Maurice Sendak: Self
Quotes
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Maurice Sendak : I am a self-taught raving maniac, but not as crazy as Tomi! Or as great as Tomi. No.
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Maurice Sendak : There were lots of taboos in the children's book world. The concepts of children and what they felt and thought - none of it was real. We wanted them to only think of bunny rabbits and lettuce leaves and blue skies and white clouds and shit like that. It really was like a conspiracy against children, which persists. The assumption is that children are innocent, vacant and mindless. Why give them anything?
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Maurice Sendak : These were all little Tomi-isms that went into my work. I learned a lot from him. I learned to be braver than I was. I think that's why Where The Wild Things Are was partly Tomi; his energy, his spirit. Would it have happened without Tomi? I don't know. Did Tomi have something to do with it? Absolutely! I'm proud of the fact that we helped change the scene in America so that children were dealt with like the intelligent little animals we know they are.
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Maurice Sendak : It was very unusual for a children's book author to be doing so mashy different things. The political posters, the erotica... those beautiful, sumptuous albums of naked people being tortured.
[chuckles]
Maurice Sendak : Who could not love it? He felt free. He didn't feel confined.
