Flashback: 'A Wrinkle In Time'
Posted by alli on 05-16-2008
In light of the posthumous release of Madeline L' Engle's The Joys of Love I decided to revisit her most famous book A Wrinkle in Time. I hadn't read it in years and I must say, it brought back a lot of memories. One in particular was of my friend Jen presenting her book report on the title to our 6th grade class. I vividly remember her describing the principals of the tesseract to our class and thinking "Huh?" I also remember thinking the cover was really cool and how different it was that my friend, a girl, liked science fiction. It's funny what our memory filters out and retains: I also remember her book report on The Wolves of Wolloughby Chase, and ironically, a science report on long and short term memory. I digress.
No joke. A Wrinkle in Time begins with "It was a dark and stormy night." I love it! And so it begins — the tale of a motley crew of children and ex-stars (literally) "tessering" through time and space and fighting the dark forces of evil. Meg Murry, her youngest brother Charles Wallace and their friend Calvin O'Keefe embark on a quest that takes them to distant planets as they search for Meg's missing father, a genius physicist working for the government on a top-secret project. On their journey they discover the truth about good and evil and of course, the power of love.
Madeline L'Engle wrote A Wrinkle in Time after a long cross-country trip with her own family. At the time she was reading about Einstein and his various theories. Her tesseract and the concept of traveling through time and space are based on those principles. (This NPR piece is a fun and informational look at L'Engle's famous time traveling tool through the eyes of a real-live scientist.) Throughout the book L'Engle quotes historic figures that challenged our concepts of reality. A Christian herself, she also quotes the Bible and includes Jesus in a long list of artists, philosophers and scientists who have fought against the dark force of evil. For this reference, among other things, A Wrinkle in Time has been one of the top 100 censored books of all time.
I love reading books from my childhood because I notice so many different things the second time around, and they mean something totally different to me as an adult. Take Meg's mother for example. Her physical beauty is emphasized over and over again and I can't decide if it's simply used to help romanticize her enduring relationship with her missing husband or if it's necessary to make her more lovable in general. After all it's 1962 and she's a woman in the sciences. She's a brilliant microbiologist with a Ph.D — and she's gorgeous too. Phew! God forbid she be plain, or worse ugly like Calvin's toothless mom. In fact, she's so lovely Calvin comments during his first visit to the Murry house. Here's what he says after meeting Dr. Kate Murry:
"Do you know how lucky you are?"
She {Meg} smiled wryly. "Not most of the time."
"A mother like that! A house like this! Gee, your mother's gorgeous! You should see my mother. She had all of her upper teeth out and Pop got her a plate but she won't wear it, and most days she doesn't even comb her hair."
Poor Mrs. O'Keefe. Cut her some slack, she had 11 children!
I liked A Wrinkle in Time when I was in 6th grade, but I have to say I had a hard time getting into it the second time around. I'm not sure why. It's a magical and wonderful book. The characters are earnest and the ideas are very thought provoking. I was aware I was reading a classic, a book at which I was supposed to marvel, but I kept getting distracted. I think I've concluded that it's as simple as this: science fiction and fantasy for tweens and young adults has just gotten more sophisticated and grown-up since 1962. Good and evil are nothing new to today's readers. Strong girls in sci-fi are no longer revolutionary. While there is no doubt that A Wrinkle in Time is legendary, and no one would argue the impact it has had on children's literature, unfortunately, I think it will be slightly disappointing for anyone who has already read Harry Potter.
