Newswise — As impossible as it is now to envision a Christmas without the Grinch, we didn't have a word for that anti-holiday spirit until Theodor Seuss Geisel came up with it almost 50 years ago, says holiday historian Ruth MacDonald, associate dean at Saint Joseph College in West Hartford, Connecticut, who wrote the first scholarly book on Dr. Seuss in 1988.
"He took some very common feelings about the holiday " that it's too noisy and too commercialized -- and made them public in the form of the Grinch," she says. "It's not that he was against Christmas, he just resented all the consumption and commercialism."
How the Grinch Stole Christmas was one of Dr. Seuss' large format books and, MacDonald says, is one of the purest " and best -- examples of his style. "He started making things larger and longer and taller in his use of the page," she explains. "It's him at his best."
The Grinch has certainly proved to have staying power. The book, published in 1957, was adapted into a television special in 1966 and later again as a live-action film starring Jim Carrey in the titular role. The book continues to be among Seuss' best known works. "To be considered a children's classic, a book needs to live past ten years. This one has persevered for nearly fifty."
RSS