Trailing Clouds of Glory
This week, browsing through the children’s section at the library, I saw Madeleine L’Engle’s name on this book I’d never heard of. Having just finished A Circle of Quiet, I was ready to dive right into Trailing Clouds of Glory.
As the subtitle indicates, this book’s central concern is with “spiritual values in children’s books.” I suppose its focus on children’s literature is what lands it in the children’s section, but other than that it seems like it would be more at home on the shelves for adult readers. One of L’Engle’s concerns that surfaces repeatedly in her other works is her discontent with labelling some books “for children” or “for adults.” Though she’s using the label “children’s books” here, part of the point the book ends up making is that the subjects and themes of literature are universal regardless of the age at which it’s aimed. She’d probably be glad to find that I had a hard time “classifying” it!
Based on the premise that even so-called “secular” books can body forth spiritual realities, the title, taken from Wordsworth’s ode, has a double significance. For one thing, it connotes Wordsworth’s Platonic view of children as “trailing clouds of glory from God who is our home.” The books discussed on these pages are written for children, who, L’Engle appears to agree with Wordsworth, are astute theologians. It also intimates the confidence L’Engle, with her Christian worldview, has that there is nothing truly secular in a world — even an artistic world — spoken into existence and redeemed by a loving Creator.
Trailing Clouds of Glory is organized by theme: courage, surviving failure, spiritual intuition, fallenness, naming, and blessing are just a few of the subjects taken up and traced through a variety of children’s books. Apparently Madeleine L’Engle wrote the analysis, and Avery Brooke helped choose the books. Not picture books, but mostly middle grade and young adult fiction, is selected for inclusion: Bridge to Terabithia, Harriett the Spy, The Wizard of Earthsea, Ballet Shoes, The Once and Future King… Quite a feast is laid out on these pages.
I’ll probably return to it when my daughters are older. It struck me as a great resource for recommending good books and for getting a finger on the pulse of a younger reader. What disappointed me was that there simply wasn’t much commentary. It read like a string of summaries and excerpts, and L’Engle’s analysis didn’t really govern the presentation. This bothered me not because the themes she wanted to direct our attention to were not discernible in the excerpts given, but because I love L’Engle. I would have liked to hear more from this writer who never fails to engage me.
It’s a curious, interesting little book — a good (and in my case timely) companion to A Circle of Quiet, which references a number of archetypal children’s stories. Trailing Clouds of Glory provides an anthology of excerpts to further develop some of L’Engle’s convictions regarding the significance of a thriving imaginative life.
