Wicked’s Author Takes a ‘Wild’ Trip

Just in time for the premiere of the new Spike Jonze film “Where the Wild Things Are,” based on the book by Maurice Sendak, “Wicked” author Gregory Maguire releases his new William Morrow novel “Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation.” The 200 page piece is more like an adaption of Maurice’s life, now 81 years old, as to why the Max character author has been a hero for many years, with pictures to boot. The illustrations help Maguire show his point that Sendak’s images echo everything in cartoon history since the 1963 children’s story was published - from William Blake to Bug Bunny and event classic movies like Oliver Hardy (via “In the Night Kitchen”). The book is basically a great author praising another, and should clearly only be put into the hands of serious fans (Maguire event devotes fifteen pages to his favorite ten pieces of Sendak illustrations). “Maguire examines Sendak’s aesthetic influences from William Blake to Walt Disney, revealing the “conversations”—often unconscious and unspoken—that artists have with one another. A master of literary invention himself, Maguire explores recurring motifs in Sendak’s life work—from monsters to mayhem—as well as his profound understanding of children, their creativity, and the breadth of emotions with which they encounter the world,” reports Harper Collins. If you want to see more, catch what else Maguire has done with Wicked tickets from StubHub.

Posted in Uncategorized on September 15, 2009

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