Το επιπληκτικό ποδήλατο

by Edward Gorey, Σωτήρης Κακίσης (Translator)

Μια ωραία μέρα -ακριβώς μετά την Τρίτη και πριν την Τετάρτη- παρουσιάστηκε μπροστά στην Έμπλυ και στον Γιούμπερτ ένα καταπληκτικό όχημα. Ξεκινάει λοιπόν ένα ταξίδι ατρόμητο, επικής μεγαλοπρέπειας, του οποίου ο ήρωας δεν έχει αντίστοιχο στα χρονικά της λογοτεχνίας.

Λίγο πολύ παντού στον κόσμο, διάφοροι παθιασμένοι και ζηλιάρηδες βιβλιοφάγοι διαπληκτίζονται για κάποια βιβλιαράκια που έβγαιναν, σε άτακτα χρονικά διαστήματα, από μια παράξενη κατοικία στο Κέηπ Κόντ, όχι πολύ μακριά από τη Νέα Υόρκη. Το φαινόμενο ξεκίνησε στις αρχές της δεκαετίας του '50 και συνεχίστηκε διακριτικά για πενήντα περίπου χρόνια. Κυκλοφορούν ψίθυροι ότι αυτά τα αλλόκοτα βιβλία, δημοσιευμένα από παντελώς άγνωστους εκδότες, ήταν δημιούργημα ενός εκκεντρικού ψαρομάλλη γενειοφόρου, με γούνινο παλτό και αθλητικά παπούτσια. Το όνομά του ήταν Έντουαρντ Γκόρεϋ (αλλά υπάρχει και ένας Ogdred Weary και ένας Dogear Wryde).

«Τα σχέδια και οι χαρακτήρες εκτελούν μαζί μια άψογη χορογραφία...Ένας υπέροχος, σχεδόν αισώπειος μύθος...Στον Γκόρεϋ, το σύμπαν είναι πάνω απ’ όλα ένα μπαλέτο, θεϊκά παράλογο και σκληρό».
–Le Monde

«Ο εξεζητημένος αισθητισμός του Γκόρεϋ και η γλυκιά απελπισία του είναι ιδιότητες που τις συναντάμε αποκλειστικά σ’ αυτόν».
–L’Est républicain

Genres: Fiction, Art, Humor, Graphic Novels, Comics, Picture Books, Childrens

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Born in Chicago, Gorey came from a colourful family; his parents, Helen Dunham Garvey and Edward Lee Gorey, divorced in 1936 when he was 11, then remarried in 1952 when he was 27. One of his step-mothers was Corinna Mura, a cabaret singer who had a brief role in the classic film Casablanca. His father was briefly a journalist. Gorey's maternal great-grandmother, Helen St. John Garvey, was a popular 19th century greeting card writer/artist, from whom he claimed to have inherited his talents. He attended a variety of local grade schools and then the Francis W. Parker School. He spent 1944–1946 in the Army at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, and then attended Harvard University from 1946 to 1950, where he studied French and roomed with future poet Frank O'Hara.

Although he would frequently state that his formal art training was "negligible", Gorey studied art for one semester at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 1943, eventually becoming a professional illustrator. From 1953 to 1960, he lived in New York City and worked for the Art Department of Doubleday Anchor, illustrating book covers and in some cases adding illustrations to the text. He has illustrated works as diverse as Dracula by Bram Stoker, The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. In later years he illustrated many children's books by John Bellairs, as well as books in several series begun by Bellairs and continued by other authors after his death.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love Edward Gorey and this is a great little oddity. It appears no one dies during this story, but do they really not die? The end leaves us wondering what happened to the kids and what is going on?? This is about 2 kids and a bicycle having adventures. It did make me laugh. There are not that many frames, but it skips chapters around like crazy and that felt like its own joke to me. This story just tickled me.

I do love the artwork and the mystery left at the end. Fantastic. I also found a short someone made of the story when I was looking up the publication date on Vimeo. It is 6 minutes of wonder. It’s worth looking up. I just put in the title and it came up. It is stop motion and it’s right off the page.

I also read this to the nephew and he loved it. I did ask him about the opening. The line is ‘It was the day after Tuesday and the day before Wednesday.’ He didn’t catch that till I pointed it out. I asked him the day after Tuesday and he said Wednesday and then I asked him what the day before Wednesday was and He said Tuesday, so I asked him which day they were talking about and now he was confused. He didn’t get it. I told him I think it was a joke. He didn’t laugh. He loved the bit with the alligator. He thought this was really weird and he gave this 4 stars.

This is one of my more favorite Gorey stories. LOVE.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It was the day after Tuesday and the day before Wednesday."

And why do you ask me, "what does 'epiplectic' mean?" !! Do I look like a dictionary?!

Two siblings are just hanging around doing what siblings do, hitting each other on the head with croquet mallets (remember those days?!) and a[n untenanted] bicycle shows up, leading to various random adventures, including entering a barn where it "was too dark to hear anything." Yes, we are in a world Gorey loves, between Tuesday and Wednesday, that twilight zone, though never really scary.

Just crazy, absurd. It seems like it all happened in a dream, or in surreality, or, as in the end they discover an obelisk was erected in their memory 173 years ago, so they are really. . . (ooh, it's a ghost story!).

Callista refers to a film version of the story by Lauren Horoszewski posted on Vimeo; here it is:

https://vimeo.com/11171863

[John of Canada · Rating 5 out of 5]

What the strange bird muttered made me laugh out loud(sorry other library patrons).What prompted me to give this 5 stars were the comments and reviews of other Goodreaders.It took me longer to read them then it did to read the book.Thank you all!

p.s.The front and back cover are very funny.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having misread the title as "The Epileptic Bicycle", I was waiting for some kind of velocipedic convulsion which never happened. Having re-read the title, I understand why.

Both text and illustrations are slight and, while not without interest, neither really grabbed me. But, I think there may be more in here than my first reading uncovered, so I'll give it a short while and read it again to see if I can plumb some hidden depths.

Update 25-05-2015: I have read it again, and there are no hidden depths to be plumbed, as far as I can tell. Nonetheless, there is something about the book that I like (possibly that Yewbert looks a bit like Curt Cobain? That the bird reminds me of the 'nuisance bird' in The Phantom Tollbooth?), so I will give it an extra ½ star = 3½ stars.

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Embley and Yewbert's surreal adventures on their epipleptic bike. They begin with a fight with croquet hammers (a novelty weapon!) and then, amongst other things, pass through a field of turnips, which are not there, and meet up with an alligator. The alligator gets hit after it attacks them and, in typical Gorey style, utters the immortal (!) words "I die." Great fun and, as always, beautifully illustrated by the author.

[Lexi]

i have a crush on edward gorey. wouldn't it be great to be his friend, and have him write you birthday cards like the curious sofa?

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who can say what this book is about. Who cares is what I say.

[Chris Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t blame anybody for wanting to gorge on Gorey, and the Amphigoreys provide ample opportunities for readers to do so. Yet, there is something even more special about reading them as individual books. It feels more focussed and special when detached from other masterpieces. This is especially the case for Bicycle which manages to be about quite a lot purely by omission. Gorey would write and draw stranger books, and would also explore the idea of seeing the edges of narratives again, but something about Bicycle feels like the ultimate exploration of this. In many ways it’s revisiting the territory of The Willowdale Handcar, but taken to an abstracted level where the stranger events are either omitted (literally, in the case of the “missing” chapters), and figuratively in the rest of it) or described by someone else. It almost feels like an even more absurdist take on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, with Embley and Yewbert on the edges of a great surrealist adventure that they completely and utterly miss because of their idiocy. Gorey’s genius is that it’s absolutely ambiguous, a blank story where the reader is asked to make the connections and narrative themselves.

It goes without saying that it’s also beautifully drawn, with a more fluid line for our ridiculous heroes and the bike to contrast against the minimalist backgrounds. As ever I am awe inspired by the creativity and thought that goes into something so gossamer light as this, Gorey at his absolute best

[Steffi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was Almuth und Siegbert hier mit einem merkwürdigen Fahrrad erleben, ist komplett irreal. Selbst die Kapitelnummerierung ist sinnlos. Einmal verliert Almuth beim Radfahren vierzehn Paar gelbe Schuhe.

[Welbeck Kane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the books I own this one might possibly be the one I return to the most. The fact that it is very short is one reason; an alligator that rises out of a puddle shouting,"Ho!" is another. Certainly not the most disturbing of Gorey's books (children only beat each other with croquet mallets in this one), but maybe his funniest and most mysterious. And my favourite.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emblem and Yewbert find a mysterious bicycle which takes them on a journey including a large bird which gives them an ominous message and a giant alligator. Later they arrive back home to realize more time has passed then they realize…

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another favorite. I actually had birds named Embley and Yewbert.

[Robert Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful and splendid with the usual Gorey whimsy.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing!

[Sam Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unforgettable

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly fun

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE EPIPLECTIC BICYCLE is one of the Gorey's usual stories told through ink drawings accompanied by pithy captions. This tale concerns Embley and Yewbert, two children who are distracted from their pastime of hitting each other with croquet mallets by a sentient bicycle that appears out of nowhere. Thereupon they hop on and go through various adventures, ending in a shocking revelation that seems right out of the "Voyage of Bran". The story is one of great whimsy and a love of nonsense, and amusingly contradicts itself at several points.

While THE EPIPLECTIC BICYCLE is quite funny, I don't rate it among Gorey's most substantial works due to the sparseness of the drawings and the fact that it lacks the macabre tone common to Gorey's greatest work. If you've never read an Edward Gorey book before, start with THE OTHER STATUE or THE BLUE ASPIC, grim stories whose drawings are of astounding quality.

[John Whipple · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Beware of this and that."

Each frame has such dark portent and allegorical potential. This was my second purchased and still favorite of the Gorey books, and a grim reminder to never have siblings. And with the children learning nothing after 173 years, causing the bicycle to finally give up the ghost, I have to wonder at Gorey's message about children, and humanity in general.

[Jen Dent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Embley and Yewbert have a harrowing journey on an untenanted bicycle. I am very fond of the instance in which an alligator accosts them and Embley kicks it in the nose, and it expires. I like books in which the next page does not indicate anything that one can/will/should expect on the following.

[Sam Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A marvelous study of the long and fascinating history of bicycle manufacture in the Trobriand islands. Recommended for all fans of legionnaire's disease and arbitrage.

[Niall Hyland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and sweet with nice illustrations.

[Robert Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like silly and I like surreal, but my like does not extend to this book.

I need there to be a little sense beneath the sill. I desire there to be a clever play on words or an in-joke I can appreciate in the company of a select audience.

I could find none of this here.

So sorry.

Just one more thing: according to the interweb - epiplectic is a form of the word epiplexis, which is a Greek word which means to chide or shame someone into better behavior.

[Whitney Watercutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best conclusion one can come to concerning this book is that Gorey's characters operate within their own laws of space, time, and normalcy. The second best conclusion is that Gorey did, in fact, muddle the language and translation of this book up on purpose so as to delight the reader and annoy the critics (and honestly, they were getting too big for their britches anyways, weren't they?).

[Caleb Liu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a lovely Christmas gift from a dear friend. It was completely random and delightfully funny. I loved the illustrations. Definite proof that two wheels are better than four (at least in cases where the two wheels propel themselves)!

[najla · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Doubtful Guest is still my favorite gorey, but this one does have some moving renditions of drowning. right? am i thinking of the right one?

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the plot indicated in the title, it is one of Gorey's most fluid tales. The puppetmaster of poetry and pictures, Gorey proves once again to be the definitive auteur of literature and the term "in a class by himself" dodges cliché with a swerve of the handlebars.

[Karan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chanced upon at a bookstore, and this was a great 5 min on-the-spot read! My intro to Edward Gorey (why didn't I know about him before??) and one that's made me an instant fan. I bet I can revisit this book again and again to discover more.

[Halah Ahmad · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Epiplectic Bicycle by Edward Gorey (first published 1969)

While Embley and Yewbert are hitting one another with croquet mallets one day, an untenanted bicycle rolls into their garden. This book chronicles their adventures across turnip fields, through barns and into bushes.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

So fun to find this teensy book sitting among the hulking monsters on the "G" adult fiction shelf, like a thin little sliver of mushroom smished between two hearty slices of rustic country loaf. And a nice, twisty ending.

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorey is a master of infusing a minor quirky moment into an entire, enchanting, story.