On November 18th of alternate years Mr Earbrass begins writing 'his new novel.' Weeks ago he chose its title at random from a list of them he keeps in a little green note-book. It being tea-time of the 17th, he is alarmed not to have thought of a plot to which The Unstrung Harp might apply, but his mind will keep reverting to the last biscuit on the plate." So begins what the Times Literary Supplement called "a small masterpiece." TUH is a look at the literary life and its "attendant woes: isolation, writer's block, professional jealousy, and plain boredom." But, as with all of Edward Gorey's books, TUH is also about life in general, with its anguish, turnips, conjunctions, illness, defeat, string, parties, no parties, urns, desuetude, disaffection, claws, loss, trebizond, napkins, shame, stones, distance, fever, antipodes, mush, glaciers, incoherence, labels, miasma, amputation, tides, deceit, mourning, elsewards. You get the point. Finally, TUH is about Edward Gorey the writer, about Edward Gorey writing The Unstrung Harp. It's a cracked mirror of a book, and it's dedicated to RDP or Real Dear Person.
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From Kirkus Reviews
The clichs of English country-house fiction and the more generic ``unspeakable horror of the literary life'' are memorably skewered in this urbane jeu first published in 1953 (and, scandalously, out of print ever since). Its protagonist, Mr. Earbrass, is a reclusive well-to-do bachelor author of middle years, with a profile (as seen in Gorey's serenely sinister accompanying drawings) rather resembling a benign croquet mallet and a neurasthenic sensibility hilariously vulnerable to every harrowing stage in the process of conceiving, completing, and publicizing his new novel. He himself, we're surely to infer, is the unstrung harpand the deadpan tale of his inharmonious relations with the dangerous world of letters is both a caution to would-be writers and (to use a word utterly inappropriate to Mr. Earbrass's strangled gentility) a hoot. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Praise for Edward Gorey
“A master of a genre of graphic storytelling [and] a brilliant draftsman."-The New York Times Book Review “Edward Gorey's work is remarkable and mysterious. I find it fascinating."-Max Ernst
“A master of a genre of graphic storytelling [and] a brilliant draftsman."-The New York Times Book Review “Edward Gorey's work is remarkable and mysterious. I find it fascinating."-Max Ernst
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More About the Author
Edward Gorey (1925-2000) wrote and illustrated such popular books as The Doubtful Guest, The Gashlycrumb Tinies, and The Headless Bust. He was also a very successful set and costume designer, earning a Tony Award for his Broadway production of Edward Gorey's Dracula. Animated sequences of his work have introduced the PBS series Mystery! since 1980.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's back! A classic of life's little frustrations.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Unstrung Harp; or, Mr. Earbrass Writes a Novel (Hardcover)
I grew up with this book, but tragically lost it a few years ago. Now it is finally available again. The story of Mr. Earbrass struggling with every phase of writing a book is a classic of wry humor with non-sequiturs at every turn. The illustrations (drawn actual size) are even more of an attraction than the story. Be sure to look for the distant hot-air balloon in one illustration, and what happens to the fantod under glass. What's a fantod? Read the book to see one! I also recommend this book for developing childrens' sense of humor, although I found the long-headed people and oblique references to English place names a bit difficult to understand when I was six.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gorey's First Book and Masterpiece,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Unstrung Harp; or, Mr. Earbrass Writes a Novel (Hardcover)
This is a reissue of Gorey's first book, which has much more text and a more conventional and linear storyline than many others that followed. However, don't be put off. All the Gorey trademarks are here in full bloom: the illustrations are ravishing in their detail, the text is very funny and absurd, and the story about the agonies of creativity is wonderfully comic in its depictions of the writer's life. This is my favorite Gorey book, bar none.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gorey's first novel is a little different from later efforts, but very funny,
This review is from: The Unstrung Harp; or, Mr. Earbrass Writes a Novel (Hardcover)
THE UNSTRUNG HARP was Edward Gorey's first novel, published in 1953. Although full of the droll humour that makes all of his efforts true pleasures to read, it is a little different from later, typical Gorey. There is more text with each illustration, and the characters involved are not as realistic as later, although these illustrations are still pen and ink drawings set in Edwardian times.
The story concerns C. F. Earbrass, the "well-known novelist". Earbrass is at work on a new book, and each picture shows a stage. Gorey's book is a wonderful and insightful commentary on the process of literary creation, and I will quote from one page: "The first draft of TUH is more than half finished, and for some weeks its characters have been assuming a fitful and cloudy reality. Now, a minor one named Glassglue has materialized at the head of the stairs as his creator is about to go down to dinner. Mr Earbrass was aware of the peculiarly unpleasant nubs on his greatcoat, but not the blue-tinted spectacles. Glassglue is about to mutter something in a tone too low to be caught and, stepping sideways, vanish." If you could only see the illustration accompanying this you would get the book immediately. THE UNSTRUNG HARP is a very funny book and is worth seeking out by all Gorey fans, although THE OTHER STATUE might make a better introduction.
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