Amphigorey Again (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

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Perhaps only Edward Lear is the late Edward Gorey's peer among writer-artists. Lear considered himself an artist first, and Gorey thought of himself more as a writer. Yet Lear seemingly put greater effort into the texts; Gorey, into the pictures. Lear's drawings often look tossed-off, whereas Gorey's are dense patchworks of tiny patterns, before which his Edwardian personae and fanciful creatures disport, and into which, sometimes, they visually sink. Lear addressed children first; Gorey, adults; but both appeal to anyone with a taste for morbid absurdity. But for its much greater childishness, Lear's sublime "The Story of the Four Little Children Who Went round the World" could be one of Gorey's tales of addled travel, such as "The Headless Bust" in this final omnibus, after Amphigorey (1972), Amphigorey Too (1975), and Amphigorey Also (1983), of Gorey's work. There is less of Gorey at his best here, and some that seems or plainly is incomplete. Still, Gorey's unique talent should be represented as completely as possible in every collection of American art and literature. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

PRAISE FOR AMPHIGOREY AGAIN

 

"The meticulous draftsmanship crowding every frame, along with the hilariously overloaded cast of characters, contrasts with the void that is the story's central mystery: not the disappearance of a cherished heirloom . . . but the absence of a coherent plot. A seemingly linear narrative reveals itself as a string of evocative non sequiturs. There's rarely a punch line in Goreyland, just an elegant withdrawal into artifice."--Los Angeles Times

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 260 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt (October 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151011079
• ISBN-13: 978-0151011070
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #297,029 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All is Discovered! Amphigorey Again Reviewed, October 29, 2006

By	Glen Emil (www.goreyography.com) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Amphigorey Again is the fourth, and possibly last, anthology of works by American author and artist Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000). Picking up where the previous anthology Amphigorey Also (1983) left off, Amphigorey Again reaches as far back as 1968 with the inclusion of The Other Statue and Categor y in 1974, at the same time encompassing the last of Gorey's work with The Headless Bust (1999).

What lies within?

The Galoshes of Remorse, a periodical illustration

Signs of Spring, a newspaper feature

Seasonal Confusion, a newspaper feature

Random Walk, a newspaper feature

Categor y, trade publication

Bibliophile (unlisted pen and ink and watercolor illustration)

The Other Statue, trade publication

10 Impossible Objects (abridged), pen and ink illustrations

The Universal Solvent (abridged), privately published

Scènes de Ballet, privately published postcards

Verse Advice, a newspaper feature

The Deadly Blotter: Thoughtful Alphabet XVII, privately published

Creativity, a periodical pen and ink illustration

The Retrieved Locket, privately published

The Water Flowers, trade publication

The Haunted Tea-Cozy, trade publication

Christmas Wrap-Up, a pen and ink and watercolor illustration

The Headless Bust, trade publication

The Just Dessert: Thoughtful Alphabet XI, privately published

The Admonitory Hippopotamus, a previously unpublished work

Neglected Murderesses, privately published postcards

Tragédies Topiaries, privately published postcards

The Raging Tide, trade publication

The Unknown Vegetable, privately published

Random Walk, a newspaper feature

Serious Life: A Cruise, a newspaper feature

Figbash Acrobate, privately published

La Malle Saignante, a previously unpublished work

The Izzard Book, by Mrs. Regera Dowdy, a previously unpublished work


Two previously unpublished works, The Admonitory Hippopotamus and The Izzard Book, are supposedly unfinished. The other unpublished work, La Malle Saignante is wonderfully conceived and realized; I wonder why it never made it to the bookshelves. But it is The Admonitory Hippopotamus I am especially fond. A compact epic, a touching and vivid portrayal, it is all text. Originally announced in the first Amphigorey back in 1972, I always kept a third eye out for its debut. Though it lacks illustrations, I easily let my mind cast the parts of Angelica and Sneezby with Gorey demoiselles and hippo in the manner of The Nursery Frieze (1964) - and am pleased as punch it's included.

The newspaper and periodical features are satisfying treasures. Unless one was diligently clipping NY Times Magazine and NY Times Book Review and the like, one would've missed most of these. These seasonal limericks and short stories remind me how versatile Gorey was with the English, and occasionally French, languages. His Dogear Wryde postcard series, like Tragédies Topiaries, are strong examples of Gorey's ability to tell stories in a similarly abbreviated medium, nearly all resemble well-articulated storyboards.

Amphigorey Again can also be called The Colorful Compendium - it has twelve works in full spectrum Gorey palette. Works in color previously appeared only once in the first anthology, twice in the third. The twelve works in this volume vary wildly in range and palette, but I find Gorey's subdued tints very nicely done, especially in Galoshes and Random Walk.

But what I really like are the acres of black & white, pen & ink hatching & cross-hatching - and Gorey went to town in La Malle Saignante. Its story could have fallen from a Louis Feuillade notebook, but the artwork is thick with Gorey's graphic motifs used in earlier works like The West Wing (1963) and The Gilded Bat (1966). The density of hatch & x-hatch, if measured in strokes-per-inch, seems as painful as it is beautiful to regard. One can only hope Gorey enjoyed creating these as much as we enjoy soaking them in. Like so many other Edward Gorey classics, the closer one looks, the more one is drawn in.

" The hippopotamus peered out at her from
behind the altar. `Fly at once!' he said. `All is discovered.' "

-- from The Admonitory Hippopotamus: or, Angelica and Sneezby

G Emil,
www.Goreyography.com

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delightfully dour, November 19, 2006

By	Tom Knapp "Rambles.NET editor" (Lancaster, PA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Edward Gorey, New England's master of subtle horror and understated eccentricities, doodled his last doodle, penned his last verse and sketched his last sketch in 2000. But some of his work still remained to be discovered -- that is, until unearthed and bound in "Amphigorey Again," his latest (and quite likely last) volume of uncollected and previously unpublished work.

Here, Gorey's imagination runs free. The opening piece -- a brief verse and drab portrait -- reads simply thus: Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymn-Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse. How perfectly evocative and bewildering!

There are 50 small sketches of a smiling, oddly postured cat. Grim doings are afoot at the annual charity fete at Backwater Hall. A single page celebrates the merits of "The Universal Solvent." Advice is tendered, dance is encapsulated. There's an endless tide of white sauce. A Christmas haunting, and an international gang of wallpaper thieves. Neglected murderesses. And entire stories unfold in the space of an alphabet.

This big book of Gorey concludes with two unfinished works, "La Malle Saignante," a bilingual serial pastiche that is abruptly cut off, and "The Izzard Book," an illustrated homage to the letter Z that fades into sketches.

Everything of course is accompanied by Gorey's tidy, careful, expressive art. Mostly black and white, the work features countless textures and shades of grey. The color, when included, is mostly drab and moody. His characters are often tense and unhappy people, bearing the pained look of a bellyache.

Unless some miraculous collection of unknown work is discoveed, "Amphigorey Again" is Gorey's last volume of new work. It is a vast and fulfilling piece of work, a portable museum of his quirky genius.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.NET editor

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Frequently ghastly happenings imply jeopardy.", November 26, 2006

By	Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Those with a taste for the droll stories and illustrations of Edward Gorey will appreciate this latest volume, previously uncollected works and two unpublished stories, "The Izzard Book", a whimsical take on the letter Z and "La Malle Saignante", a bilingual treatment of early French silent serial movies. Only Gorey's creative and quirky talent could produce the singular images, including rough sketches and unfinished panels, all indicative of a mind churning with intellectual and amazing images, a unique blending of humor and art that touches Gorey's work with true genius.

Delightful, charming and amusing, Gorey's approach to art as a view to the world-at-large is an experience to be savored. Soulful eyes, elongated bodies, strangely formed topiaries, elegant, stylish ladies, mustachioed gentlemen and bizarre beasties, from the cantankerous and irreverent to the sublimely confused... all are delightful. In "The Just Dessert (Thoughtful Alphabet XI)", we are treated to a series of curious images and text: "Bewail complications"; "Drivel endlessly"; "Frequent ghastly happenings imply jeopardy"; "Keep laughing mechanically"; Take umbrage"; and "Vilify." Indeed, such selective use of language fortifies the quirky illustrations with otherworldly delight, a grand adventure of the mind and spirit.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with the distinctive work of Edward Gorey, Amphigorey Again is an invitation to the imagery and whims of a man whose perceptions are skewed by a particular and hilarious genius, an appreciation of the ordinary as extraordinary, a perfect blend of language and art, a joyful romp through the vast chambers of genius constantly reinventing itself. For those who already love Gorey, this volume is a welcome addition to a marvelous collection of work. Luan Gaines/ 2006.