Title: Angels and Wild Things
Subtitle: the archetypal poetics of Maurice Sendak
First published: 1995
Description: Angels and Wild Things examines the unique contribution of Maurice Sendak to the literature of childhood. It is the first comprehensive reading of Sendak's key works that considers the symbolic child who has appeared and developed in Sendak's books and remains at the center of his vision.

By fusing biographical, historical, cultural, and literary materials with the insights of depth psychology and archetypal theory, this study traces the evolution of Sendak's work - from its first, bold steps in the 1950s, to its liberating breakthroughs of the 1960s and early 1970s, to the rich complexity of his most recent books.

Although touching on many of the works that Sendak has been involved with, John Cech concentrates on those books that Sendak has both written and illustrated - in essence, those works over which he has had complete artistic control. It is in these books that we can see most clearly the poesis of Sendak's art, the alchemy of his creative process that has woven together the remembrances of his own things past, the spirit of his times, the history of children's literature, and Sendak's animating concern with the archetypal figure of the child - a symbol of creative potential, emotional vitality, and spiritual renewal.

Angels and Wild Things documents the major role that Sendak has played in helping to develop a literature of fantasy for young children, one that could explore the "inside," the emotional, imaginative terrain of a child's experience.
Subjects: Children's stories, American, History and criticism, Archetype (Psychology) in literature, Criticism and interpretation, American Psychological fiction, Books and reading, Illustrations, Children, History, Children, books and reading, Children's stories, Psychological fiction, history and criticism, Sendak, maurice b., 1928-2012
Places: United States
People: Maurice Sendak
Time periods: 20th century
LC classification: PS3569.E6 Z64 1995