Saturday, May 19, 2007

Lloyd Alexander

Glancing over to Tiruncula's post today,, I was sad to find out that Lloyd Alexander, author of the Chronicles of Prydain --which I wrote about awhile back -- has died.

Alexander was my first introduction to Welsh mythology, and reading I enjoyed very, very much when I was younger. I never read his other work -- in fact, I probably won't get around to it for years, at this point -- but the Chronicles books were a special part of my younger life.

It's funny how authors one loves as a kid become enough a part of one's life that there is a vague sense of loss when they pass on. It isn't mourning -- not really -- but it is a kind of melancholy feeling. Like something beautiful has gone out of the world.

1 comments:

Jeff said...

I find it really heartening to see how many of Alexander's now-grown readers recall his novels not only as entertainment, but also as works that influenced their own creative and academic pursuits.

On Saturday, in memoriam, I picked up all five volumes of the Prydain series at a "friends of the library" sale. Twenty minutes ago, I finished re-reading the first book. It was as charming--and as humane--as I remember.