The Headless Bust: A Melancholy Meditation on the False Millenium

The Headless Bust: A Melancholoy Meditation on the False Millenium

• author & illustrator:  Edward Gorey  http://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org/
• ink sketches
• year of publication: 1999
• publication city:  New York
• publisher:  Harcourt Brace & Company
• ISBN:  0-15-100514-1

Annotation: Edmund Gravel and the Bahhumbug meet a winged Whatsit bug that whisks them off to a faraway island where they witness the eerie encounters of a macabre group of characters at the turn of the millennium.

Personal Thoughts: This is a very strange book indeed.  The story is told in verse and involves an aristocratic looking gentleman called Edmund Gravel and a giant black bug called the Bahhumbug, who are returning characters from previous Edward Gorey books.  The two are transported via dark cloud to a faraway island where they witness the misadventures of other dismal characters that seem to weave in and out of the story with rhyme, but without reason.  We hear of dogs who go into comas, a man with six toes, a pianist who goes into seclusion after losing her dress on stage.  What is going on in these stories?  It is truly hard to figure out. 

 

But Gorey is probably best known for his grim and gothic sketches.  This book is fun due in large part to the giant Bahhumbug standing next to well dressed Edmund.  The juxtaposition brings to mind so many interesting comparisons, from Kafka to Tim Burton to Disney to E.T.  Gorey will attract interest from anyone who magnetizes toward the macabre.  Even though the writing is nonsensical, the pictures the reader grounded.