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Since 1963, generations of children have been frightened by the gruesome monsters in Maurice Sendak's book "Where the Wild Things Are." A statement from the noted illustrator and children's book author, however, has indicated that the illustrations were actually based on his old Jewish relatives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
"Their visits terrified [Sendak], because they would pinch his cheek and tell him that they would eat him up," Richard Gottlieb, associate professor of clinical psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, told an audience on Friday in Baker Library.
Gottlieb,along with two other members of a panel, discussed this childhood trauma, as well as psychological issues in Sendak's work that are atypical of most children's literature.
"It's clear to see that Sendak doesn't shy away from heavy subjects," Nancy Canepa, Dartmouth professor of French and Italian, said on the panel.
Canepa and Gottlieb spoke alongside rare book specialist Patti Houghton, the co-curator of "Facing the North Wind," a new display of Sendak's work on display in Rauner Special Collections Library.
Although each speaker presented a different insight into the author's work, all three focused on the thematic significance of the dream in three Sendak books, "Where the Wild Things Are," "In the Night Kitchen" and "Outside Over There." According to the speakers, the child protagonists in each story deal with their problems through fantasies and dream sequences.
Houghton presented the books through the lens of literary tradition, focusing on how many of Sendak's stories mimic the plots of classic hero stories, such as fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm.
