By Maurice Sendak (many editions such as Puffin or Red Fox are available)
ISBN: 978-0-09943-292-0
If you don’t know the work of Maurice Sendak you’re denying yourself a profound experience. Born in 1928, this uniquely skewed genius has been creating wonderment for children of all ages for over half a century. Apparently after a brief period drawing comics, the Brooklyn born artist switched to children’s book illustration during the 1950s before writing and illustrating the astounding and controversial ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ in 1963. An instant critical success, after initial commercial resistance the book grew into a genuine modern classic.
Between illustrating other author’s work he – all too infrequently – continued to produce his own books. Among his other landmarks are the 1971 ‘In the Night Kitchen’ and the volume under discussion here. Sendak’s works are not what you’d expect of kids’ stories. They are often powerfully unsettling, even creepy, or resonate with a dark psychological disquiet underpinning them. The art is always beautiful – he is an absolute master of many styles and media – but sometimes it’s not an accessible or comprehensible beauty.
Nine year old Ida has been told to look after her baby sister but she is reluctant and when her guard is down Goblins steal her, leaving a baby made of ice in her place. Her father is still at sea and her mother in a daydream in the garden: thus she must pursue the Goblins to rescue the baby herself.
Often cited as the source for the film Labyrinth (although I’d imagine the author A.C.H. Smith takes umbrage at that) there are indeed many superficial similarities, but Sendak’s tale is subtle and truly beguiling, with no maudlin sentiment to temper the events, and with level upon level of meaning in these watercolours that just can’t be equalled in a budget-conscious, collaborative production like movie-making.
This is as close to pure, raw poetry that graphic narrative ever comes and I’m sure many college dissertations could be written on the symbolism on every page, in every well chosen word and fragment of lush picture. The author is reputed to have systematically reduced over 100 draft scripts to the telling 360 words rendered by calligrapher Jeanyee Wong and the minutiae of detail in each illustration is as information-heavy as any Bosch or Bruegel canvas. Referents have been identified for everything from Mozart’s Magic Flute to the works of the Pre-Raphelites (both art and poetry) to his own sister who had to baby-sit him when he was an infant.
This is a small booked packed and layered with meaning. Every detail of each luxurious, sumptuous, magnificent painting has deep meaning for the knowing and the curious. There is sheer artistic loveliness for those yet too young to find symbolism. It’s also a powerfully moving experience and a tale so very well told. An undeniable “must-see†for every devotee of graphic narrative.
© 1981 Maurice Sendak. All rights reserved.