Maurice Sendak, Author of Splendid Nightmares, Dies at 83

[Jacie Estes]

I love Where the Wild Things Are, this man brought a lot of joy to many kids and adults.


Maurice Sendak, widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche, died on Tuesday in Danbury, Conn. He was 83 and lived in Ridgefield, Conn.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/books/maurice-sendak-childrens-author-dies-at-83.html

 

[wfgodot]

Maurice Sendak, genius.

 

[epiphany]

Maurice Sendak: 'I refuse to lie to children'

83-year-old Maurice Sendak was in fine angry form in this final Guardian interview. Rupert Murdoch? He represents how bad things have become. The US right? Schnooks. Life? Awful. Emma Brockes got an earful

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/02/maurice-sendak-interview

 

[epiphany]

...Not yet 4, Sendak was traumatized when he heard on the radio that Charles Lindbergh’s baby son was kidnapped, he said.

If a famous figure’s child couldn’t be kept safe, “I had no chance. I was only a poor kid,” Sendak said. “It doesn’t make much sense to say it, but that’s the equation.”

“My life hung on that baby being recovered,” he told Bill Moyers on a 2004 PBS broadcast, saying “something really fundamental died in me” with the Lindbergh baby’s death.

Sendak said his dreams -- and nightmares -- of an evil world were born in his unhappy childhood, their dark shadows emerging later in his books and illustrations.

Some parents and children “don’t want to see those shadows,” he said, “I’m telling what it was like for me, and I know it was not unique.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...ldrens-books/2012/05/08/gIQAGYKeAU_story.html

 

[Kat]

“Please don't go. We'll eat you up. We love you so.”


RIP and thank you for the joy you gave my children.

 

[badhorsie]

“Please don't go. We'll eat you up. We love you so.”


RIP and thank you for the joy you gave my children.

And ditto from me and my girls. In the Night Kitchen was our favourite

 

[CocoChanel]

And ditto from me and my girls. In the Night Kitchen was our favourite

My son and daughter loved that one too. Mr. Sendak was indeed a genius who touched lives far beyond what he could have imagined. I am grateful for his life and his work. May his contributions live on.

 

[Gardenlady]

I always loved best his illustrations for the Little Bear stories. Great favorites of mine and all my kids.

Peace to Mr Sendak and his family :rose:

 

[Gardenlady]

Maurice Sendak: 'I refuse to lie to children'

83-year-old Maurice Sendak was in fine angry form in this final Guardian interview. Rupert Murdoch? He represents how bad things have become. The US right? Schnooks. Life? Awful. Emma Brockes got an earful

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/02/maurice-sendak-interview

This is the best interview, ever!

 

[HMSHood]

I remember that book as a kid.

RIP
Maurice Bernard Sendak

 

[wfgodot]

And sailed back over a year
and in and out of weeks
and through a day
and into the night of his very own room
where he found his supper waiting for him
and it was still hot

-- Where The Wild Things Are

 

[wfgodot]

---
Like most great children's story writers and illustrators, his work came from somewhere deep within, from a place that was in his case extremely dark. His childhood was overshadowed by the deaths of extended family in the concentration camps of Europe. So it is hardly surprising that the lost child, the child who is stolen away, as well as the maverick child who runs away from the stultifying strictures of adult life, were themes that Sendak returned to again and again in his work.

If you ask people what their favourite Maurice Sendak book is, they always say Where the Wild Things Are. But my personal favourite is In the Night Kitchen. It is so brilliantly scary and marvellously unsettling. Those chefs are frightening in the way that clowns and comedians can so often be.
---

the rest at Maurice Sendak: an appreciation, by Shirley Hughes (Guardian)

 

[ohiogirl]

[ame="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/406796/january-24-2012/grim-colberty-tales-with-maurice-sendak-pt--1"]Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 1 - The Colbert Report - 2012-24-01 - Video Clip | Comedy Central[/ame]
This interview was done in January with Mr. Sendak. Very funny!

 

[ohiogirl]

[ame="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/406902/january-25-2012/grim-colberty-tales-with-maurice-sendak-pt--2"]Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 2 - The Colbert Report - 2012-25-01 - Video Clip | Comedy Central[/ame]

Part 2