by Whitney Jarreld | May 9, 2012 | Opinion
Maurice Sendak, died May 8, 2012, at the age of 83 from complications of a stroke according to The New York Times. The name might not be familiar, but his work is. Sendak, is most famous for his book “Where The Wild Things Are.” Other works by Sendak include “In The Night Kitchen,” “Bumble-Ardy” and “Outside Over There.” NPR’s show Fresh Air dedicated the entire program to Sendak by airing previous interviews with him. Past the subdued fog and alluring designs of his books, his writings deal with deeper issues. Sendak created a protagonist child that battled the conditions of being a well-mannered and groomed character who triumphed in an attractive manner. His characters, which would exist in creative dreamlike circumstances, would bring the reality of life into childhood. Sendak broke boundaries with his writings and illustrations that brought the reality of monsters into children’s book. Sendak grew up in a Jewish home, where Yiddish was spoken, and lived with his relatives that were brought over by his parents because of the Holocaust. In a 1986 NPR audio interview, Sendak spoke about his childhood. As a child, Sendak said he had fears that were different than others. The vacuum cleaner, when turned on, became a huge monster that billowed and was very frightening. After watching the 1933 movie, “The Invisible Man,” he became petrified of the Invisible Man who became “[the] most terrifying [fear] and led to being an insomniac for rest of life.” As a child he saw adults as “…big and grotesque… and couldn’t see it happening to him.” Later in the interview, he suggested that being...
by Hunter Patterson | Mar 30, 2012 | News Slider
Stories are designed to transport readers to faraway places, be it Narnia or banks of the Mississippi River. But this weekend, the stories have come to Lipscomb while the university hosts the Southern Literary Festival. Running through Sunday, the festival includes several workshops and readings by notable authors such as Mark Jarman, Mark Richard and Kathy Rhodes. While this is the 76th year for the festival, it is the first time that Lipscomb or the city of Nashville is hosting the event. The festival was started because most smaller schools, colleges and universities of the South did not have the resources to bring in the greatest artists of the region. The festival got its start when those schools and universities began to pool their resources. English professor and president of the Southern Literary Festival Dr. Dana Carpenter said that the university is “incredibly excited” to be hosting the event for the first time. “It’s an insane amount of work,” Carpenter said in regards to planning the festival. “I’ve got notes from the last eight years, and for the last two years, I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about what needs to be done.” And all of Carpenter’s hard work is about to pay off. Representatives from 36 member schools arrived on campus this weekend, the largest number of participants in the festival’s history. While schools all across the South will attend the festival, Carpenter urges students, as well as the public, to take advantage of the events. For more information and a full schedule, visit the Southern Literary Festival’s...
