The gilded bat

by Edward Gorey

With his typically dark, droll humor, Edward Gorey presents the transformation of Maudie Splaytoe, a girl prone to staring at dead birds, into Mirella Splatova, a chic and mysterious prima ballerina.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0007EB6N4
• Release Date: January 1966
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Gorey ballet book

Edward Gorey's THE GILDED BAT is the grim yet hilarious tale of a diva ballerina in thirty sentences alongside Gorey's superb ink drawings. It's difficult to describe Gorey's work to a general audience, one really must see his art in order to know what he's all about. THE GILDED BAT does have all the trademarks of Gorey at his height: a setting sometime in the Edwardian era, odd children, deadpan humour, violence, and seedy goings-on that have to be read between the lines (a shocking account of lesbian rivalry is communicated by little more than a glance between two depicted women). To fully get the humour in this particular volume, you must have some knowledge of French, and just a bit of the genre such as Stravinsky's popular ballets. The way Gorey pokes gentle fun at ballet is rather similar to his opera-themed book THE BLUE ASPIC. The book was originally published in 1966. Gorey first editions are collectors items and difficult to find for cheap or in good condition. This Pomegranate reprint is beautiful and very appropriate for giving as a gift. If you want Gorey for yourself, however, the most economical way to read his magnificient oeuvre is through the Amphigorey anthologies. THE GUILDED BAT, for example, is in Amphigorey Too.

Gorey Takes on Ballet

What a delightful, albeit macabre, Gorey story is THE GILDED BAT. It is apparent that Edward Gorey had a passion for ballet. He dedicated this book to ballerina Diana Adams. Every page demonstrates his knowledge of the subject, which he presents in a typically twisted, yet surprisingly tender way. In thirty pages of text (one sentence per page) and as many brilliant illustrations, Gorey delivers the biography of one fictitious dancer, Maudie Splaytoes, known later in her diva years as Mirella Splatova. If you are a dancer, you probably have the picture by now, and are scrambling to find your own copy of this book. We follow Maudie from her first steps in ballet, to her childhood debut as a sparrow in "Bain d'Oiseaux" (French for birdbath), on through stardom and her signature role as the gilded bat, and beyond to the abrupt conclusion of her career (only Gorey could have concocted this flight of fancy!). What amazes me is the way Gorey used brevity as his razor-sharp tool. He not only tells us a lovingly bizarre tale, but evokes an entire bygone era in ballet history, all in thirty sentences! His pictorial depiction of dancers makes you want to sit and study his drawings for hours. These are creatures with overly elongated hands and feet, with plump thighs and much too much turn-out. Here is a satirical tribute to the birds of ballet repertory, such as the Firebird and Odette/Odile from Swan Lake. And here is a tribute to the life of a dancer. I think this book would appeal to Gorey fans in general. A knowledge of dance and of the French language would make this an even richer journey. For ballet dancers and aficionados, this is required reading!