Authors and After Words

Whenever anyone tried to pigeonhole the late Madeleine L’Engle, she would protest. After the success of A Wrinkle in Time, she was described as a Christian children’s author. She wrote:

L’Engle lived with this argument for most of her career, though there were those who would argue that she was in no way a "Christian" author. Like C. S. Lewis, she received her share of criticism from the religious right so that in some quarters her books were shunned by the parents of the very children for whom she was supposed to be writing. She described her faith as constantly "under revision" and denied that she was in any way a theologian. She insisted that she was a storyteller whose only program was to reach out to embrace the wonder and beauty of the universe as a manifestation and artifact of Creation. It was this sense of wonder that made her deeply interested in science and it was this interest that profoundly under-girded her stunning transcendentalism. But is there a way to read her without getting caught up in the contention of labels? There is in the analysis of archetypes as described by Carl Jung and utilized by critics like Joseph Campbell. What follows is a hint of where such analysis might lead.

First off, we need to be clear about archetypes. Although they are often recognized and discussed as images, not unlike icons, in actuality archetypes are dynamic psychological processes, and we actually experience them as such. This dynamism, in a work of literature, can become the very force that moves the plot. There are two types of archetypes, as Jung described them. Archetypes can be personal (such as Father, Mother, Child, Shadow and Spirit) or scenic landscapes (such as Forest, Sea and Desert). As they appear in our dreams, there is always a landscape upon which the personal archetype is encountered and the psychic plot is enacted. These archetypes function in literature as well. Let’s take a brief look at the establishing archetypes in L’Engle’s most famous book, A Wrinkle In Time.

Wrinkle concerns the tribulations of the Murry family trying to deal with a missing father. The oldest of the Murry children, adolescent Meg, is determined to find out what has happened to him. The youngest, six-year-old Charles Wallace is also involved because he has special mental powers. They are joined by Calvin O’Keefe, a young fellow Meg’s age who has somehow been summoned to help them. Megan’s mother, like her husband is a scientist. She has no idea why or how her husband has disappeared, but persists in her scientific experiments and in meeting her needs as a mother. Indeed, she has learned how to cook on her Bunsen burner so that she can work in her lab and nurture the children at the same time. What are the archetypes at work in this set up?

The archetype of Mother stands for nurturing while Father equals order and law. These two powers work best as a pair. Split them apart and you have already a tension in the plot that cries out for resolution. The Child stands for innocence. This power is presented in Charles Wallace. Since he and his sister share a profound link, it has an effect on Meg as well, though her own anger and impatience destabilizes that relationship. In just this much description, we can see how the psychic equation is constructed within the opening pages of Wrinkle. And it doesn’t hurt that the novel begins with the very loaded lines – "It was a dark and stormy night…" Weather is always an indicator of the psychic reality of the situation.

The fourth book of the Quintet is dominated by the archetype of Desert. Ironically entitled Many Waters, it features the adolescent Murry twins, Sandy and Dennis, who’ve filled minor roles until this novel. But here, they return home from hockey practice only to bungle into one of their father’s time experiments to end up in Noah’s desert just before the flood. The archetype Desert equals desolation and the first thing that happens to the boys is that they both suffer sunstroke and are separated for the first time in their lives. Moreover, this desert, being the world before the flood, is inhabited by strange dark fallen angels (Shadow creatures), bright light angels (Spirit creatures) and Unicorns who only appear to those who can believe in them. Now there’s a set up filled with plot!

One of the questions that always comes up when one discusses the archetypal patterns in literature is whether or not the author picks and chooses archetypes the way cooks season omelets. The answer is no. In the best of fiction, they come of themselves in the flow if the writing and are as amazing to the author as they are to the reader. The art of writing in this way consists of giving one’s powers over to the story and letting it flow, archetypes and otherwise, through one’s energies. In that way, if one is lucky, one attains the level of archetypal inspiration without manipulation.

Nor does the reader necessarily see these symbols as archetypes. This is their power; they hide in full view and take us deeply into our own psychic landscapes. This is why children can read so much more easily than adults – they are still open to the mysteries of our own imaginations.

Madeleine L’Engle left us with a huge and varied authorship. She wrote in all forms for both children and adults, Christians and non-Christians. All of her work is attractive and challenging, heartbreaking and heartwarming. Like so many fine writers, she wrote first of all to tell her stories truthfully. That they are filled with archetypal energy reflects the depth of the truth she achieved in her offerings to the world.