Lloyd Alexander

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Lloyd Alexander 1924- 2007

Transcript of Lloyd Alexander

Page 1: Lloyd Alexander

Lloyd Alexander

1924-2007

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Personal Life

Lloyd Alexander was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 30, 1924 and grew up in the suburb of Drexel Hill. His father was a stockbroker, and their family was greatly affected by the Great Depression. According to Alexander, his parents didn't read books and only bought them from the Salvation Army "to fill up empty shelves. "

Alexander graduated in 1940 from Upper Darby High School, where he was inducted into the school's Wall of Fame in 1995. He decided he wanted to be a writer at age 15, but his parents were so upset that they placed him at Haverford College just down the road from home (although he left after completing only a single term).

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Personal Life

Looking for adventure, he served during World War II in the US Army, where he rose to be a staff sergeant in intelligence and counterintelligence after he trained in Wales, which would become the setting of many of his books. Alexander then attended the University of Paris, where he met Janine Denni. They were married in 1946.

Alexander died on May 17, 2007, two weeks after the death of his wife of sixty-one years. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. His daughter, Madeleine Khalil, died in 1990.

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BooksLloyd Alexander wrote many books and series:

The Chronicles of PrydainThe Book of Three (1964) The Black Cauldron (1965) The Castle of Llyr (1966) Taran Wanderer (1967) The High King (1968)The Foundling and Other Tales from Prydain (1970) The Westmark TrilogyWestmark (1981) The Kestrel (1982) The Beggar Queen (1984) The Vesper Holly seriesThe Illyrian Adventure (1986) The El Dorado Adventure (1987) The Drackenberg Adventure (1988) The Jedera Adventure (1989) The Philadelphia Adventure (1990) The Xanadu Adventure (2005)

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Other Works

And Let the Credit Go (1955) (first published book)My Five Tigers (1956)August Bondi: Border Hawk (1958)Janine (my wife, that is) is French (1960)Aaron Lopez: The Flagship Hope (1960)Fifty Years in the Doghouse (1963)Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth (1963)The Truthful Harp (1967)The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian (1970)The King's Fountain (1971)The Four Donkeys (1972)The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man (1973)The Wizard in the Tree (1974)

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Other Works

The Town Cats and Other Tales (1977)The First Two Lives of Lukas- Kasha (1978)The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen (1991)The Fortune-Tellers (1992)The Arkadians (1995)The House Gobbaleen (1995)The Iron Ring (1997)Gypsy Rizka (1999)How the Cat Swallowed Thunder (2000)The Gawgon and the Boy (2001)The Rope Trick (2002)Dream-of-Jade: The Emperor's Cat (2005)The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio (2007)

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HonorsLloyd Alexander began to receive significant critical

acclaim with the release of his Chronicles of Prydain series. The second book, The Black Cauldron, was a 1966 Newbery Honor book. The fourth book in the series, Taran Wanderer, was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. The fifth and final book in the series, The High King won the 1969 Newbery Medal and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the American Book Award. However, Alexander's other books were praised as well "The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian," won a 1971 National Book Award. He also won a 1982 National Book Award (at that time temporarily known as the American Book Award) for Westmark.

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Honors

Among his other awards were the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for The Fortune-Tellers. In 1972 he was included in the prestigious reference series, Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators.

On January 28, 2010 an exhibit opened at the Harold B. Lee Library on the campus of Brigham Young University, displaying several items from Alexander's home office, which he referred to as "the Box." Items include manuscripts, editions of all his books, his violin, typewriter, and desk.

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Quotes

About a month before Lloyd Alexander’s death, he quoted, "I have finished my life work," after he completed his final novel. He had meant that he accomplished all of his goals in life.

In describing the influences on his writing, Alexander once said, "Shakespeare, Dickens, Mark Twain and so many others were my dearest friends and greatest teachers. I loved all the world's mythologies: King Arthur was one of my heroes." Since Alexander loved fantasy, he loved myths and legends about people like King Arthur.

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Quotes

"Most of my books have been written in the form of fantasy. Using the device of an imaginary world allows me in some strange way to go to the central issues; it's one of many ways to express feelings about real people, about real human relationships. My concern is how we learn to be genuine human beings. I never have found out all I want to know about writing and realize I never will. All that writers can do is keep trying to say what is deepest in their hearts. If writers learn more from their books than do readers, perhaps I may have begun to learn."

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Influences

Lloyd Alexander had a couple of influences over his writing years. J. R. R. Tolkien was the biggest influence Lloyd Alexander had. He loved how Tolkien wrote about fantasy. His other influence was mythology. Alexander always was inspired by mythology and always loved it.

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Influenced Authors

Lloyd Alexander influenced many authors in their writing. He influenced many authors including Katherine Paterson and J. K. Rowling.

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Alexander’s Parents

Since Lloyd Alexander’s parents hated books, they were very sad when they heard that Lloyd wanted to be an author. Lloyd did not give up, and he traveled to Wales to write most of his books. Even with struggling parents, Alexander kept on going strong.

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Author

When Lloyd Alexander finished high school, he worked at many different jobs. When he worked as a messenger boy at a local bank, he was miserable. As a bank employee, he could barely add or subtract. He kept the thought of being an author in his mind.

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Summary

Lloyd Alexander became a very successful author through the years. He has written over forty books and The Black Cauldron, his Newbery Honor book, had been adapted into a film in 1986. Alexander inspired many people to read and write books themselves.