le plus loin le plus serré

le plus loin le plus serré
mourning art

in memoriam

"yet I tell you, from the sad knowledge of my older experience, that to every one of you a day will most likely come when sunshine, hope, presents and pleasure will be worth nothing to you in comparison with the unattainable gift of your mother's kiss." (Christina Rossetti, "Speaking Likenesses," 1873)

Friday, April 20, 2012

From editrix extraordinaire, Ursula Nordstrom, on the exceedingly ill-conceived burning (by a librarian!!!) of Maurice Sendak's wonderful In the Night Kitchen:

 Should not those of us who stand between the creative artist and the child be very careful not to sift our reactions to such books through our own adult prejudices and neuroses? ...  I think young children will always react with delight to such a book as In the Night Kitchen, and that they will react creatively and wholesomely. It is only adults who ever feel threatened by Sendak's work. [my emphasis in bold]

I've never read Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom, though of course I have read about her, and read excerpts of her letters quoted in various sources.  But I think, as I begin to assemble a summer reading list (aside from the mountain of dissertation that awaits me), that I will be placing Dear Genius somewhere near the top. 

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