Product Description

Inspired by Samuel Foote's poem, "The Grand Panjandrum," The Object-Lesson presents a stunning series of seemingly random and unrelated events. A missing artificial limb, ghostly spectres, and the statue of Corrupted Endeavour all have a place in this enigmatic tale, which combines elements of French surrealism, Japanese haiku, and lots of good fun.
With its humorous obscurity and puzzling intrigues, The Object-Lesson delights and provokes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70321 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780151007097
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
'The dark, appallingly funny works of Edward Gorey are finally being published in Britain. Not before time. A writer and artist of genius.' Independent on Sunday 'Malevolent and brilliant.' Big Issue

Review

About the Author
Born in Chicago in 1925, Edward Gorey was one of the most highly regarded artists and writers of our time. His extraordinary and disconcerting books are avidly sought and treasured around the world. He died in 2000.

Customer Reviews

at the statue of Corrupted Endeavor
Edward Gorey, most easily recognizable for the opening animation of the television show "Mystery!", wrote dozens of strangely comic picture-books that were not intended for children. The Object-Lesson shines among them.

The first sentence, divided amongst six elaborately crosshatched panoramic ink drawings, initiates what is only the first of several surreal and non-sequiturial narratives and gives readers the sense that an elaborate story of some sort is unfolding and they are mearly seeing brief snippets.

Having just read the book, I'd say the effect is of looking out from inside a novel: a story is happening, but the large passages of narration that connect the individual events of "The Object-Lesson" into a single story are as unavailable to the reader as they are to the characters. It's mysterious, it's exciting, it's lots and lots of fun.

I reccomend buying this and leaving it anywhere in your home where people will be waiting for the maybe-five minutes it takes to finish the book, as the wierdness of it all will make their day that much more fun.

An enchanting book
This nifty book defies summarization. Traipsing along through 30 pages of illustrations and text, the story draws the reader along a whimsically surreal story, where each event leads inexorably to the next completely unconnected event! The illustrations are black-and-white, stark like the text, reminding one of the whimsical images that featured at the beginning of PBS's mystery show. This book is not to be taken too seriously, but is also not to be missed; it is an enchanting book.This nifty book defies summarization. Traipsing along through 30 pages of illustrations and text, the story draws the reader along a whimsically surreal story, where each event leads inexorably to the next completely unconnected event! The illustrations are black-and-white, stark like the text, reminding one of the whimsical images that featured at the beginning of PBS's mystery show. This book is not to be taken too seriously, but is also not to be missed; it is an enchanting book.

Charmingly Nonsensical
This book is great Edward Gorey fun. Each page contains one intriguing sentence that is completely unrelated to the sentence on the last page, but the implication is that the author is telling one coherent story. The pictures are hilarious, the vocabulary stimulating, and the situations entertainingly bizarre.