Posted on 12/29/2004 12:36:31 PM PST by Mr. Silverback
This November, Judy Blume was presented with a medal from the National Book Award Foundation. The same day, Madeleine L’Engle received a medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Though both authors are best known for their books for teenagers, they couldn’t be more different.
Blume made her name as the writer of Deenie, Forever, and other young adult novels known for their sexual themes and explicit descriptions. Typically, many of the articles written to celebrate her medal pictured Blume as a sort of big sister who provided guidance and reassurance about premarital sex, masturbation, and similar topics. Washington Post writer Jennifer Frey gushed, “Blume is, at heart, a childhood friend. . . . She is the one who told us secrets, who took the mystery out of the embarrassing stuff. She made us feel normal. She made us feel understood.”
Yet when her adorers in the media bring up the actual quality of Blume’s writing, it’s usually in a rather sheepish way. Even writer Susan Jensen, who thinks Blume’s books are popular enough to be considered “contemporary classics”—as if popularity were all it took to make a classic—admits that “Blume has received criticism for stereotypical characters [and] flat writing.” Another admirer, Ellen Barry, conceded, “You’d be hard pressed to find a paragraph of description in any of Blume’s books.”
The medal Blume won from the National Book Foundation is for writers who have “enriched our literary heritage.” Given her monotonous prose, it’s hard to argue that Blume has done that. But Foundation member Jessica Hagedorn tried anyway, telling a reporter, “For young people, [Blume] is as literary a writer as you can ask for.” Really? As literary as Robert Louis Stevenson? As Mark Twain? C. S. Lewis? Harper Lee? E. B. White? Madeleine L’Engle?
While Blume got a generation thinking about their bodily functions, Madeleine L’Engle was transporting them to other galaxies and centuries with imaginative, beautifully written tales like A Wrinkle in Time. There are those who argue that Blume’s kind of realism is better for kids than L’Engle’s fantasy. I happen to think there’s room for both genres, but that’s not really the point. The point is that L’Engle’s fantasies, with their exploration of love, God, family, suffering, death, and other timeless themes, reach emotional and literary heights that Blume’s work can’t even begin to climb.
It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Blume received her award, not for literary merit, but for something else—promoting a worldview. By sympathetically portraying adolescent sexual relationships that are free of values (except the avoidance of pregnancy and disease), Blume did as much as anyone else to help bring the sexual revolution to the younger generation.
Ironic, isn’t it? Most conservatives, according to popular stereotypes, would not know a good book if they bumped into it on the street. Yet it’s the National Endowment for the Humanities, part of the Bush administration, that honored one of the truly great fiction writers of our time, who wrote of God and timeless truths—while the allegedly sophisticated literary set, the National Book Foundation, awarded an honor to an author who is mediocre at best. It makes you wonder who’s really interested in literary merit and who’s only interested in promoting teen sexual activity and a debased worldview.
Precisely.
L'Engle, however was magical and my absolute favorite...that is, until I picked up this weirdly titled book called "The Hobbit." Forgot all about L'Engle then...
I don't remember all the sex in "Fudge" and "Blubber", but then again I read them near 20 years ago so maybe they have updated versions or something. ;-)
I consider Wifey her adult novel.
I'm ashamed to admit that I've never read "A Wrinkle in Time," but I've read almost all of Judy Blume's books. Ms. Blume works display almost schizophrenic qualities. Her books for younger readers such as "The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo," "Superfudge," "Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great" (et al) were funny & cute and I'd have no problem letting my daughter read them.
"Are You There God, It's Me Margaret" & "Forever" deal with intense subject matter (puberty, divorce, relgion, teen sex, birth control) but they are tastefully written so that a parent could read them as well and discuss the subject matter with their teens. But her adult works are simply "trashy" (ie something one would expect from Jackie Collins, not a writer of children's books). "Wifey" left a particularly bad taste in my mouth. It concerns a suburbanite housewife & mother who "finds herself" by having affairs (one with a highschool paramour, & the other with her sister's husband!) The heroine displays no remorse & is prevented from breaking up her marriage only because her boyfriend has no intention of leaving his wife.
That statement is rather misleading since the NEA isn't a government entity, but rather a private organization.
Be very quiet for it goes without saying...
Wifey was a juvenile author's lone foray into adult literature. It doesn't count because it was written for adults.
Sorry my friend, but The Phantom Tollbooth is silly escapism compared to the true giants in juvenile literature: Anything by S.E. Hinton.
First...from the NEA website:
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts--both new and established--bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.
Second, even if the NEA were private, or didn't exist, there is no justification for bushels of U.S. tax dollars going to art. Art is a wonderful thing, but it is not one of the legitimate responsibilites of American government.
Thank you!
What did she write, besides "The Outsiders"?
I seem to remember it as being about a bunch of teenage girls all hoping to start their periods before the others, and one of them lying about it. It brought back a lot of unpleasant memories for me about peer pressure and bitchy girls that I'd just as soon forget.
this is a crappy article in the vein of "George Washington owned slaves"
the blume books with sex in them are far outweighed by the ones that don't.
Can't even let teens read the newspaper today with journalists bragging about wanting to fellate President Clinton for his support on womens' issues.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.