OH NO!

[fpb]

Diana Wynne Jones passed away yesterday. This is really heartbreaking. This woman had spent decades keeping up a high level of literacy and imagination in fantasy and young adult fiction, while nobody noticed or praised her as she deserved, only to have the angelic upstart JK Rowling turn up and just draw all the attention. I think that on the whole JKR is a better greater writer, but this does not mean that DWJ's craftsmanship, wit and invention did not deserve praise and recognition. At the very least, she ought to have got the literary recognition that the likes of Philip Pullman did. If it wasn't that her work got the sublime compliment of a Hayao Miyazaki film adaptation, this would be another instance of there being no justice.

Neil Gaiman paid her a magnificent and deserved elogium.

Comments

[capnflynn.livejournal.com]

I've loved her books since I was a child; even though I never met her, I'm going to miss her.

[fellmama.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is the saddest news . . . I've read and reread her books since I was a teenager.

[mmoa.livejournal.com]

I too, remain a huge fan and indebted to Ms Wynne Jones. As a 'young adult' to me she was a voice of sharp maternal wisdom in a crazy world.

I would like to suggest, though, that when it comes to the likes of Philip Pullman, Diana Wynne Jones has real staying power. I can remember being all of 12 and reading Fire and Hemlock in school, thinking I'd just discovered this amazing new fantasy writer only to have half my teachers tell me they remembered reading it when they were my age or reading it to their kids. To me, that's real greatness: she keeps on being rediscovered and is still fresh and exciting in a way I don't feel with Mr Pullman's work or - as much as I am a huge fan - some of Ms Rowlings writing.