Many Waters

Many Waters

Many Waters cover
Author Madeleine L'Engle
Cover artist Charles Mikolaycak
Country United States
Language English
Series Time Quartet
Genre young adult, Fantasy novel
Publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Publication date
 September 1, 1986
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 351 pp
ISBN 0-374-34796-4
OCLC 13823586
[Fic] 19
LC Class PZ7.L5385 Man 1986
Preceded by A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Followed by An Acceptable Time

Many Waters is a 1986 novel by Madeleine L'Engle, part of the author's Time Quartet (also known as the Time Quintet). The title is taken from the Song of Solomon 8:7: "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. If a man were to give all his wealth for love, it would be utterly scorned."

The principal characters of the story are Sandy and Dennys Murry, twin brothers who are, ironically, somewhat out of place (they are "normal") in the context of the multifarious and eccentric Murry family from A Wrinkle in Time. The action of the story follows that of A Wind in the Door but precedes the climactic, apocalyptic event in A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

Plot summary

In the middle of a New England winter, protagonists Sandy and Dennys accidentally disturb an experiment in their parents' laboratory, and are teleported to a sandy desert. There, they are acquired by water-prospector 'Japheth', and guided by him to an oasis; but Dennys is separated from the others. Sandy remains with Japheth and his elderly grandfather Lamech and is cured of his heat stroke by a variety of improbable beings, including a brethren of seraphim who disguise themselves, periodically, as animals. Dennys reappears in another tent, only to be thrown into a refuse heap, and comes under the care of a friendly family in the center of the oasis, headed by a gruff but kindly patriarch, called Noah. It soon becomes apparent that the boys have been interpolated into the story of Noah's Ark, shortly before the Deluge. The nephilim meanwhile distrust the twins, and their human wives investigate; but discover nothing. Separated for much of the book, the twins become more independent of each other, and gain maturity over the course of a year in the desert. Both are in love with Noah's daughter Yalith (and she with them), but do not consummate their affection. Dennys convinces Noah to reconcile with Lamech, and both twins eventually care for the old man's gardens while he lies ill. After Lamech's death, Sandy is kidnapped, and eventually found by Japheth. Both twins assist the construction of the Ark; whereupon they are sent home on unicorns summoned by the seraphim.

Major themes

The story largely concerns the teenaged twins' emotional coming of age, but, like the other three novels about the Murry family, includes elements of fantasy and Christian theology such as the seraphim, a heavenly race of angels and the nephilim, a race of giants that were the result of the mating of mortal women and angels are the main antagonists of the story (see Genesis 6:1-4 [1]).[2] Author Donald R. Hettinga notes that the world of Noah's oasis is especially difficult for "the empirically minded twins" to accept because in L'Engle's theology of "a gradual Fall", it is still populated by manticores and unicorns, "everyone can still see angels," and some people "can still converse intimately with God." [3] Similarities to the fantasy-science fiction works of C. S. Lewis, always present in L'Engle's oeuvre, are particularly notable here. The twins' difficulty in believing in things that exist outside their empiricist world is a trait they must overcome in the story, because it is only by believing in a "virtual unicorn" that they can obtain transportation back to their everyday world.[3]

Biblical and other sources of immortal character names

Although previous books in the series touched on themes of Christian theology, Many Waters makes direct references to Biblical and Qabalistic mysticism, particularly in its supernatural characters. While A Wind in the Door featured a "singular cherubim" with the fabricated name of Proginoskes, many of the seraphim and nephilim are named after obscure mystical entities:

Seraphim

The Seraphim are angels, although the text declines to explicitly name them so even when asked directly. They serve as protectors, healers, and advisors, and form special friendships with pious people. They have wings colored in gold, silver or blue. Each has a preferred animal form, often mammals or birds, although some appear even as reptiles and insects. They regard the Nephilim as their brothers, in spite of the schism between them.[4]

Nephilim

The Nephilim seem to be fallen angels who can't return to heaven, although they claim to have willingly chosen to leave paradise for the sake of material pleasures. They are lusty hedonists who seduce young women with their beauty and riches. They have wings and eyes colored in Violets and Reds. They often take the form of insects, reptiles, and desert scavengers. They have adversarial attitudes toward the Seraphim.[4]

Series notes

Many Waters is an anomaly among the books of the Time Quintet.[3] Meg and Charles Wallace Murry, the protagonists of the other three books, only appear on the last two pages of this one, while Sandy and Dennys, usually minor characters, are fully developed. Written after A Swiftly Tilting Planet, it nevertheless takes place about five years before that book, and about five years after A Wrinkle in Time. If one reads the books in the order of internal chronology, Many Waters thus interrupts the saga of Meg and Charles Wallace for a side trip with the "ordinary" members of the Murry family. Since the story was not written before Planet was published, the latter book does not fully take into account the twins' expanded understanding of the world beyond the everyday, instead showing some continued skepticism on their part. However, this aspect of their character is less extreme than in earlier books. For the twins, being immersed in Noah's world "stretches their sense of reality".[3] Sandy and Dennys appear to retain this change in attitude as adults, particularly in A House Like a Lotus, in which Sandy acts as a mentor to his eldest niece, Polly O'Keefe. In the previous book in the series, A Wind in the Door, Meg is informed that Sandy and Dennys will become "Teachers", a metaphoric role that they appear to play as adults because of their experiences in Many Waters. However, An Acceptable Time, the fifth book in the so-called Time Quintet (the Time Quartet plus the final novel about Polly), does not include the twins as either skeptics or teachers.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%206:1-4;&version=31;
  2. ↑ Kracht, C., & Woodard, D., Five Years, Vol. 1 (Hannover: Wehrhahn Verlag, 2011), p. 181.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hettinga, Donald R. (1993). Presenting Madeleine L'Engle. New York: Twayne Publishers. pp. 111–119. ISBN 0-8057-8222-2.
  4. 1 2 "Many Waters Television Tropes & Idioms". Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  5. ↑ "The Book of Enoch". Archived from the original on 2005-11-01. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
  6. ↑ "ARIEL". JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2006-10-17.
  7. ↑ "Steganographia, by Johannes Trithemius -- Book 2". Retrieved 2006-10-17.
  8. ↑ "Angelology — BibleWiki". Retrieved 2006-10-17.
  9. ↑ https://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/1896/qblhfaq.html&date=2009-10-25+05:40:34
  10. ↑ http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/grimoire/GrimoireofTuriel.pdf
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