Of Cabbages & Kings

Halloween, Edward Gorey & The Gashleycrumb Tinies "A is for Amy who fell down the stairs B is for Basil assaulted by bears . . ." --and so this macabre ABC book begins. Beginning with a cover on which 26 young children huddle under Death the Undertaker's umbrella, in this story, one by one, 26 unfortunate children meet their demise. The illustrations are resolute in their unflinching gloom, filled with dense minutely cross-hatched ink shadows and Victorian and Edwardian architecture. At the end of the book is a simple picture of a crowded grouping of tombstones to assure us that there is no last minute rescue for these unlucky protagonists. A simple and effective tale reminiscent of Strewel Peter and of the cautionary tales of a century earlier, this tale of an overdose of misfortune is so Gothically gloomy that it ends up being ridiculously funny--which is exactly its appeal to children and adults alike. With Halloween upon us, and the Typography Class I teach this semester doing an Abecedary Assignment, putting together an ABC book full of monsters and trick-or-treaters this week, one of my students suggested that, as a class, we check out Edward Gorey's The Gashleycrumb Tinies, an abecedary presented in full at http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/stage/7535/gorey.html, and so we did; and I thought it would be fun to share our exploration with you. First visit the afore-mentioned site to read through the tale in its entirety and then return for a discussion of Edward Gorey, its creator. Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000) died only recently, and is perhaps best remembered by the public for his work on the animation that begins the PBS Mystery! series that premiered in 1980 (co-directed by Derek Lamb). His macabre ink creations with their fine cross-hatching and Victorian/Edwardian settings display a Gothic angularity and slightly ominous feel that has collected a cult following for his artwork and has caused much of his audience to suspect he has British roots--although he never visited Great Britain and rarely traveled . . . living out the final years of his life in Massachusetts. Hailing from Chicago from a somewhat colorful family (his parents divorced when he was eleven and then remarried when he was twenty-seven), Gorey's father was a journalist, if only for a brief time, and one of Edward's step-mothers, Corinna Mura, was a cabaret singer who landed a brief role in the classic film Casablanca. Edward believed he inherited his talent from one of his great-grandmother's (maternal), Helen St. John Garvey, who was a reputable Victorian era greeting card writer and illustrator. Edward served from 1944-1946 in the Army in Utah and then enrolled in Harvard University until 1950, where his roommate was Frank O'Hara, future poet. While not possessing a great deal of formal training, Gorey did study art for a semester at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and eventually became a professional illustrator. He moved to New York City and worked for the art Department at Doubleday Anchor doing illustration work for their published books and has illustrated Bram Stoker's Dracula, Wells' The War of the Worlds, and T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Later, Gorey began illustrating picture books for children, including books by John Bellairs. He also illustrated series of books begun by Bellairs and then continued by other authors following his passing. He illustrated over fifty works of other authors. In 1953, Gorey published his first work completely his own, in The Unstrung Harp. Gorey wrote over 100 books, many of them quite short. However, since many of them were published in small runs by obscure presses, it is frequently difficult to locate many titles (with price tags rising accordingly). Four large collections of his work exist, with each containing perhaps fifteen or more of his shorter books. These are: Amphigorey, 1972, contains The Unstrung Harp, The Listing Attic, The Doubtful Guest, The Object-Lesson, The Bug Book, The Fatal Lozenge, The Hapless Child, The Curious Sofa, The Willowdale Handcar, The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Insect God, The West Wing, The Wuggly Ump, The Sinking Spell, and The Remembered Visit Amphigorey Too, 1975, contains The Beastly Baby, The Nursery Frieze, The Pious Infant, The Evil Garden, The Inanimate Tragedy, The Gilded Bat, The Iron Tonic, The Osbick Bird, The Chinese Obelisks, The Deranged Cousins, The Eleventh Episode, [The Untitled Book], The Lavender Leotard, The Disrespectful Summons, The Abandoned Sock, The Lost Lions, Story for Sara [with Alphonse Allais], The Salt Herring [with Charles Cros], Leaves from a Mislaid Album, and A Limerick Amphigorey Also, 1983, contains The Utter Zoo, The Blue Aspic, The Epipleptic Bicycle, The Sopping Thursday, The Grand Passion, Les Passementeries Horribles, The Eclectic Abecedarium, L'Heure bleue, The Broken Spoke, The Awdrey-Gore Legacy, The Glorious Nosebleed, The Loathsome Couple, The Green Beads, Les Urnes Utiles, The Stupid Joke, The Prune People, and The Tuning Fork Amphigorey Again, 2006, contains The Galoshes of Remorse, Signs of Spring, Seasonal Confusion, Random Walk, Category, The Other Statue, 10 Impossible Objects (abridged), The Universal Solvent (abridged), Scenes de Ballet, Verse Advice, The Deadly Blotter, Creativity, The Retrieved Locket, The Water Flowers, The Haunted Tea-Cosy, Christmas Wrap-Up, The Headless Bust, The Just Dessert, The Admonitory Hippopotamus, Neglected Murderesses, Tragedies Topiares, The Raging Tide, The Unknown Vegetable, Another Random Walk, Serious Life: A Cruise, Figbash Acrobate, La Malle Saignante, and The Izzard Book Though Gorey's books are popular with children, he never married nor spoke of any interest in any romantic relationships and had no children of his own; nor did he associate with children much nor show much interest in children. In the book, The Strange Case of Edward Gorey, published after Gorey's death, his friend Alexander Theroux presents a picture of a man who was generous of spirit, friendly, but preferred a solitary existence much of the time. One interesting fact is that Edward Gorey frequently published under pseudonyms using anagrams of the letters in his own name, such as "Ogdred Weary," a tradition also used by Theodor Seuss Geisel, another well-known children's author/illustrator. Other anagramatic names Edward Gorey wrote under included: Ogdred Weary - The Curious Sofa, The Beastly Baby Mrs. Regera Dowdy - The Pious Infant Eduard Blutig - The Evil Garden (translated from Der Böse Garten by Mrs. Regera Dowdy), The Tuning Fork (translated from Der Zeitirrthum by Mrs. Regera Dowdy) Raddory Gewe - The Eleventh Episode Dogear Wryde - The Broken Spoke/Cycling Cards E. G. Deadworry - The Awdrey-Gore Legacy D. Awdrey-Gore - The Toastrack Enigma, The Blancmange Tragedy, The Postcard Mystery, The Pincushion Affair, The Toothpaste Murder, The Dustwrapper Secret (Note: These books, attributed to Awdrey-Gore in Gorey's book, The Awdrey-Gore Legacy, were not actually written.) Edward Pig - The Untitled Book Wardore Edgy Madame Groeda Weyrd - The Fantod Deck Edward Gorey received a Tony Award for Best Costume Design for the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula, and a nomination for his scenic design for the same. In his home, called Elephant House, in Yarmouth Port on Cape Cod, in a dramatic ensemble called La Theatricule Stoique, he wrote and directed many dramatic presentations featuring his own papier mache puppets. In the early 1970s, Edward Gorey wrote a screenplay for The Black Doll, an unproduced silent film. In Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1987 his play, Lost Shoelaces, premiered. His major theatrical effort was a libretto to music by Daniel James Wolf for a work that premiered posthumously, The White Canoe, an "Opera Seria for Handpuppets" based on The Lady of the Lake legend. Gorey had a liking for ballet, loved cats (he had several), viewed an excellent commercial as an art form, and acquired an extensive knowledge of books and film, writing rather acidic movie reviews under the pseudonym of Wardore Edgy for the Soho Weekly for awhile. When being interviewed he would often refer to a broad range of his favorite authors and artists, such as Francis Bacon, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Lady Murasaki Shikibu, and Vermeer, among others--showing an eclectic appreciation of style. Gorey also unabashedly and openly valued pop culture, following television series like Cheers, soap operas, as well as several darker genre series like Buffy, the Vampire Slayer or The X-Files. He once admitted when being interviewed, that his enjoyment for the animated Batman series was so great that it was influencing his style for an upcoming book. It is often difficult to categorize Gorey's work. For example, is it written for children or for adults? Gorey is sometimes called an artist who writes. Sometimes he is called a writer who draws. Gorey's books, both writings and illustrations, probably fit under the title of literary nonsense. His work can be found in the humor sections of bookstores, but some of his work such as The Object Lesson has received critical acclaim as an example of surrealist art. Gorey experimented with both form and content. He created pop-up books, matchbox-sized books, wordless books, and books populated entiredly with inanimate objects. Gorey would probably have taken the difficulty in categorizing his work as a complement. As he, himself, stated to interviewer Richard Dyer: "Ideally, if anything were any good, it would be indescribable." The World of Edward Gorey by Clifford Ross and Karen Wilkin, published in 2002 by Harry N. Abrams Publishers, features an interview with Edward Gorey, many plates of his artwork from various projects, both in black and white and color, and a discussion of his work. For further on-line exploration of this fascinating artist, visit: Mystery! Edward Gorey interview Selected Gorey works Elephant House: The Edward Gorey House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gorey

Many thanks to Evan for bringing Edward Gorey to the attention of Typography 2007.