The Gilded Bat

“The Gilded Bat” by Edward Gorey is the splendid but sad biography of a ballet dancer (who never was). On facing pages: one line of text on the left, a full-page illustration facing it, we watch a five-year old develop into a major ballerina. Although Gorey here is outrageous there is a kernel of reality. Young ballerinas ARE exploited, and do lead lonely difficult lives. (Rereading it enhances its effect. . . and so I think it is a lovely book, not foolishness.)

I collect Edward Gorey first editions so it's hard for me to select just one book to represent Gorey's entire ouvre. The Gilded Bat, though, comes pretty close to being the ultimate Gorey book combining as it does, his trademark black humor with his love of the ballet.
The Gilded Bat recounts the story of little Maudie Splaytoe who is whicked from her suburban home into the ballet company of Madame Trapidovska. As she rises through the company,her rivals disappearing rather mysteriously, her life is outwardly glamorous yet privately very dull. She does, though die a very mysterious and, no doubt, glamorous death.

An unusual take on the world of ballet, October 22, 2014

This review is from: The Gilded Bat (Hardcover)
Edward Gorey's love for the ballet comes to the fore in this little tale of Maudie, 'discovered' by the great Mme Trepidovska, and taken to ballet school. Unlike the glamour and magic that we normally associate with the world of dance, young Maudie's life is largely one of tedium: dancing in the provinces (depressing picture of waiting in a bus shelter) or washing out her smalls in a grim bedsit. Very funny moments too - dancing in 'Le Corbeau' (d'apres E A Poe) !
And then she takes a plane to a royal gala...
Wonderful illustrations

The Gilded Bat is the satirical tale of a ballet dancer's rise to stardom. Far more subtle in its humor than much of Gorey's work, TGB restrains much of its silliness to the titles and subjects of the ballets. The art is, as always, divine.

Hands down, my favorite Gorey. I don't know what, exactly, touches me so deeply about this little tale, but it's so haunting and delightfully melancholy that I treasure it.

I really like the art is this one.