Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Top 10 black comedies

Back in 2005 the novelist Tiffany Murray named her top ten "books that deal in the murky and contrary depths of dark humour" for the Guardian.

One item on the list:
Amphigorey and Amphigorey Too by Edward Gorey

No such list could begin without Gorey. If you want the lot in paperback there is nothing wrong with these two collections, although the individual Bloomsbury volumes are hard to resist. Fall in love with 'The Uninvited Guest', and for all visiting children leave out 'The Gashlycrumb Tinies': "M is for Maud who was swept out to sea, N is for Neville who died of ennui ... ". See also Strulwwelpeter by Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann (my mother's favourite), Tim Burton's The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy, and anything by David Shrigley.
Read about another title on Murray's list.

--Marshal Zeringue