Biography Diana Jones

History and Books by Diana Winn Jones Grandmother of Children's Literature. However, several generations of readers have already grown on her books, plots and characters, and her work is used in their work by such great storytellers as J. Rowling, Neil Heyman and Hayao Miyazaki. We tell you what Diana Winn Jones earned a reputation as a classic of children's science fiction and why it is necessary to read her inspirational stories.

When Nila Gaiman, one of the most famous fantasy writers of our time, was only seventeen, and, of course, he was not yet glorified by the writer, he read the book by Diana Winn Jones “Enchanted Life” and felt ... incredible anger. Neil Gaiman became a fan of Diana Winn Jones, and later - a friend, despite the summer difference in age. Source: Photo from the personal archive of Neil Gaiman in Britain Jones is still considered one of the classics of children's science fiction, which is compared with Ursula Le Guin, but not only Gaiman, but J.

In the end, Jones wrote about Harry Potter - in the same “enchanted life”, but also J. As well as in “Fire and a spell, or eight days with a hatch”, perhaps the widespread fame outside the homeland of Diana Winn Jones can boast of a “walking castle” - a book about the wayward sorcerer Houle and an honest girl Sophie. This story was glorified by the Japanese multiplier-visitor of Hayao Miyazaki, filming the novel in the year.

The success of the film, as well as increased thanks to Harry Potter, the popularity of the Fantasy genre again attracted the well -deserved attention to the work of Diana Winn Jones - and there is something to talk about. Behind the deceptively simple and talented executed children's books, a deep subtext is hidden, associated with the difficult fate of Diana herself Jones.

The bad beginning of Diana Winn Jones was born in the year, and you can’t take it to those who, as the British say, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. As a child, she experienced deprivations related to the Second World War: in evacuation, the family often moved and lived rather poorly. In addition, the parents brought up Diana and her two sisters in extreme severity and the harsh atmosphere: as the writer herself recalled, there were almost no children's books in their house in Essex.

From left to right: Diana at the age of 20 and her sisters Ursula and Devel. Source: The Diana Wynne Jones Homepage “The main activities there were knitting, the manufacture of clay dishes and the singing of the Madrigals, and I had neither a tendency nor talent,” Diana Winn Jones said about this period of life without pleasure. Parents only annoyed such frivolous classes.

Nevertheless, the future writer learned something from their library: “The Death of Arthur” by Thomas Malori, medieval legends and fairy tales, “A thousand and one night”. Jones’s childhood, painted in gloomy tones, was also reflected in her books: as her son, Colin Barrow, noted on a “magical heritage” from the Crusade Cross, Diana, depicted her mother in the role of an evil witch, who had a witch, who had a witch, who had a witch, who had a witch, who had a witch, who had a witch, who had a witch, who had a witch, who had a witch, who had a witch, who had asseled magic clans.

And in general, the image of an unkind sorceress, who takes someone’s power, periodically arises in her novels and fairy tales. It may sound gloomy, but for Jones such an integration of life, including not its easiest moments, in a fabulous atmosphere - part of the creative method. Not the worst way of studying injuries. Tolkien’s lectures, work in the chair “If I hadn’t written, I would be a very unhappy person,” Diana Winn Jones described her alternative life prospects.

She did not come to children's books in the most common way: at the insistence of her parents, she graduated from Oxford University, where she attended the lectures of Klava Steaplis Lewis “Chronicles of Narnia” and John R. Tolkien "Lord of the Rings". Lewis was a brilliant lecturer, but Tolkien basically inaudibly muttered under his breath and dreamed that the students left him alone.

Source: Photo from the personal archive of Neil Gaiman, one way or another, Diana Winn Jones wrote her first book when she was thirty -six, oddly enough, it was an “adult” novel called Changeover. The image of an ideal book appeared in my head - a magical, exciting, full humor. And since then I have been trying to write such a book, ”Jones says about his experience. She sat down at the next hard period at that time: by that time she had three sons, a full chaos was going on at home, and her husband, literary critic John Barrow, fought with a serious illness.

With the advent of work in life, things went uphill that it happens far from always: Diana Jones children's books quickly gained popularity, and the writer herself gained harmony. Jones wrote until the very last days, and by hand and very quickly. A rich heritage as a result is more than 40 books, mainly children, published both within the framework of cycles and in separate volumes.

Jones remained fidelity to science fiction: in her novels, stories and stories there is almost always magic, sorcerers and sorcerers live, speaking animals, living stars and spirits of fire. Jones did not like heavy novels in the spirit of realism. Among the Corps of the texts of Diana Winn Jones, the most famous are two cycles: “The Worlds of Crosses” and the “Walking Castle” book.

The first unites seven bizarre books and describes a multi -sized, consisting of several worlds, similar or not similar to our own - but the central one is the one where, according to the author’s description, “magic is as common as in ours is music”. There, in a country, somewhat reminiscent of Edwardian England, Crossean is not a name, but the title is a powerful wizard that watches that this and the neighboring worlds treat magic correctly.

She talks about a closed boy named Moore, who, together with her sister, Gwendolin, after the death of their parents, gets into the students of the current Cross, Christopher Cantu, a gentleman to somewhat absent -minded, but quite friendly. Subsequent books reveal the world of Crossesi into the past and future, already talking about his own children's experience and subsequent adventures.

Frame from the cartoon "Walking Castle". The plot of “Walking Castle” is widely known thanks to the Miyazaki cartoon, although there are differences there: in this book of the year, a modest girl named Sophie is turned into an old woman due to a spell on a swamp witch, and later falls into a stray castle belonging to a talented, but infantile sorcerer named Hole, where his student and a fiery demon live with him.

Calcifer. Thanks to his good soul and ingenuing Sophie, starting a modest cleaner, it becomes indispensable for this whole company and helps them out of serious troubles.

The “Walking Castle” was followed by the books “Air Castle”, written in the style of thematic oriental fairy tales “Thousand and One Nights”, as well as “House with Character” - Sophie, Houl, and many other heroes of the original book also appear there. Of course, these cycles are not limited to the legacy of Diana Winn Jones: it also has “dog skin” in it, inspired by the writer’s beloved dog, and another series of books about the Dailmark universe, and the novels, stories and stories standing.

All of them enjoyed the great love of children throughout Britain, but, oddly enough, for the time being, the big bonuses and literary praises bypassed Jones: only in the year she was awarded with Phoenix Award for the “walking castle” - this award was awarded by works that had not won before this prizes. Paradox: after all, Diana Jones even knew almost any British child.

How to write for children Diana Winn Jones and her dog. Source: Bristol ideas however, it is unlikely that such a woman as Diana Winn Jones should at least worry a lack of award figurines: children loved her, and she loved to write for them, this was enough. The certainly strong side of her prose, which is emphasized by researchers and fans, including the Neil Gaiman, she was one of the first in the literature of the 20th century with children as adults.

Her books are full of fabulous and wonderful, there is enough irony, but they cannot find a dumbness, reading morality or simplifications from the principle "so that the child is clear." Jones always appreciated her young readers and refused to treat them as idiots: therefore, in her books you can find words such as “exploit” or a character who talks about promotions. And I am sure that children can use the brains, ”the writer reasoned.

Judging by the preserved popularity of Jones all over the world, it turned out to be right. Perhaps even more than the ability to surprise children with something new is fascinated by the idea inherent in all its prose. Today, such an idea would be described by the word “emancipation” or even Empowerment. The heroes of Diana Winn Jones often find themselves in a situation where they are unfairly deprived of something.

Sophie, bewitched by the witch, loses his youth and turns into an old woman, and the hero of the “enchanted life” of Moore, as it turns out later, also becomes a victim of evil intrigue. And yet they and many other Jones heroes thanks to good hearts and even in the first place! Perhaps this is precisely the main and such inspiring message to Diana Winn Jones to the world: perseverance, will, resistance and kindness will win.

A decent thing to teach her children.