Two Deaths

[browngirl]

I'm sitting at work with a mound of paper on my desk and kids asking me things every twenty seconds, trying not to cry, because two people whose works have deeply affected my life have died. Luciano Pavarotti, opera singer, and Madeleine L’Engle, writer, both yesterday.

I just... it seems immensely presumptuous to be this affected --- I didn't know either of them --- God knows someone's going to flame me for this --- but I owe them both so much. As a tiny little opera fan in my single digits I adored Pavarotti years and years ago. And, well, in his size, personality, and the timbre of his voice he reminded me of my father in good ways.

And what can I say about L'Engle's writing? If I had all day I couldn't write an essay worthy of the splendid stories she wrote. I loved the Murray-O'Keefe clan's adventures, not least since those books helped me reconcile the transcendent wonder of science with the numinous, two areas of my life I was being taught should be at mortal odds.

I... have lost the thread, after flurries of interruptions, but... this is definetely glass-in-the-fireplace time. Thank you both so much for all you did.

Comments

[nanassi.livejournal.com]

L'Engle?! Oh, ... :-(

I hadn't heard.

[eleccham.livejournal.com]

I'd heard about Pavarotti Thursday, but not L'Engle. :-(

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Indeed. A Wrinkle in Time was perhaps the first piece of speculative fiction I remember reading, as such.

*crash*

[kshandra]

Amazingly, I only read L'Engle for the first time in the past decade. dafydd introduced me to the books...and then, at a time when I most needed to learn how to Be, he Named me. The Naming at the end of the second book was dafydd's contribution to my graduation from therapy. I needed that concept so desperately in my life, and I will ever be grateful, both to dafydd for sharing it with me, and L'Engle for sharing it with the world.

[alcinoe.livejournal.com]

I knew about Pavarotti, but not about L'Engle. I really loved her books and she was the push I needed to learn to enjoy science fiction. :*(

[griffen.livejournal.com]

Oh god damn it all.

And I just gave my daughter the first Wrinkle book for her birthday today. What timing.

Thanks so much, Universe... not.

[maya-a.livejournal.com]

Yes. Definitely time for a toast.
Thank you, Madeleine, for mixing magic and science, for making it ok to be a smart kid with her nose in a book, and for making it clear that the dark must be fought, always. *crash*

[flabosib.livejournal.com]

My husband decided long before he knew he ever marry that if he was blessed with a daughter, he would name her Margaret, so her nickname could be Megaparsec. (Just one of the things I owe L'Engle a thank-you for.)

My husband read _Time_ to our Meg last summer. It gave them many opportunities to discuss the science involved. Good times, indeed.

Much sadness in my heart. Glad it's Friday and I can go home and let go of all this....

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

It isn't presumptuous at all. Musicians and writers are people we let into our very minds. And if they affect us deeply, then of course we're going to be sad when they die.

Besides your reactions are your reactions. They're right for you and anyone who'd be mad at you for being sad (even very, very sad) at someone's death isn't someone worthy to be in your life.

Love you.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Okay, here's a mantra I would like you to memorise and use on those who would scold you for being "insufficiently qualified" to grieve for someone who has meant a lot to you.

The mantra is "GET BENT". Intone it with as much gravity as you can muster, in the direction of the person delivering the scolding. You may have to repeat the mantra several times before the negative influence is neutralised.

[dicotomygrrl.livejournal.com]

Hey hunny, I am having the exact same problem. Madeline L'Engle has always been super special to me. I have been crying on and off since I found out. *huggles*