An upcoming edition of “Hansel and Gretel” combines the dark and singular talents of two literary giants who apparently never met: Stephen King and the late Maurice Sendak.
HarperCollins Publishers announced Thursday that the King-Sendak re-imagining of the famed Brothers Grimm tale about two lost children in a frightening forest is scheduled for Sept. 13. King’s words will be complemented by sketches Sendak drew up for set and costume designs for a 1997 production of the Humperdinck opera adaptation.
The book was initiated by the Maurice Sendak Foundation. King, author of “The Shining,” “Carrie” and other horror classics, said he decided to agree to the project after seeing Sendak’s illustrations.
“Two of his pictures in particular spoke to me: One was of the wicked witch on her broom with a bag of kidnapped children riding behind her; the other was of the infamous candy house becoming a terrible face. I thought, ‘This is what the house really looks like, a devil sick with sin, and it only shows that face when the kids turn their backs. I wanted to write that!’” King said in a statement issued through HarperCollins.
“To me, it was the essence of this story and, really, all fairy tales: a sunny exterior, a dark and terrible center, brave and resourceful children. In a way, I have been writing about kids like Hansel and Gretel for much of my life.”
Representatives for King say he has no memory of meeting Sendak, although King has expressed admiration for the musical “Really Rosie,” a Sendak-Carole King collaboration.
Lynn Caponera, the Sendak foundation’s executive director, said in a statement that she thought King ideal because outside of the Grimms, “he’s the master of scary stories and a wonderful writer to boot.”
Sendak, who died in 2012, spoke about Hansel and Gretel around the time he was working on the opera. In an interview published in the 2003 book “The Art of Maurice Sendak” he called the fairy tale “the most profound” of the Grimm canon.
“Generally speaking, most of Grimm is about heroic children. ‘Hansel and Gretel’ are the most heroic of them all,” said Sendak, known for “Where the Wild Things Are,” “In the Night Kitchen” and other children’s favorites. “It’s the toughest story in the world and people are afraid of it, yet it’s famous because it’s so truthful.”
