I recently and randomly caught the HBO documentary: “Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak.” Sendak was my favorite author as a child. There’s a dreamlike and—at times—a nightmarish quality to his books, and it wasn’t until I saw the movie adaptation of “Where the Wild Things Are” that I truly understood the profoundness of his work.
Many children’s book authors succeed in channeling the wonder and imagination of childhood. Sendak does that and goes beyond, tapping into the childhood emotional experience—those dark moments of feeling lost and vulnerable. But the stories are surrounded by a sense of permission to have those feelings. The endings are not always happy in a traditional way, but the heroes stand strong amidst their hardships even if they cry during the journey.
The Sendak documentary does much to illuminate his sensibility. It came out last year before the Wild Things release and was filmed by directors Spike Jonze and Lance Bangs in 2003 when Sendak was 75. The documentary is a continuous conversation between Sendak and the directors at the author’s Connecticut home. Sendak has a caustic wit, tending to be self-deprecating in spite of his idol status.
What stood out was the permanence of his childhood imprints—the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and the accidental death of one of his playmates in Brooklyn. He admits to having morbid obsessions, an existential gloom, and you get the impression that he wishes he had a chance to live his childhood over again. And that his stories and illustrations are a method of re-experiencing, repairing what was lost to him.
My sixth grade teacher gave us the assignment to write a letter to our favorite author. I chose Sendak while over half the class chose Charles Schultz, even though the teacher warned us that Schultz never responds to fan mail. I remember my excitement when I got the response. It was just a postcard, hand-typed, thanking me for my letter and telling me about his three dogs all named after ancient Greek heroes. I remember Agamemnon and Io but I can’t recall the third. The postcard was tacked up on the bulletin board of my bedroom until I went away to college.
In the documentary, Sendak talks about how much he loves his dog (a new dog Herman). He also talks lovingly about his best friend Lynn and his longtime partner Eugene (who died in 2008). He seems a solitary figure, but this has become his family.
I think what resonated the most was Sendak’s emotional honesty. He has regrets, greedy ambitions, and he remains frightened by his gayness. That honesty is poured into his work. The documentary title “Tell Them Anything You Want” comes from his response to a question about children’s authors’ responsibility to their audience. His longer answer is kids can handle tough subjects when they’re handled with honesty and kindness.
