Saturday, January 05, 2008

2007 Storytellers Fully Immortal

Well, 2007 saw the loss of three great storytellers. All impacted me in my youth, changed me and inspired me, and now that they are gone from their physical form, their recorded works live on with perhaps even greater significance.

Kurt Vonnegut: the man who gave us "granfaloon" and "wompeter of my karass" made us wonder about the universe. I don't think he had it quite right, as he was overly humanist, surprisingly pessimistic, but he had an awesome sense of humor and he made us dream.

Madeleine L'Engle: Everyone knows her for the masterpiece of young literature: A Wrinkle in Time. But I also loved her Arm of the Starfish (a thriller that possibly planted the seed in me that it's okay to live internationally). And even her romance The Moon by Night was a great piece of writing.

Marcel Marceau: grace and perfection well into his old age. A master storyteller without one word.

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