Nutcracker, by E. T. A. Hoffman; Illustrated by Maurice Sendak - Book Review

I have been a huge fan of Maurice Sendak since I first read Where the Wild Things Are many many years ago. While I love his other children's books (such as In the Night Kitchen), I find myself a bigger fan of the dark side of Maurice Sendak, such as what you will find in the so-called "nursery rhyme" We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy. In the 1984 version of E. T. A. Hoffman's Nutcracker, Sendak not only illustrates a well-known tale but also takes the story back from the popular ballet version and returns it to a darker, more mature story that better resembles what Hoffman originally wrote in 1816.


Nutcracker

I first discovered this particular rendering of the popular story when I worked at a public library. I was alphabetizing children's books when I saw "Sendak" on the spine of a book I didn't recognize, and I was amazed when I saw the title of the book. Not only am I a Maurice Sendak fan, but I also love the story of Marie and her nutcracker prince. I soon discovered that the Nutcracker Ballet is not exactly faithful to the story that E. T. A. Hoffman wrote in The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816). As Sendak writes in the introduction to this particular edition, "[T]he vital subplot, the tale within a tale in Hoffman's story, was entirely missing from the ballet. 'The Story of the Hard Nut' gives the fairy tale dramatic sense and needed psychological meaning" (xi-xii).

The original edition was published in 1984 and was reissued once in 1991. Why this version is not more widely popular is a mystery to me; the illustrations are vibrant and full of Sendak's unique style and they are present on nearly every page. The story goes back to Hoffman's original and not only makes more sense than the choppy plot of the ballet, but it also offers more excitement and can stand on its own without having to rely on the "confectionary goings-on" (Sendak, 1984) of the Land of Sweets segment, which is only briefly mentioned in the original.









My favorite aspect of this version was the decision to re-incorporate "The Story of the Hard Nut." In this central story, Godfather Drosselmeier explains to Marie how nutcrackers came to look as they do. As a child, the Princess Pirlipat is beautiful and adored by her kingdom, but when her father angers the Mouse Queen, she is cursed and her face mutated to look like what we now know as a nutcracker. Drosselmeier's nephew lifts the curse, but in turn takes it upon himself when he stumbles backwards onto the Mouse Queen. Although Pirlipat's father promised his daughter's hand to anyone who could lift the curse, the princess changes her mind and has young Drosselmeier banished when she sees his hideous face.

Pirlipat is the opposite of kind, selfless, brave Marie, who gives up her precious candy figurines to save her Nutcracker and who (in possibly my favorite moment of literary history) throws her shoe at the King of the Mice in the middle of a battle between the rats and the toys. The Nutcracker Prince takes Marie to the Doll Kingdom for a night as a way of thanking her for saving him and his kingdom. When Marie returns to reality the next morning, none of her family believes her story and she spends the next few years (it's not really clear in the story, but it seems that a significant amount of time has passed) dreaming of the Doll Kingdom and staring into the face of her nutcracker.

As I mentioned before, I'm a sucker for a happy ending, so I was thrilled with how this story ends: one afternoon, Marie tells her nutcracker that she loves him no matter how he looks. Soon after that, Drosselmeier arrives at Marie's home with his nephew, who is no longer under the Mouse Queen's curse, thanks to Marie's selfless proclamation of love. The two are married and Marie returns to the Doll Kingdom as its Queen.

One of the major themes in the Nutcracker is Marie's maturation from a twelve-year-old girl who plays with dolls to a young adult who has saved the Doll Kingdom, finding and losing a love in the process. I love that Sendak is able to write and/or illustrate stories that tackle bigger topics than playing outside or losing a teddy bear, making them appealing to both children and adults.

Favorite Line(s): "[Marie] picked Nutcracker up in her arms, went over to the toy cabinet, bent down in front of it, and said to her new doll, 'Mistress Clara, I must ask you to give up your bed to our poor Nutcracker and make do with the sofa. After all, you're bursting with health, or you wouldn't have such plump, red cheeks, and I hope you realize that very few dolls, even the prettiest, have such nice soft sofas to sleep on.'"

Overall: I recommend this book to everyone, and not just for Christmas reading.