Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Diana Wynne Jones was a phenomenal fantasy writer who put out over 30 books and was one of the biggest names in children's literature. Her book Howl's Moving Castle (my favorite of hers) was adapted by Hayao Miyazaki in 2004 and became an animated cult classic. In Reflections, I got the chance to know the marvelous woman behind those magical worlds, learn about her creative process, her literary influences, her experiences in the publishing world, her views on fantasy, and, above all, her view of childhood. Her own was filled with abuse, and neglect and set during The Second World War (Diana was five years old when the war broke out). She reveals bits and pieces of her childhood in the essays (all written at different times of her life) and it left me heartbroken. A common thread in this collection was the abuse perpetrated by her parents: how aggressive and stingy her father was, how awful and neglectful her mother was, how she had to raise herself and her sisters from a very early age, how their parents resented them for being girls and much more.
The thing with Diana, though, is that she always finds a way to portray all of the abuse and hardships of her life in a lighthearted manner. She makes it clear very early on that she "became aware that unhappiness and hilarity are very closely associated." Her coping mechanism is humor and, both in her essays and fiction, she speaks of terrible situations through comedic moments. Diana also has a refreshing view of children due to how poorly she was treated as a child, she never forgot the feeling of unfairness and how children are constantly having to adapt according to the adults around them. She never forgot how frustrating it is to be powerless and she gives the children in her narratives power by inserting them in these magical worlds. Another common theme in her non-fiction is how she uses fantasy to distance the kids from their problems and gives them magic as a tool to solve those issues.
There are several essays in which Diana attempts to explain her creative process and the literary influences behind her work. She's also my favorite type of writer, the one that doesn't attempt to be lyrical, there's no purple prose in her books and she follows the maxim that "you should be able to say everything with simple words." And that she does, which is why I never noticed how much work and thought was put into her books, Diana was so skilled that she made the hard look easy. I was actually surprised by how many intricate pieces went into the creation of a single one of her books: there were myths, fully-fledged characters (to an even bigger extent than the one we get to see in the final project), stylistic concerns, and several other literary influences.
While in college, she attended lectures by both C. S. Lewis (whom she described as engaging and eloquent) and Tolkien (apparently an awful public speaker who tended to mumble). Diana speaks highly of both and mentions in several essays the influence those writers, and their books, had on her work. Another external factor that impacted her writing during the year was the waves of feminism: she started writing girl heroes (which she didn't think possible before since boys wouldn't read a book with a female protagonist). She touches on the sexism she faced throughout her whole career in several texts, especially during the school visits she made, and how, since she was a child, she'd been belittled for being a girl.
There's so much to talk about that I believe I could write a 5-page review and still not cover all of what I want to say. This woman was so wonderful and fierce and funny that my words could never do her justice. She was a rebel who openly despised what she called the "genre rules", always finding new ways to sidestep them so she could write what she wanted and still get it published. But she was also acutely aware of the responsibility of writing for children, knowing that one of her novels could influence someone so much that it could shape who they'd grow up to be. It's clear to me that she did her best to provide children with books that were funny, complex, interesting and that could teach their readers how to use magic to process their problems.
Every essay in this collection is preceded by a small paragraph contextualizing the text by informing the reader when they were written, with what purpose it was created, and where it was originally published. For those who want more details on the subjects in the essays, I'm providing a list below where I go over them briefly (or as briefly as I can). The titles that are in blue were my favorites but, honestly, there's not a single uninteresting essay in this book.
For Trigger Warnings click here
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