A Wrinkle in Time
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 A Wrinkle in Time hardcover, 1960s (same cover as first edition except for addition of the Newbery Medal) |
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| Author | Madeleine L'Engle |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Ellen Raskin (1960s editions), Leo and Diane Dillon (current hardcover) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Time Quartet |
| Genre(s) | Young Adult, Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus & Giroux |
| Released | 1962 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 211 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-374-38613-7 |
| Followed by | A Wind in the Door |
A Wrinkle in Time is a children's fantasy novel by Madeleine L'Engle, written from 1959 to 1960[1] and published in 1962 after over forty rejections by publishers because it was, in L'Engle's words, "too different." The book went on to win a Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.[2] It is the first in L'Engle's series of books about the Murry and O'Keefe families.
[edit] Plot summary
The main character is fourteen-year-old Meg Murry, who is regarded by her peers and teachers as a bad-tempered underachiever. Her family recognizes her problem as a lack of emotional maturity but also regards her as being capable of great things. The family includes her beautiful scientist mother, her mysteriously missing scientist father, her five-year-old brother Charles Wallace Murry —a nascent super-genius— and ten-year-old twin athlete brothers Sandy and Dennys Murry.
The book begins with the line, "It was a dark and stormy night," an allusion to the opening words in Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel Paul Clifford (though probably more familiar to juvenile readers through Snoopy's writings in the comic strip Peanuts). The Murrys are visited by an eccentric old woman named Mrs Whatsit, who has previously made the acquaintance of Charles Wallace. After drying her feet and having a midnight snack with Charles, Meg and their mother, Mrs Whatsit tells an already perplexed Dr. Murry that "there is such a thing as a tesseract."
Shortly thereafter, Meg and Charles encounter Meg's upperclassman schoolmate Calvin O'Keefe, who, although he is a stereotypical "big man on campus", turns out to be keen to join the children for further encounters with Mrs Whatsit and her equally eccentric friends Mrs Who and Mrs Which.
Whatsit, Who, and Which turn out to be transcendental beings who transport Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin through the galaxy by means of tesseracts, which are explained as being similar to "folding" the fabric of space and time. The "Mrs W's" reveal to the children that the galaxy is being conquered by a dark cloud, which is the visible manifestation of evil. Meg's missing father was working on a secret government project to achieve faster-than-light travel through a tesseract, and accidentally wound up on Camazotz, an alien planet inside the cloud of evil. The children also discover that Earth is partially covered by the darkness, although great religious figures, philosophers, and artists are fighting against it. Along with the fact that Mrs Whatsit was a star that gave up being a star to save Earth from the control of the darkness.
The children travel to Camazotz and rescue Meg's father, who is being imprisoned by an evil disembodied brain with powerful telepathic powers, which the inhabitants of Camazotz call "IT". However, Charles Wallace is mentally dominated by IT, and is left behind when the others flee, tessering through the Black Thing to a planet inhabited by sightless but wise beasts. After a brief period of recuperation, Meg is sent back to Camazotz alone, having been told that only she has the power to rescue Charles Wallace. Confronting IT, Meg realizes that she can free her brother by loving him intensely, because love is an emotion that IT, in its evil, cannot stand. Charles Wallace is freed, and everyone returns home to Earth.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Primary human characters
[edit] Meg Murry
Margaret "Meg" Murry is the eldest child of scientists Alex and Kate Murry. Mathematically brilliant but less than adept at other subjects in school, Meg is awkward, unpopular, and defensive around authority figures as well as her peers. She loves her family, especially her brother, Charles Wallace, and longs desperately for her missing father. Like many 14-year old girls Meg is unhappy with her physical appearance, particularly her mouse-brown, unruly hair, braces and glasses; and considers herself a "monster" in comparison with her mother. Introduced on the first page of the book, she is the story's protagonist.
[edit] Charles Wallace Murry
Charles Wallace Murry is the youngest Murry child, the most extraordinary and the most vulnerable of the novel's human characters. Charles Wallace did not talk at all until he was nearly four years old, at which time he began to speak in complete sentences even at five the only people Charles Wallace will talk to is the family. Now five years old, Charles can empathically or telepathically "read" certain people's thoughts and feelings, and has an extraordinary vocabulary. He first appears in chapter one.
[edit] Calvin O'Keefe
Calvin O'Keefe is the third eldest of Paddy and Branwen O'Keefe's eleven children, a tall, thin, red-haired 14-year-old high school junior who plays on the school basketball team. Neglected by his own family, Calvin joyfully enters the lives of the Murry family, starting in chapter two. He shows some signs of being able to communicate telepathically, a technique referred to in later books as kything.
[edit] Primary immortal characters
[edit] Mrs Whatsit
Mrs Whatsit is first described as an elderly woman wrapped in layers of clothes. She first appears in chapter one. Charles Wallace, a five year old boy in the book, found her in a haunted house in the woods, where she has been living with her two friends, Mrs Who and Mrs Which. Mrs Whatsit is the youngest of the Mrs W's, and the best of the three at interacting with the children.
In chapter 4, the group (Charles Wallace, Calvin, and Meg) witnesses the physical transformation of Mrs Whatsit into a centaur-like winged being on the planet Uriel. Mrs Whatsit is also revealed to have been a star that sacrificed itself by going nova to destroy a section of the Black Thing.
[edit] Mrs Who
Mrs Who is described as a plump woman with giant spectacles. She is seen quoting in Latin, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese and Greek. She also quotes William Shakespeare repeatedly. Mrs Whatsit explains that Mrs Who finds it "difficult to verbalize" in her own words. She is first introduced in Chapter 2.
[edit] Mrs Which
Mrs Which is the oldest of the Mrs W's, and the most authoritative, although she interacts less with the children than do Mrs Whatsit and Mrs Who. She is normally seen as little more than a shimmer of light. Mrs Which seldom (if ever) fully materializes, but in human form she resembles a stereotyped witch in black robe and peaked hat. She finds it hard to think as a corporeal being. In Chapter 5, she accidentally brings Charles, Meg, and Calvin to a 2-D world.
[edit] Proper way to refer to the immortal characters
Madeleine L'Engle specifically requested her American publisher to use the British punctuation of "Mrs" (with no period following) to designate the characters Mrs Who, Mrs Which and Mrs Whatsit. However, there were several mix-ups regarding punctuation in general, and the books were printed with a period following Mrs. regardless of her wishes.[3]
[edit] Supporting human characters
[edit] Dr. Alexander (Alex) Murry
Dr. Alex Murry is an astrophysicist, researching the mysteries of the space/time continuum, specifically five-dimensional means of travel between planets. He is also the father of Meg, Sandy, Dennys and Charles Wallace. He has been missing for some time as the novel opens. Not even his government colleagues know where he is. (Note: Dr. Murry's first name is given in a later novel in the series, a fact that was ignored by the writers of the book's television adaptation.) He first appears in a flashback in chapter one.
[edit] Dr. Katherine (Kate) Murry
Dr. Kate Murry is a microbiologist, wife of Dr. Alexander Murry, and mother of the four Murry children. She is considered beautiful by the Murry children and others, having "flaming red hair" and violet eyes. Her physical attractiveness, academic and scientific accomplishments give Meg a bit of an inferiority complex. She is introduced in chapter one, and usually referred to as Mrs. Murry. As in her husband's case, her first name is revealed in a later book, and does not match the one given in the television version of the story.
[edit] Alexander (Sandy) Murry
Sandy Murry and his twin brother Dennys are the middle children in the Murry family, older than Charles Wallace but younger than Meg. They are 10 years old at the time of this book. Sandy is named after his father, Dr. Alex Murry. Although they are certainly intelligent, Sandy and his twin are considered the "normal" children in the family: B students, good at sports, and well able to fit in with their peers. Of the twins, Sandy is generally the leader, and the more pragmatic of the two. He and Dennys first appear in chapter one.
[edit] Dennys Murry
Dennys Murry is the twin of Sandy Murry. Dennys and his twin are usually inseparable, with Dennys generally following Sandy's lead. However, Dennys is slightly less skeptical than his brother about the strange theories and even stranger adventures of Meg and Charles Wallace. (Note: The name Dennys is a shortened version of Dionysus, but is pronounced the same way as the more common spelling Dennis.)
[edit] Locations
Early scenes in the novel take place in and around an unnamed village, later established in An Acceptable Time as being in Connecticut. The nearly 200-year-old Murry farmhouse and the nearby "star-watching rock" have parallels in both the Austin family series of books and in L'Engle's Connecticut home, Crosswicks.[3]
When Meg, Calvin and Charles Wallace travel to other planets, the ones whose names are given include the following:
- Camazotz – A planet of extreme, enforced conformity, ruled by a disembodied brain called IT. Camazotz is similar to Earth, with familiar trees such as birches, pines, and maples, an ordinary hill on which the children arrive, and a town with smokestacks, which "might have been one of any number of familiar towns". The horror of the place arises from its ordinary appearance, endlessly duplicated. Thus, the houses are "all exactly alike, small square boxes painted gray"; this characterization has been compared with the post-war housing developments of Levittown, Pennsylvania. The people who live in the houses are similarly described, with "mother figures" who "all gave the appearance of being the same".
- Ixchel – A planet of muted colors, inhabited by tall, sightless creatures with tentacles. It orbits the same sun as Camazotz.
- Uriel – A planet with extremely tall mountains, named after the Archangel Uriel. It is inhabited by creatures that resemble winged centaurs. It is the third planet of the Starmark in the spiral nebula Messier 101.
They also stop briefly on an unnamed two-dimensional planet and on an unnamed planet in Orion's belt, the latter of which is the home of the Happy Medium.
[edit] Major themes
[edit] Religious content
On the planet Uriel, the centaur-like beings sing a song which translates (brackets indicates text that is in the book but not in the Bible): "Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice[,] ... let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord[!]" —Isaiah 42:10–12a (KJV)
When the Mrs W's reveal their secret roles in the cosmic fight against "the darkness" they ask the children to name some on Earth (a partially dark planet) who fight the darkness. First named is Jesus followed by several scientists, religious figures, and artists; including Buddha, Gandhi, Bach, Einstein and Euclid. The three women act as guardian angels but are actually ancient star-beings. They think nothing of living in an abandoned house and pretending to be witches as they have nothing to prove.
After the escape from Camazotz, while they are on Ixchel, Alex Murry (Meg's father) tells Meg: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Later in the same chapter, the alien 'Aunt Beast' says to Meg, "We are the called according to His purpose, and whom He call[s], them He also justifie[s]." —Romans 8:28, 30 (KJV)
In the last chapter, "The Foolish and the Weak", Mrs Who advises Meg, "The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, bretheren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are." —1 Corinthians 1:25–28
L'Engle's liberal Christianity is unsettling to some. This novel is on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 at number 22. [1]
[edit] History
L'Engle has written repeatedly about the writing of the story and the long struggle to get it published. In A Circle of Quiet (1972, ISBN 0-374-12374-8), she explains that the book was conceived "during a time of transition". After years of living at Crosswicks and running a general store, L'Engle's family, the Franklins, moved back to New York City, first taking a ten-week camping trip across the country and back again. L'Engle writes that "we drove through a world of deserts and buttes and leafless mountains, wholly new and alien to me. And suddenly into my mind came the names, Mrs Whatsit. Mrs Who. Mrs Which."[3] This was in the Spring of 1959. L'Engle was reading about quantum physics at the time, which also made its way into the story. However, when she completed the book in early 1960, it received a long series of rejections, "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was too difficult for children, and was it a children's or and adults' book, anyhow?"[3]
In "A Special Message from Madeleine L'Engle" on the Random House website, L'Engle explains another reason for the rejections: "A Wrinkle in Time had a female protagonist in a science fiction book," which at the time "wasn't done." After trying "forty-odd" publishers, L'Engle's agent returned the manuscript to her. Then at Christmas, L'Engle threw a tea party for her mother. One of the guests happened to know John Farrar of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and insisted that L'Engle should meet with him. Although the publisher did not at the time publish a line of children's books, Farrar met L'Engle, liked the novel and ultimately published it.[4]
The book has been continuously in print since its first publication. The hardback edition is still published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. The original blue dust jacket by Ellen Raskin was replaced with new art by Leo and Diane Dillon with the publication of A Swiftly Tilting Planet in 1978. The book has also been published in a twenty-fifth anniversary collectors' edition (limited to 500 signed and numbered copies), at least two book club editions (one hardback, one Scholastic Book Services paperback), as a trade paperback under the Dell Yearling imprint, and as a mass market paperback under the Dell Laurel-Leaf imprint. The cover art on the paperback editions has changed several times since first publication.
A new edition, scheduled for release in May, 2007, will include a previously unpublished interview with L'Engle as well as the text of her Newbery Medal acceptance speech.[5]
[edit] Notable quote
"Like and equal are not the same thing at all!" Meg's thoughts on seeing the anti-individualism on the planet Camazotz.
[edit] Other books in the series
L'Engle has written three other books featuring this generation of the Murry family, collectively known as the Time Quartet. Listed in order of the internal chronology of the series, they are:
- A Wind in the Door (1973) ISBN 0-374-38443-6
- Many Waters (1986) ISBN 0-374-34796-4
- A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978) ISBN 0-374-37362-0
Four further novels have been published that feature Meg and Calvin's children, especially Polly O'Keefe; and a case can be made that nearly every novel by Madeleine L'Engle connects to the Murry-O'Keefe series either directly or indirectly due to appearances by recurring characters. See also: List of L'Engle's works and Major characters in the works of Madeleine L'Engle for further details.
[edit] Concerning A Wrinkle in Time
- Scholastic BookFiles: A Reading Guide to A Wrinkle in Time ISBN 0-439-46364-5
- Chase, Carole F. Suncatcher: A Study of Madeleine L'Engle and Her Writing, pg. 170. Innisfree Press, 1998, ISBN 1-880913-31-3
[edit] Audio book
An unabridged four cassette audio edition, read by the author, was released in 1994 by Listening Library, ISBN 0-8072-7587-5.
[edit] Television movie
- Further information: A Wrinkle in Time (film)
In 2003, a television adaptation of the novel was made by Disney. The movie was directed by John Kent Harrison, and the teleplay was written by Susan Shilliday. Among the many differences between the book and the movie are different first names for Meg's parents. More significantly, religious elements of the novel are largely omitted. For example, the name of Jesus is not mentioned as one who fought against evil; and when Mrs Whatsit asks Charles Wallace to translate the song of the centaur-like creatures on Uriel, he simply says "it's about joy".
The film was subsequently released on DVD. The special features included a "very rare" interview with Madeleine L'Engle, discussing the novel.
[edit] Other cultural references
On the ABC Television show Lost, the character Sawyer reads the book.
The Frank Black song "Headache" is said to be a response to the book.
[edit] References
- ^ L'Engle, Madeleine (1987). A Wrinkle in Time, 25th Anniversary Collectors' Edition. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, pp. viii-ix. Limited ed..
- ^ Chase, Carole F. (1998). Suncatcher: A Study of Madeleine L'Engle And Her Writing. Philadelphia: Innisfree Press, Inc., pg. 170. ISBN 1-880913-31-3.
- ^ a b c d L'Engle, Madeleine (1972). A Circle of Quiet. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, pp 5-6, 21, 66, 217-218. ISBN 0-374-12374-8.
- ^ L'Engle, Madeleine (2004). A Special Message from Madeleine L'Engle. Teachers @ Random: A Wrinkle in Time. Random House, Inc.. Retrieved on January 1, 2007.
- ^ It's Time to Read A Wrinkle in Time. Square Fish Books (2007). Retrieved on March 1, 2007.
[edit] External links
- L'Engle's Official Site
- A Wrinkle in Time reviewed at The Open Critic
- A Wrinkle in Time (TV) (mini) at the Internet Movie Database
- Review of A Wrinkle in Time
- SparkNotes: A Wrinkle in Time
- Official book site for the May 2007 release.
| Preceded by The Bronze Bow |
Newbery Medal recipient 1963 |
Succeeded by It's Like This, Cat |
