New Book Shelves - Upper Level - 741.973 G
Macabre, darkly humorous, and uniquely hard to describe are just a few ways to sum up Edward Gorey’s work. Gorey, an author and illustrator of “children’s books” that are a bit too dark to be for children says as much himself, "Ideally, if anything [was] any good, it would be indescribable." This of course makes it woefully hard to write a recommendation of his works. Good thing this recommendation is about a book about his books, way less confusing.
For those still left in the dark about Gorey’s illustrations and writing look no further, Elegant Enigmas is just for you. For those of you who are devout Gorey fanatics look no further, Elegant Enigmas is also just for you! In addition to providing a glimpse behind the curtain of Gorey’s personal life, author Karen Wilkin takes selected pieces from Gorey’s books and explains their influences as well as the subtext behind them.
An example of this would be Gorey’s penchant for showing (or not showing) horrible events out of the panel. Wilkin compares this to a Greek play where the set up and aftermath of a violent event will happen on stage, but the event itself will happen off stage.
B is for Basil Assaulted by Bears
This leaves a lot up to the imagination, and this is a technique that Gorey uses not just with violent pieces but as a narrative, sometimes only giving the reader threads that they must piece together on their own.
On the surface Gorey might look simple, but there is a lot going on between his "sublime" lines. Take a look at Elegant Enigmas and you'll see why.
For more Gorey bug your librarian to order his books.
