From: lhendr at unm.edu <lhendr>
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 17:21:48 -0600 (MDT)

I stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish Dear Genius, and I'm not sure whether that says something about me or about the book or both. Long as it was, I felt I could have kept right on reading many more letters. There was something tantalizing about getting glimpses deep into UN's mind and soul, and no more. The notes about the letters were excellent, identifying people and situations and even tracking down elusive quotes. I want to go back over the book and copy out favorite passages (and maybe carry them around in my purse)!

What we see in these letters is UN's working life, which certainly must also have dominated her personal life. I have the sense that her
"calling" to publish good books for bad children and to nurture her geniuses, really was her life. I don't mean that as a criticism. I used the word "calling" because her dedication reminded me of a religious vocation, and her rails against the children and spouses of her authors and their interference with the work she thought was most important made me feel that she thought her authors should also be totally dedicated to the work she and they were doing. There is something wonderful and even awesome about this kind of dedication. And her best books are a precious legacy, many of which will, I think, last as long as anything in this world

I hated hearing her down in the dumps, and I hope some of her authors wrote back and were as supportive of her as she was of them. It was also interesting, and both sad and heartening to realize how some of the projects she worked so hard on and some of the authors she encouraged so strongly, never did come through. What I mean is that it is encouraging that even the greatest don't succeed all the time, yet who could say that the efforts she expended were wasted? It was a matter of process, and demanding the best of herself and her authors, always. As she repeated many times, "I'm not infallible!"

Leonard, did you purposely include some of the letters that highlighted politics and current events? I felt those provided a nice sense of historical context and also a sense of UN's involvement and awareness of the larger world. Were there any letters that you would have liked to have included, but for various reasons thought it would be more prudent not to? Can you talk about this? Did you ever think about organizing them in an other than chronological order? Did you consciously think about varying the types of letters to keep the pace interesting? Did you worry about how to end, and whether there was enough narrative pull to keep the reader reading?

I felt a sadness as the winding down, the withdrawal at the end. Did anyone else feel this? Was she happy in her retirement, or did poor health interfere? Did she continue to be involved passionately in something? Did she write personal letters to the same extent that she wrote professional letters? I envision her writing letters all day at work, and then going home and writing letters to friends and family all evening -- or I envision her going home and not writing, but reading and thinking about her authors in her "free" time (which was it?). Is there another cache of letters somewhere in addition to her Harper letters?

I'm curious about this relationship between professional and public life and personal life not just out of idle curiosity, but also because the problem of how we combine various aspects of our lives is a difficult and important one, traditionally for women, but also now, I think, for men. In a way UN's authors were her children and her family -- was there more? Was there room for any more?

I love Sendak's cover portrait. It seems to capture warmth, wit, mischievousness, seductiveness, playfulness, motherliness, determination, and perhaps a bit of the witch or fairy godmother who could conjure and cast spells. A motherly Circe?

Linnea Hendrickson Lhendr at unm.edu
Received on Mon 10 Aug 1998 06:21:48 PM CDT