LA Times - 'The Hobbit' illustrated by Maurice Sendak?
By Tony DiTerlizzi for Hero Complex - LA Times:
As I eagerly await Peter Jackson’s return to Tolkien with his adaptation of “The Hobbit,” I can’t help but wonder what the film would have become had Guillermo del Toro remained in the director’s chair. Though the story of Bilbo Baggins takes place in a more halcyon Middle-earth than the later “The Lord of the Rings” books, there are pockets of darkness that foretell what is to come.To Continue: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/03/25/the-hobbit-illustrated-by-ma urice-sendak-the-1960s-masterpiece-that-could-have-been/
I’ve observed a gravitational pull toward the dark in film adaptations of books primarily published for children, especially in Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” and in the latest installment of Harry Potter. Traditional fairy tales abound with dark themes and places for the hero to adventure, and rightly so — the world can be a dark place. This author cannot think of any better way to broach these notions and address these fears with his daughter than through a story, and “The Hobbit” sits in perfect company with these types of fairy tales.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s masterpiece about his hairy-footed hero was conceived in the early 1930s while Tolkien was teaching Anglo-Saxon (Old English) at Oxford University; it was released in 1937 by George Allen & Unwin. The publisher’s intention was that this was a new fairy story written primarily for children. To further charm the book’s intended audience, text was decorated with full-page pen & and ink illustrations by the author, not unlike books illustrated by Arthur Rackham or Kay Nielsen. Subsequent editions would have full-color plates by Tolkien.
As one who crafts stories for children, I’ve come to understand that the darker the story gets, the brighter the happy ending. It is a symbiotic relationship. This is enhanced by the use of illustrations — an aspect of bookmaking that nowadays seems relegated to stories for the very young.
So I circle back to the reimagining of “The Hobbit” by another visionary and how integral reinterpretation is to the lifespan of a classic, whether book or film. Each generation should have an edition of these timeless stories that speaks directly to them in a style and design that they are familiar with. If you don’t believe me, ask a group of fourth-graders to put down their iPhones and Wii game controllers and see what they think of Sir John Tenniel’s illustrations for [Lewis] Carroll’s first edition of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
This leads me to a rendition of “The Hobbit” that would have been treasured by many: “The Hobbit” as illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Heard of this version? Probably not, because it never came to pass, and yet, we have surviving glimpses of what could have been.
In the late 1960s, Middle-earth enjoyed a renewed interest with the release of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy in paperback. As “The Hobbit” neared its 30th anniversary, the American publisher invited Sendak to reimagine Bilbo Baggins and his classic quest. Caldecott Medal-winning Sendak, though his work could be thorny and at times scary, was nonetheless the darling of children’s publishing that decade. He had the ability to delight the young as he balanced the light and dark in titles from “Pierre” to his pièce de résistance, “Where the Wild Things Are.” Sendak understood not only the physical hurdles that a story’s character faces but the psychological ones as well. He was the perfect visionary to reinterpret Tolkien.
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