True Geiselphiles recognize that the "brat books" as he called them were one part of a vast empire including much politicking during WW2 and heavy advertising for Flit and Esso. This is not about Beginner Books at all, and "The Sneetches" is a very clear call against racism. However, in the political cartoons I found at least four N words. I didn't realize that the one below is actually in context poking a bit of fun at the frequency of the N word when Ted was 25, so it's not as direct as it appears, but it's still pretty far out there:
Swamprangers ftw. I haven't dove deep into Seuss, but what I've read about how he treated his wife is deplorable. I get judging a man on his corpus, but from what I've recently read of their works, I'd take Crockett Johnson, Margaret Wise Brown, Dorothy Kunhardt, and a variety of his contemporaries, over him from a conceptual, and literary, standpoint. Add to that, The Cat in the Hat, if you're looking for pedophilic messaging, is fucking horrific. Not really a fan.
You're right about the divorce. I used to like "Oh Say Can You Say?" until I realized it was dedicated to Audrey before he married her. There are much worse anthropomorphs messing with kids than the mere Cat in the Hat. However I "canceled" Scarry way back so can't relate.
Sort of wondering why you cancelled Scarry? Honestly, I just remember loving the illustrationa from MY childhood, haven't really broken his stuff out with the kiddo yet. We've paged through a few of his simpler books (counting one and one's that's like a dictionary of airport items) and nothing has come at me as creepy as TCITH's final words saying "Don't Tell your single Mom about my strange visits (not to mention the poor fish who sees through the mask)".
Not having dug in too much, I'd guess Scarry has some "counter cultural" leanings (the cops are often pigs), maybe sprinkled in with vaguely perverse imagery? Completely guessing though.
True Geiselphiles recognize that the "brat books" as he called them were one part of a vast empire including much politicking during WW2 and heavy advertising for Flit and Esso. This is not about Beginner Books at all, and "The Sneetches" is a very clear call against racism. However, in the political cartoons I found at least four N words. I didn't realize that the one below is actually in context poking a bit of fun at the frequency of the N word when Ted was 25, so it's not as direct as it appears, but it's still pretty far out there:
https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/28/living/feat-racist-dr-seuss-drawing/index.html
Dr. Seuss should be judged on his whole corpus just like Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, or Randall Kennedy.
Swamprangers ftw. I haven't dove deep into Seuss, but what I've read about how he treated his wife is deplorable. I get judging a man on his corpus, but from what I've recently read of their works, I'd take Crockett Johnson, Margaret Wise Brown, Dorothy Kunhardt, and a variety of his contemporaries, over him from a conceptual, and literary, standpoint. Add to that, The Cat in the Hat, if you're looking for pedophilic messaging, is fucking horrific. Not really a fan.
But then again I'm a Richard Scarry guy at heart.
You're right about the divorce. I used to like "Oh Say Can You Say?" until I realized it was dedicated to Audrey before he married her. There are much worse anthropomorphs messing with kids than the mere Cat in the Hat. However I "canceled" Scarry way back so can't relate.
Sort of wondering why you cancelled Scarry? Honestly, I just remember loving the illustrationa from MY childhood, haven't really broken his stuff out with the kiddo yet. We've paged through a few of his simpler books (counting one and one's that's like a dictionary of airport items) and nothing has come at me as creepy as TCITH's final words saying "Don't Tell your single Mom about my strange visits (not to mention the poor fish who sees through the mask)".
Not having dug in too much, I'd guess Scarry has some "counter cultural" leanings (the cops are often pigs), maybe sprinkled in with vaguely perverse imagery? Completely guessing though.