002: What is a Throbblefoot Spectre???

A few years back, while reading a Jay Stephens' LAND OF NOD comic, I noticed that the particular issue I was enjoying was dedicated to Maurice Sendak and Edward Gorey. I'd loved WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE since kindergarten when I got the book through the R.I.F. program, but I'd never heard of this Edward Gorey guy...

I went to the Longview Public Library in Longview, WA and found something called AMPHIGOREY which was a collection of fifteen of Eddy's cool little books. Now, I agree, it's always best if you can get the little books, but as an introduction to one of the most interesting minds of the last century, this book was most satisfactory...

So I'm reading through this book, which is filled with absolutely brilliant, surreal, dark, and humorous stories and the creepiest, coolest art style I've seen since Aubrey Beardsley. One "story" in particular stood out for me as being the most wonderful piece of work I'd ever read. For the purposes of completion I will reproduce it here, but you are only getting half the story without Gorey's illustrations so go out immediately and buy a copy of this book, or AMPHIGOREY, if you find this sort of thing interesting at all:

THE OBJECT-LESSON
"It was already Thursday,
but his lordship's artificial limb could not be found;
therefore, having directed the servants to fill the baths,
he seized the tongs
and set out at once for the edge of the lake,
where the Throbblefoot Spectre still loitered in a distraught manner.
He presented it with a length of string
and passed on to the statue of Corrupted Endeavour
to await the arrival of autumn.
Meanwhile, on the tower,
Madame O______ in conversation with an erstwhile cousin
saw that his moustache was not his own,
on which she flung herself over the parapet
and surreptitiously vanished.
He descended, destroying the letter unread,
and stepped backwards into the water for a better view.
Heavens, how dashing! cried the people in the dinghy,
and Echo answered: Count the spoons!
On the shore a bat, or possibly an umbrella,
disengaged itself from the shrubbery,
causing those nearby to recollect the miseries of childhood.
It now became apparent (despite the lack of library paste)
that something had happened to the vicar;
guns began to go off in the distance.
At twilight, however, no message had come from the asylum,
so the others retired to the kiosk,
only to discover the cakes iced a peculiar shade of green
and the tea-urn empty
save for a card on which was written the single word:
Farewell."

[Gorey, Edward. "The Object-Lesson." AMPHIGOREY. New York: Perigee, 1980. no page numbers.]


Like I said, the pictures are a big part of the appeal, but even without them, you get a real feel for the bizarre, stream of consciousness style that much of Gorey's work is based on. I love the introduction of the Throbblefoot Spectre who, having been given a length of string, simply walks away, as happy as a spectre could be.

So, that's what a Throbblefoot Spectre is... (Any questions???)