Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are
Written and Illustrated by Maurice Sendak
New York, Harper & Row, 1963
10.5" x 9.5"
Kerlan Collection, Children's Literature Research Collections
University of Minnesota Libraries
The 20th century's preeminent children's book artist, Maurice Sendak was a lifelong student of Romanticism. William Blake and the Grimms loomed large in his pantheon of creative influences. In Where the Wild Things Are, Max in his wolf suit seems a cunning cross between Blake's lamb and tiger: one part innocence, one part rage. In his fearless exploration of childhood emotion, Sendak also introduced Freud into the mix. In Where the Wild Things Are, the forest of fairy tales becomes a persuasive metaphor for the dreaming unconscious, the place where demons can be faced down and life's balance ultimately restored.