A life in review: Me and mrs jones
If you think JK Rowling is the best in young adult fantasy fiction, you’ve been misled far too long.
If you think JK Rowling is the best in young adult fantasy fiction, you’ve been misled far too long. Few writers of young adult fiction have the power to completely mould the future tastes of their readers in the way Diana Wynne Jones did. Her recent death has left a gaping chasm in the world of young adult (YA) fiction and to even the mildest DWJ fan, it is unbelievable that anyone could fill this.
It is shocking how so many readers know little about DWJ’s work because her sheer skill in weaving fascinating stories simply can not be matched. While all of her work can stand strong, there are a few books that always garner more interest — the Chrestomanci series for instance, is a set of books and short stories about an enchanter with nine lives who has to develop his skills in order to be the most powerful wizard in a multidimensional universe. Witch Week (1982) is about a set of students dealing with their magical abilities at a school in a world like ours, but with witchcraft. The Lives of Christopher Chant (1988) is about a young boy who, on discovering he has magical powers, is sent away to help develop them and must learn to use them against some of the most powerful magic in all the worlds around him. This must all seem familiar to anyone who has read even a single Harry Potter books — sadly not as many people would have read DWJ’s work, although fans of her writing will all happily accuse JK Rowling of being heavily ‘inspired’ by the Chrestomanci series. DWJ herself was more gracious, stating in 2003 that perhaps JK Rowling had read her work when she was younger and brought some of it to the Harry Potter stories unintentionally.
DWJ died on March 26, at the age of 76, leaving behind a vast treasure of young adult fiction. She began writing stories at a very young age when she and her sisters were simply ignored by their cold, distant parents who, in true fairytale style, often forgot to feed them. They were doled out a single book a year and so DWJ began writing stories to entertain her sisters. Many years later in the 1970s, she started writing again when she found her husband falling asleep as he read bedtime stories to their children. She wanted to create something more exciting than what was available. Of course, she had a horrific childhood to draw from, and her fantasy often features some glaring realities. Wilkin’s Tooth was published in 1973 and was DWJ’s first YA novel. From then she went on to write dozens of books, all technically in the YA genre, but if there is one thing that sets DWJ’s work apart from other YA writers, it’s that her books probably attract as many adults as children. This, of course, is because DWJ was a master of her craft — not only did she write brilliantly constructed fantasy, she also addressed a great many concerns children have in real life. She wove together tales of magic, fantasy and adventure with stories about ordinary children who hoped to one day be extraordinary, children with absentee parents, with problems at school, children with the horrifying feeling that they were ultimately alone. Of course children connected with her stories — but what adult wouldn’t do the same?
Her narrative style itself added a great deal to her clever plots and intriguing characters. She wrote fluidly, simply and yet was subversive, flippant and always, always entertaining. Never did she leave a spare word or a loose thread in her stories, never did she let go of her subtle dark humour that held fast to reality, no matter what fantastic tale she had created. DWJ gleaned heavily from mythology, something that made her a mentor to the likes of writers like Neil Gaiman. She believed in forming a connection to the mythosphere, stating, “It’s made up of all the stories, theories and beliefs, legends, myths and hopes that are generated here on Earth. As you can see, it’s constantly growing and moving as people invent new tales to tell or find new things to believe. The older strands move out to become these spirals, where things tend to become quite crude and dangerous. They’ve hardened off, you see.” DWJ was never afraid to explore these spirals.
The very first book I bought myself, at the age of 11, was The Lives of Christopher Chant. It is still the one book I am never bored re-reading; no matter how well I have come to know it. DWJ changed my life. She changed the lives of many other young people who will always be indebted to her work for a deeper, more meaningful understanding of fiction. Her books live between Angela Carter’s and Neil Gaiman’s, and much as I love both of those writers, DWJ has been the reason I have read either of them. If it weren’t for her incredible storytelling, imagination and humour, a great many readers of YA fiction would never have developed a taste for the stuff at all. As DWJ wrote in Fire and Hemlock (1985), “Only thin, weak thinkers despise fairy stories. Each one has a true, strange fact hidden in it, which you can find if you look.”
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, April 17th, 2011.
It is shocking how so many readers know little about DWJ’s work because her sheer skill in weaving fascinating stories simply can not be matched. While all of her work can stand strong, there are a few books that always garner more interest — the Chrestomanci series for instance, is a set of books and short stories about an enchanter with nine lives who has to develop his skills in order to be the most powerful wizard in a multidimensional universe. Witch Week (1982) is about a set of students dealing with their magical abilities at a school in a world like ours, but with witchcraft. The Lives of Christopher Chant (1988) is about a young boy who, on discovering he has magical powers, is sent away to help develop them and must learn to use them against some of the most powerful magic in all the worlds around him. This must all seem familiar to anyone who has read even a single Harry Potter books — sadly not as many people would have read DWJ’s work, although fans of her writing will all happily accuse JK Rowling of being heavily ‘inspired’ by the Chrestomanci series. DWJ herself was more gracious, stating in 2003 that perhaps JK Rowling had read her work when she was younger and brought some of it to the Harry Potter stories unintentionally.
DWJ died on March 26, at the age of 76, leaving behind a vast treasure of young adult fiction. She began writing stories at a very young age when she and her sisters were simply ignored by their cold, distant parents who, in true fairytale style, often forgot to feed them. They were doled out a single book a year and so DWJ began writing stories to entertain her sisters. Many years later in the 1970s, she started writing again when she found her husband falling asleep as he read bedtime stories to their children. She wanted to create something more exciting than what was available. Of course, she had a horrific childhood to draw from, and her fantasy often features some glaring realities. Wilkin’s Tooth was published in 1973 and was DWJ’s first YA novel. From then she went on to write dozens of books, all technically in the YA genre, but if there is one thing that sets DWJ’s work apart from other YA writers, it’s that her books probably attract as many adults as children. This, of course, is because DWJ was a master of her craft — not only did she write brilliantly constructed fantasy, she also addressed a great many concerns children have in real life. She wove together tales of magic, fantasy and adventure with stories about ordinary children who hoped to one day be extraordinary, children with absentee parents, with problems at school, children with the horrifying feeling that they were ultimately alone. Of course children connected with her stories — but what adult wouldn’t do the same?
Her narrative style itself added a great deal to her clever plots and intriguing characters. She wrote fluidly, simply and yet was subversive, flippant and always, always entertaining. Never did she leave a spare word or a loose thread in her stories, never did she let go of her subtle dark humour that held fast to reality, no matter what fantastic tale she had created. DWJ gleaned heavily from mythology, something that made her a mentor to the likes of writers like Neil Gaiman. She believed in forming a connection to the mythosphere, stating, “It’s made up of all the stories, theories and beliefs, legends, myths and hopes that are generated here on Earth. As you can see, it’s constantly growing and moving as people invent new tales to tell or find new things to believe. The older strands move out to become these spirals, where things tend to become quite crude and dangerous. They’ve hardened off, you see.” DWJ was never afraid to explore these spirals.
The very first book I bought myself, at the age of 11, was The Lives of Christopher Chant. It is still the one book I am never bored re-reading; no matter how well I have come to know it. DWJ changed my life. She changed the lives of many other young people who will always be indebted to her work for a deeper, more meaningful understanding of fiction. Her books live between Angela Carter’s and Neil Gaiman’s, and much as I love both of those writers, DWJ has been the reason I have read either of them. If it weren’t for her incredible storytelling, imagination and humour, a great many readers of YA fiction would never have developed a taste for the stuff at all. As DWJ wrote in Fire and Hemlock (1985), “Only thin, weak thinkers despise fairy stories. Each one has a true, strange fact hidden in it, which you can find if you look.”
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, April 17th, 2011.