The Gashlycrumb Tinies

The Gashlycrumb Tinies: or, After the Outing is an alphabet book written by Edward Gorey that was first published in 1963 as the first of a collection of short stories called The Vinegar Works, the eleventh work by Gorey. The book tells the tale of 26 children (each representing a letter of the alphabet) and their untimely deaths. It is one of Edward Gorey's best-known books[1] and is the most notorious amongst his roughly half-dozen mock alphabets.[2] It has been described as a "sarcastic rebellion against a view of childhood that is sunny, idyllic, and instructive".[2] The morbid humor of the book comes in part from the mundane ways in which the children in the story die, such as falling down the stairs or choking on a peach. Far from illustrating the dramatic and fantastical childhood nightmares, these scenarios instead poke fun at the banal paranoias that come as a part of parenting.[3]

The Gashlycrumb Tinies (1963)

Gorey has stated the book to be inspired by "those 19th century cautionary tales, I guess, though my book is punishment without misbehavior".[4]

Description

The book, an abecedarium, tells of the deaths of twenty-six children, and is told in thirteen rhyming dactylic couplets, accompanied by the author's distinctive black-and-white illustrations. The book incorporates several elements from alphabet books (such as having each child in the book named after a letter in the English alphabet, and having each entry illustrated), and appends a cause of death for each child, such as being set on fire, being run over by a train or being attacked by wild animals.

See also

References
  1. Tina Kelley (2000-04-16). "Edward Gorey, Eerie Illustrator And Writer, 75". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
  2. Bodmer, George R. (Fall 1989). "The Post-Modern Alphabet: Extending the Limits of the Contemporary Alphabet Book, from Seuss to Gorey". Children's Literature Association Quarterly. Johns Hopkins University Press. 14 (3): 115–117. doi:10.1353/chq.0.0838. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
  3. Kevin Shortsleeve (Spring 2002). "Edward Gorey, Children's Literature, and Nonsense Verse". Children's Literature Association Quarterly. Johns Hopkins University Press. 27 (1): 27–39. doi:10.1353/chq.0.1442. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
  4. Haskel Frankel, "Edward Gorey: Professionally Preoccupied with Death", Herald Tribune, August 25, 1963


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