Lloyd Alexander

Introduction

Lloyd Alexander's novel The High King

Lloyd Alexander always wanted to be a writer, but his family was not a literary one and thus did not approve of his interests. In fact, he once said that his parents did not read books: they bought them from the Salvation Army only “to fill up empty shelves.” When Alexander announced his desire to become a writer at the age of fifteen, his parents sent him to college, which he promptly left to join the army during World War II. His most famous work is The Chronicles of Prydain, the first two books of which were the basis for the Disney movie The Black Cauldron. The last book in the series The High King won the 1969 Newbery Medal.

Essential Facts

1. Alexander was married to his wife, Janine Denni, for sixty-one years and died two weeks after she did.
2. Alexander trained in Wales during his time in the army and set many of his books there. His Prydain series is loosely based on the Mabinogion, prose stories from medieval Welsh manuscripts.
3. Alexander counted Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain among his biggest influences. He also loved mythology and enjoyed studying the King Arthur legends.
4. He was originally trained as a member of a combat team that was to parachute into France during World War II but instead ended up working in intelligence and counterintelligence.
5. Alexander once said of writing, “If writers learn more from their books than do readers, perhaps I may have begun to learn.”