Millions,
Seriously. I’m shocked that someone so dark and so thoroughly weird would be as well known as Gorey is. The art is always top notch, but his plots & subject matter…well that’s a whole other thing. On one hand, there are books like “The Remembered Visit.” It’s strange, but it makes sense. There’s some sort of sad moral at the end, with the envelopes flying through the window. On the other hand, there are 26 alphabetized one liners about toddlers meeting their demise; there’s “The Object Lesson,” which makes little to no sense at all.
Basically: why do we know who Edward Gorey is? What made him so prolific? Am I missing something in his stranger stories that insiders know about? What’s his deal? He seems troubled. I’m curious as to any information you can get me on this completely bizarre character in illustrated literature.
He’s completely unique, and very talented. He’s Goth without being stupid. He’s scary and funny at the same time. He appeals to a lot of people from PBS fans to Sisters of Mercy fans. He tickles our morbid sensibilities without being gross. His macabre sense is very subtle, compared to most other modern horror.
Like I said, I think the art is amazing. I’ve never seen anyone do what he does with ink alone. There are just those stories I read, laugh uneasily at, and make sure the neighbors kids don’t find. If that’s the point, I’m willing to deal with my unhipness on this one.
I just saw Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride over the weekend, and wondered if there was a Gorey hommage in there. I’m thinking specifically of a young boy who seemed very Gorey-esque in the way he was depicted. (But now I can’t even think what role the boy had in the movie. It was very small and incidental.) Did this register with anyone else who saw the movie?
Gorey is goofily dark, but I’ve never found him disturbing, not in the sense that Birdmonster seems to. The idea of having to hide a Gorey book, even one of his “adult” titles like The Curious Sofa, is a little odd to me. Amphigorey and Amphigorey Too were two of my favorite books when I was a kid. It’s great fun, but really pretty harmless. Nothing to be ashamed about.
Incidentally, The Tiger Lillies released an album called The Gorey End, which is a collection of songs based on unpublished Gorey stories. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, but it’s certainly an… apt musical interpretation of his comics. I particularly liked “Gin” and “Weeping Chandelier.”
I’m more confused than disturbed by him. I too have Amphigorey (one, not two) and, like I said, The Object Lesson leaves me with the sense I’m missing something. I couldn’t deny the laughs I got out of it, but I think some of those chuckles were of the"what the hell is going here" variety.
Pretty similar, without the mortarboard. I’m actually thinking of a kid from another Gorey book (can’t remember which one), but they’re all pretty similar in the way he drew them. I wish I could remember what the kid was doing in the movie.
Would y’all stop talking about gorey in the present tense? He died five years ago. (And without ever getting to hear the Tiger Lillies’ "The Gorey End.)
E is for Edward, attacked by his heart.
Anyway if the question is how did someone so weird get so popular (that he deserves to be is not a question…er…not a question to me ) the answer is probably the same way Charles Addams did…got a leg up from the New Yorker. What is it with the New Yorker and macabre cartoonists?
