I first heard of Dear Genius on2008Year12moon2dayThat day, I attended a picture book lecture by French artist Mr. Chen Jianghong at Beihang University. He mentioned this collection of Ursula’s letters very seriously, saying that she was a children’s book editor whom he admired very much, and it was a pity that he had no chance to work with her in this life, even just once.
Chen Jianghong’s regret intrigued me. Furthermore, this Ms. Ursula Nordstrom was Maurice Sendak’s editor, and this collection of letters supposedly contains many letters to Sendak. Coincidentally, I was translating Where the Wild Things Are at the time and was eager to learn about the book’s origins. So, I quickly obtained the book, and upon flipping through it, I felt like I had found a treasure.
As far as Sendak is concerned, the collection of letters includes1953Year3Month to1974Year5Ursula wrote to him in the month27In this letter21In the span of 1950, Sendak grew from a fledgling young man to a world-renowned picture book artist, and won the Caldecott Medal (1964and the International Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustrators (1970In fact, since1950One afternoon in New York, UrsulaFAOFrom the moment Ursula discovered Sendak at Schwartz’s Toy Store and gave him his first illustrated children’s book, she accompanied and nurtured him throughout his development. Besides being a competent editor, she also served as his confidante, a big sister, a mentor, a protector, and sometimes even a mother. These letters, along with the numerous references to Sendak in other letters, clearly reveal this unique relationship. Sendak later said in an interview that without Ursula, he wouldn’t be the Sendak he is today. This is perhaps a paraphrase of the old Chinese saying, “There are good horse breeders in the world, and then there are good horses.”
As for the classic picture book “Beasts”, we can also see its general formation process, the pain and ecstasy before and after its publication, and the cheers and hesitations of people at that time from this collection of letters. For example, we know that the original idea of this book started from1955In 1996, the draft was titled “Where the Wild Horses Haunt”.8Years in the making, until1963Even in 1989, the book was still undergoing arduous revisions and illustrations, barely catching up on the autumn list. Yet, Ursula patiently waited and prepared, doing everything she could to elevate it to the pinnacle of honor. And the moment it was released, the editor congratulated Sendak with endless poetic emotion, declaring it a “great masterpiece!”
Reading such letters, I feel as if I were in the golden age of children’s book publishing, experiencing firsthand the pain of creating those classic children’s books and the glory after their success.80Many of them, most of whom were writers or painters who worked with Ursula at Harper’s Publishing Company, and among them, there are probably30Some are also very familiar or relatively familiar to Chinese readers, such asE.
B.
White, Arnold Lobel, Isaac Singer, Ezra Jack Keates, Gus Williams, Janice Mae Woodley, Kay Thompson, Hilary Knight, Clement Hurd, Kroght Johnson and Ruth Kraus, Louise Fitzhugh, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Marco Simon, Margaret Broy Graham, Margaret Wise Brown,H.
A.
Ray and Margaret Ray, Meindert DeJong, Maurice Sendak, Natalie Savage Carlson, Charlotte Zolotov, Shel Silverstein, Tommy Unger, etc. The ones I have listed here are only those whose works have been published and widely accepted in China. Listing the works of these people (picture books or children’s novels) is the American children’s books in China.1930Years to1970Ursula is like the amazing spider in Charlotte’s Web, who personally wove this extremely gorgeous web of classic children’s books, and this book Dear Genius is her web-weaving manual.
for1978Isaac Singer, the Jewish writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997, is no stranger to many Chinese readers, but they may not know that he also wrote children’s literature. In his later years, he seemed to prefer children, believing that “children are the best readers of true literature.” He even lamented: “In today’s world, literature for adults is declining; only good books written for children still reveal some glimmer of hope, which is the only refuge.” Such words are included in his1984In the “Stories for Children” published in 1996, when you open “Dear Genius”, you will find that he was1960In the mid-1980s, he was introduced to the children’s book circle by Ursula and her editor Shabra. His first children’s book, The Story of Zlateh the Goat, was also illustrated by Sendak, who is also Jewish.1966Year7moon19In a letter to him, Ursula wrote: “I think this book will also bring you a special joy. You once asked Sendak curiously why he didn’t write adult books. You also asked me once why I was more interested in editing adult books. But most adults30“After the age of 18, people become numb and hopeless. I think through Zlateh you will find a new and extraordinary group of readers.” I think at least in the field of children’s literature, Ursula was the guide who brought Singer into the door.
There are many similar literary anecdotes in Dear Genius, as well as stories behind some classic children’s books, which require discerning readers to explore.EBThe process of White’s creation of three classic fairy tales is also presented continuously in this collection of letters, especially the most famous “Charlotte’s Web”. Fortunately, White also has a collection of letters (this is also thanks to Ursula’s suggestion). There is a Chinese abridged translation of White’s collection of letters, “The Most Beautiful Decision”, which contains some letters that can echo the letters in “Dear Genius”. Matching these letters, plus Ursula’s letter to illustrator Gus Williams, the general outline of the creation of this classic fairy tale is ready to emerge. There is a biography of White called “Charlotte’s Web>The Story of the 1980s (by Mike Sims, Walker2011Published in 2001), the main body is constructed with such extensive citations.
This collection of Ursula’s letters is in1998The publication of Dear Genius is mainly attributed to its editor Leonard.S.Mr. Marcus.1970When Marcus was studying at Yale University in the 1980s, his main interest was in the creation and study of poetry. One day after graduation, he accidentally opened Margaret Wise Brown’s “Goodnight Moon” in a bookstore and was struck by the simple and pure poetry. With great curiosity, he began to study this children’s book creator, and of course he could not avoid the legendary Harper’s editor Ursula. Marcus spent a full ten years to complete Margaret’s biography “Waking by the Moon” (first published in1992During this period, he also did a lot of children’s book reviews and related research on the history of children’s literature. He found that many of the clues he sorted out were increasingly converging on Ursula, but the information about her was shockingly scarce. So he decided to do a thorough review and obtained the consent of Harper’s Publishing House to review and sort out Ursula’s letters in their archives. Unexpectedly, this work took another two years, because there were more than 1000 Ursula letters preserved there.10Ten thousand letters! Today, we would find it difficult to finish reading this collection of letters, but this is only one of them.260Marcus spent two years alone in the pile of old papers, selecting these according to the principles he formulated.260These letters make up the book “Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom” that we are currently reading.
Of course, the person who benefited the most from this book was Marcus himself. He later interviewed almost all the people in the children’s book industry who were related to Ursula, and the interview records were either published in magazines or published in collections. Since almost all the picture book creators of that era had participated in the creation of “Golden Children’s Books”, he also wrote a book called “Golden Legend” (2007But the most representative results are2008The Guardians of Children’s Books: Idealists, Doers, and the Making of American Children’s Literature, published in 1996, is a book that spans300The history of American children’s books spans 20 years, and research related to “Dear Genius” accounts for more than half a century, and is perhaps the most important part.
Thanks to the farming and forestry culture of Aodejin4Years of hard work finally2012Year10In July, I obtained the Chinese version authorization for Dear Genius. There were many twists and turns and hardships that I cannot tell others. If it were not for my unique obsession and persistence, it would probably be difficult to achieve. Since then, I have formed a translation team in the Red Mud Reading Club, where we have been studying children’s books for more than three years.16After a few months, I finally completed the translation of this book. If it were just a matter of linguistic translation, such extensive effort wouldn’t have been necessary. However, as mentioned earlier, this book covers over half a century of people and books in the American children’s book industry. Without thorough background research, simply translating literally would be a laughingstock. Therefore, at least half of the effort involved in translating this book was spent researching and discussing the context of the letters. For example, if there were biographies of people mentioned in the book, I would definitely find them, and if I hadn’t read any of the books mentioned before, I would also try to read them first. Without a Chinese version of the book, even accurately translating the title would be difficult without a thorough reading of the entire book, let alone translating the discussion surrounding the book’s creation or production. This was a massive and expensive undertaking, but fortunately, the team members were all dedicated enthusiasts who bought a ton of books before they even received their royalties! Therefore, after the translation was completed, we continued to do extension work, sorting out the deeds of the main characters involved in the book, especially their growth experiences, to form “Those Stories of Geniuses” (to be published soon), which may help readers reduce some of the pain of finding information, and at the same time have a deeper understanding of the background and value of “Dear Genius”.
Upon hearing that “Dear Genius” would be available in Chinese, Marcus was incredibly excited. In an interview with the media at Book Expo America, he speculated that China, a country with a long history and growing strength, might be eager to learn from the American experience in children’s book creation and publishing, which is why they chose to introduce this book. He believes Ursula is truly a good teacher, treating both Americans and Chinese alike. Marcus’s guess was spot-on. This is indeed my wish as a children’s reading promoter. We’ve missed so much ground, and we need to catch up quickly.
But there are so many teachers, why choose Ursula? This question is really difficult to answer. Think about Margaret Wise Brown, the author of classic picture books such as “Goodnight Moon”, “The Runaway Bunny”, “The Island”, and “The Important Book”. She was also an editor and the most representative figure of the “Bank Street School of Education”, an experimental children’s book creation group of that era. In fact, it was she who deeply influenced Ursula in this regard. Interestingly, as a big star in the children’s book world at the time, Margaret’s creations were divided into two major categories: one was a very best-selling type that could be sold out in one print.100The picture books of this kind ensured her a rather luxurious life, but they were not usually the books Ursula wanted to publish; but the other part was very experimental, such as the ones listed above, of which Goodnight Moon had an initial annual sales of only nearly2000She left these latter books to Ursula, and over time, they became timeless classics. Can you imagine the struggle Ursula endured for these books? Before retiring, she excitedly wrote to her high school teacher to tell her that the children’s book department she led had become the most profitable in the entire publishing house. Indeed, after years of perseverance, those once-slow-selling books, such as “Goodnight Moon” and “The Giving Tree,” have become cash cows for the publishing house.
exist1948Year8moon24Ursula excitedly telegraphed Margaret:I’m sorry I can’t accept your kind invitation. I hope I can.importantof librarians haveimportantDating TalkImportant BooksWait, I’m not tooimportantI will write a letter from time to time.”——The “Important Book” mentioned in the telegram, in fact,1949It was officially published in 2011.
in this wayimportantUrsula, will you not choose?
Ajia … Written on2014Year9moonBeijing
