Wednesday 9 May 2012

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012)

   The internet is, rightly so, awash with tributes to Maurice Sendak and analysis of his rich legacy. His atmospheric illustrations and his brave, dark and twisty tales are gems. They offer just the right amount of unsettling peril in the context of a warm duvet and a loving voice. 

   He said many wise, ascerbic things. This might just be my favourite:

"Grown-ups desperately need to feel safe, and then they project onto the kids. But what none of us seem to realize is how smart kids are. They don't like what we write for them, what we dish up for them, because it's vapid, so they'll go for the hard words, they'll go for the hard concepts, they'll go for the stuff where they can learn something, not didactic things, but passionate things." (in conversation with Sarah Lyall of The New York Times, 1993)

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