Jack Schafer reports in Slate on Sendak’s reaction to Bruno Bettelheim’s 1969 critique of Where the Wild things Are in The Ladies’ Home Journal. He cites a 2005 NPR interview with Sendak:
Sendak: And that creep—oh, that creep, that psychiatrist, Bruno Bettelheim …
NPR: Who …
Sendak: … otherwise known by me personally as “Beno Brutalheim,” because he wrote a long article on Wild Things, which completely destroyed the book.
NPR: Bruno Bettelheim, when Wild Things came out, said that it might frighten children.
Sendak: [Adopts foreign accent] “Don’t leave the book in a room without a light, because the kid might die of a heart attack.” No, he didn’t say that, but you’ve got it.
[Soundbite of laughter]
Sendak: Mr. Brutalheim, may he rest in peace.
Did Bettelheim “completely destroy” the book? Sendak had already won the Caldecott Medal when Bettelheim wrote: “What’s wrong with the book is that the author was obviously captivated by an adult psychological understanding of how to deal with destructive fantasies in the child. What he failed to understand is the incredible fear it evokes in the child to be sent to bed without supper, and this by the first and foremost giver of food and security–his mother.” Shafer refers to Sendak’s “thin skin,” but I wonder if Sendak repeats this story because it’s, well, a great story. Never mind that it also reveals him to know more about children than a renowned child psychologist.
That is a great story. Thank you for posting it!
I don’t know if Sendak is aware of this but Bettelheim loved Sendak’s “In the Night Kitchen.”