nutcracker_title_hoffman_sendak

I read E. T. A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman for a class this year. It is a kind of disturbing and thrilling fairy tale that I had previously only known through Freud’s interpretation in The Uncanny. While reading it, I faintly recalled that this was the same man who authored The Nutcracker, which also always seemed disturbing, what with that seven-headed mouse and all.

So, I went in my xmas-book-archives and found the fabulous edition shown above. I am obsessed, and anyone who has come to my house in the past three weeks has been forced to look at it. It is a translation of the original text, not some dumbed-down and docile version “for children.” Not only that, but it is illustrated by Maurice Sendak, author of the children’s classic Where the Wild Things Are! He apparently drew the illustrations for the book to accompany the set and costume design for a ballet production.

Detailed illustrations occur throughout the text:

nutcracker_mice_sednak

“She is overwhelmed with growing up and has no knowledge of what this means. I think the ballet is all about a strong emotional sense of something happening to her, which is bewildering.” — Maurice Sendak, NPR interview

nutcracker_mouse_king_sednak

There are also full-page illustrations, or, best of all, full-page spreads:

Nutcracker_face_sednak

During the adventure to the magical capital, there are four beautiful full-page spreads in a row (oh, and a wild thing peeks his head out in one of them!):

nutcracker_land_sednak

Anyway, now that I’ve shown you all that, here’s the bad news: it’s out of print. Here’s the good news: it looks like there are still some old copies for sale on amazon.com in paperback and hardcover.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.