Just finished listening to
National Public Radio's interview with Maurice Sendak about what inspires him to write his famous children's books.
NPR:
"People have said, when they've criticized your books, why would you expose these children to this fear and this jeopardy? Is it emotionally hard for you to place children in jeopardy in your drawings? When it gets time to do that page does it take someting out of you?"
Sendak:
"No. No because really, I think all children are in jeopardy. I think it is unnatural to think that there is such a thing as a blue sky, white clouded happy childhood for anybody. Childhood is a very, very tricky business of surviving. Because if one thing goes wrong, if anything goes wrong - and usually something goes wrong - then you are compromised as a human being, and that's what you're gonna be tripping over for a good part of your life.
"....look I don't want these kids to suffer. The fact that I intimate that they do is because I have to tell the truth."
I adore him. And hate those fucking soccer moms. Sendak is the crabby but loveable old man who entrances with his stories. I want to be the kooky, mischievous old man who entrances with my stories. There is a sizeable amount of fear, uncertainty, darkness, and mystery in everyone's childhood. No amount of bullshit from today's parents, who dote on their kids and smother them because it's fashionable, will ever be able to cover it all up. All those dark moments are valuable. They build character.
Quote:
"Childhood is a tricky business," Sendak says. "Usually, something goes wrong."
That theme got him into trouble with adult critics in the past, but he’s not worried about how his younger readers will react.
"Kids," he explains, "are so shrewd."
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