The morbid humor of the book comes in part from the mundane ways in which children die, such as falling down the stairs or choking on a peach. It has been described as a "sarcastic rebellion against a view of childhood that is sunny, idyllic, and instructive". It is one of Edward Gorey's best-known books, and is the most notorious amongst his roughly half-dozen mock alphabets.
Gorey tells the tale of 26 children (each representing a letter of the alphabet) and their untimely deaths in rhyming dactylic couplets, accompanied by the author's distinctive black-and-white illustrations.
* As an aside, another Gorey fan who was more dedicated than I am, has noted that “Epiplectic is a form of the word epiplexis: a Greek word which means to chide or shame someone into better behavior.” (thank you, Goreyana).The Gashlycrumb Tinies: or, After the Outing is an abecedarian book written by Edward Gorey that was first published in 1963. Recommended to ages 8 and up, in particular fans of (1) Tim Burton, and (2) the Edwardian and Victorian eras. They do remember how KATE died however, and are careful to avoid her page. I was rewarded by the discovery of Gorey’s rich collection of pen-and-ink works, including The Gashycrumb Tinies, all of which extended beyond the rules of convention and from which I learnt such useful words such as “awl” (the pointy instrument that caused OLIVE’s demise), “lye” (which did JAMES in) and – my personal favourite – “ennui” (to which poor NEVILLE succumbed).Īnna and Ben have both thumbed through my slim copy of TGT and neither have been traumatized by its contents. Instead, I found a battered copy of The Epiplectic* Bicycle, which was so disarmingly odd as to pique my curiosity about this unusual author and illustrator. I discovered Edward Gorey (1925 – 2000) when I was a university student in Toronto, poking about second-hand bookstores on Yonge Street, looking for out-of-print Bukowski novels. … and so on and so forth until poor ZILLAH who expires from the liberal over-consumption of gin. Except it describes, with a hint of delicious glee, the unexpected ways in which 26 small defenceless children come to their (sometimes macabre) ends. The Gashycrumb Tinies has black and white pictures of children in it and sparse, rhyming text ordered alphabetically, so I suppose it could be categorized as a child’s alphabet picture book.
“N is for NEVILLE who died of ennui.” – Edward Gorey
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