit of culture shock. The Internet does that to you sometime, being that it's accessible by anybody in the world who's got a computer with Internet access. And there's so much cross-contamination of cultures that you forget there ARE a lot of differences. About a month ago there was a French contributer on GeekMom who mentioned not knowing much about Madeleine L'Engle or A Wrinkle in Time, and I could accept that I guess, even though Madeleine L'Engle has a French name, because, you know, they speak French there, there'd be all those translation issues and such.
But England? England where they speak the same language as me, but for some slang and turns of phrase? England where most of my favorite music comes from, and half my favorite authors, and even a few of my favorite TV shows? Surely Madeleine L'Engle is not unknown there...
And then I read this rather nice interview with Rebecca Stead today. When You Reach Me has JUST come out in England, and the British-based interviewer has now read it and loved it, but what about Miranda's favorite book? She'd NEVER HEARD OF IT. This comes up toward the end of the interview (she'd also never heard of Dick Clark, which is also amusing, but not nearly so gutwrenching to me). And I am BLINKING IN BAFFLEMENT that my favorite author in the whole world, WHOM I NAMED MY DAUGHTER AFTER, is so little-known outside the US! HOW CAN THIS BE?! HOW WRONG IS THIS?!
So thank you, When You Reach Me, for spreading the Good News to the rest of the world, FIFTY YEARS LATE,* but still. If people across the rest of the English-speaking world are now going to be picking up L'Engle finally, what a good good thing it will be.
BUT WAIT! I want to tell them. You need to appreciate it fully. Before you read, you must imagine that you are a nerdy, awkward, outcast 10-year-old girl. NOW read it, with that in mind. DO YOU UNDERSTAND, NOW? Because I'm afraid you won't appreciate it properly otherwise.
Okay then. Thank you. I actually have a follow-up post to my Literary Crushes post, this one a Literary Girl-Crushes post, nearly ready to roll. I'll get that for you in a few minutes actually. But for now I just had to get this out of my system.
--
*Oh wow, the fiftieth anniversary is next year. We need fancy commemorative editions, big celebrations-- OH, I AM SO HOSTING A BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR IT AT THE LIBRARY. Honest, I'm going to figure out a way to make this sensibly work. Maybe the real theme will be FAVORITE BOOKS EVER, and I will be just using MINE as an example of how passionate one can be about a book. Hmm...
But England? England where they speak the same language as me, but for some slang and turns of phrase? England where most of my favorite music comes from, and half my favorite authors, and even a few of my favorite TV shows? Surely Madeleine L'Engle is not unknown there...
And then I read this rather nice interview with Rebecca Stead today. When You Reach Me has JUST come out in England, and the British-based interviewer has now read it and loved it, but what about Miranda's favorite book? She'd NEVER HEARD OF IT. This comes up toward the end of the interview (she'd also never heard of Dick Clark, which is also amusing, but not nearly so gutwrenching to me). And I am BLINKING IN BAFFLEMENT that my favorite author in the whole world, WHOM I NAMED MY DAUGHTER AFTER, is so little-known outside the US! HOW CAN THIS BE?! HOW WRONG IS THIS?!
So thank you, When You Reach Me, for spreading the Good News to the rest of the world, FIFTY YEARS LATE,* but still. If people across the rest of the English-speaking world are now going to be picking up L'Engle finally, what a good good thing it will be.
BUT WAIT! I want to tell them. You need to appreciate it fully. Before you read, you must imagine that you are a nerdy, awkward, outcast 10-year-old girl. NOW read it, with that in mind. DO YOU UNDERSTAND, NOW? Because I'm afraid you won't appreciate it properly otherwise.
Okay then. Thank you. I actually have a follow-up post to my Literary Crushes post, this one a Literary Girl-Crushes post, nearly ready to roll. I'll get that for you in a few minutes actually. But for now I just had to get this out of my system.
--
*Oh wow, the fiftieth anniversary is next year. We need fancy commemorative editions, big celebrations-- OH, I AM SO HOSTING A BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR IT AT THE LIBRARY. Honest, I'm going to figure out a way to make this sensibly work. Maybe the real theme will be FAVORITE BOOKS EVER, and I will be just using MINE as an example of how passionate one can be about a book. Hmm...