"'And now,' cried Max, 'let the wild rumpus start!'"

A great article on Maurice Sendak in the New York Times. My favorite quote (commenting on Sendak's penchant for being a curmudgeon):

When Mr. Sendak received the 1996 National Medal of Arts, President Bill Clinton told him about one of his own childhood fantasies that involved wearing a long coat with brass buttons when he grew up.

“But Mr. President, you’re only going to be president for a year more,” Mr. Sendak said, “you still have time to be a doorman.”

There are two books from my childhood that turned me into the freak I am today. One is Daulaires' Book of Norse Myths (thankfully reissued by NYRB books). The othere was Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are. Both feature (still) stunning artwork that is unique, distinct, and even though made for a children's audience, not safe nor sappy. So many deranged flights of fantasy were driven by these books (and later Marvel Comics and Horror films), that I can peg my penchant for enjoying the macabre and weird to the work of Sendak and the Daulaires. The spark of my creative bent lies within the three textless, full-page spreads of Where The Wild Things Are as Max and the ghastly creatures go frolicking through the forest. There is no better summation of the experience of being a child and being able to dream up any world you can imagine.