Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey

by Mark Dery

Hardcover, 2018

Status

Available

Call number

PS3557.O753 Z57

Publication

Little, Brown and Company (2018), Edition: Illustrated, 512 pages

Description

Art. Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. HTML: The definitive biography of Edward Gorey, the eccentric master of macabre nonsense. From The Gashlycrumb Tinies to The Doubtful Guest, Edward Gorey's wickedly funny and deliciously sinister little books have influenced our culture in innumerable ways, from the works of Tim Burton and Neil Gaiman to Lemony Snicket. Some even call him the Grandfather of Goth. But who was this man, who lived with over twenty thousand books and six cats, who roomed with Frank O'Hara at Harvard, and was knownâ??in the late 1940s, no lessâ??to traipse around in full-length fur coats, clanking bracelets, and an Edwardian beard? An eccentric, a gregarious recluse, an enigmatic auteur of whimsically morbid masterpieces, yesâ??but who was the real Edward Gorey behind the Oscar Wildean pose? He published over a hundred books and illustrated works by Samuel Beckett, T.S. Eliot, Edward Lear, John Updike, Charles Dickens, Hilaire Belloc, Muriel Spark, Bram Stoker, Gilbert & Sullivan, and others. At the same time, he was a deeply complicated and conflicted individual, a man whose art reflected his obsessions with the disquieting and the darkly hilarious. Based on newly uncovered correspondence and interviews with personalities as diverse as John Ashbery, Donald Hall, Lemony Snicket, Neil Gaiman, and Anna Sui, BORN TO BE POSTHUMOUS draws back the curtain on the eccentric genius and mysterious life of Edward Go… (more)

Media reviews

Studies in Illustration
... So, mightn't one have supposed that this biography would be complemented by copious examples of his work? Sadly, barely anything, whether because of the publisher's parsimony or because of the Gorey estate's having refused permission to grant reproduction rights. Either way, it is a grave
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disappointment. For an altogether more satisfactory appraisal of Gorey's work, with over 200 drawings, I would commend any interested reader to The World of Edward Gorey by Clifford Ross and Karen Wilkin (Abrams. New York. 1996).
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User reviews

LibraryThing member Michael.Rimmer
Having gathered slightly less than a handful of Gorey's books, and having been delighted and frustrated by them in equal measure, the publication of Dery's biography was a timely one for me. Perhaps now I would be provided with a key to understanding what on earth Gorey was on about!

Well, mission
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accomplished! Somewhat...

Dery explains for the uninitiated that the point of most of Gorey's work is that there is no specific point. Gorey's interest is in atmosphere, feeling, the unsaid, and in leaving room for the reader (observer?) of his books to find such meaning as they may. What a relief! Released from the agony of interpretation I find myself more able to connect with the books and enjoy them for what they are, rather than what I'm trying to make them be.

That service provided, as a biography, Dery’s book is (so far as I can tell) detailed, sympathetic and insightful. Gorey is presented as somebody it would have been difficult, and interesting, and pleasant, and stimulating, and frustrating to know.

Placing Gorey within the stream of LGBTQI+ culture, counter-culture and mainstream culture seemed a worthwhile exercise to me, however I think that a little too much time is spent by Dery discussing Gorey’s sexuality. From the quotes Dery gives by Gorey on the subject, he addressed the topic adequately and the “long stare” seems somewhat prurient and intrusive when cast upon a person who protected their privacy so carefully.

The foregoing point aside, this is a fantastic work of biography which I thoroughly enjoyed.
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LibraryThing member MontzaleeW
Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey by Mark Deryis a book I requested and the review is voluntary.
I didn't even know who Edward Gorey was when I started this book, is that bad? Well I sure do now!
I love how this book is written. It is full of character
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and is very colorful just like the subject! Each chapter heading is unique, and the interviews, the subjects, the content, and the personal details are totally remarkably!
I started out knowing nothing about this man and ended up knowing more than I ever expected to! Brilliantly written about quite an interesting person.
I thank Little, Brown and Company for letting me learn so much from this talented author!
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LibraryThing member AliceaP
I have been a casual fan of Edward Gorey for quite some time and hoped to learn more about him by reading Born to be Posthumous The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey by Mark Dery. While much is known about his work there is still a lot of mystery surrounding the man himself. He
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didn’t keep a diary and there’s not much in the way of correspondence. Was he a confirmed bachelor because of choice as an asexual man or was he a closeted man who never found time for love? Were his affectations symptomatic of a fake persona or was it the real him? Gorey was tested and judged to have a high IQ but his turbulent home life saw him uprooted often and he ended up delaying entry to Harvard to join the Army. Sporting long fur coats, white sneakers, lots of rings on both hands, and a big bushy beard insured that he stood out wherever he went. He compartmentalized his friendships, had no known romantic relationships, and spent inordinate amounts of time going to the ballet, watching silent movies, and reading copious amounts of books (specifically mysteries). [A/N: He once stated that he read 21,000 books and watched 1,000 movies a year.] At the end of his life he had moved into a dilapidated house on Cape Cod where he lived among lots of cats and a variety of knickknacks and curios. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer and diabetes before finally suffering a heart attack. Not quite the ignominious fate that his characters tended to suffer; it was nevertheless the end of an iconic literary figure.

Dery spent a large chunk of the book talking about the 'hidden meaning' in Gorey's work but honestly I don't see it. I think on the fact of it they were fun little illustrated stories that captured (and continue to ensnare) the imagination of anyone who reads them. You can look forward to a masterpost of some of that work coming up in the (hopefully) not too distant future. Overall, this wasn't quite the eyeopening biography that I had hoped it would be and the reach that the author tried to make kind of put me off so that it took me way longer to finish than it should have done. 5/10
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LibraryThing member ThomasPluck
It illuminates without washing out the wonder of the works or the man himself. A worthwhile read, like discovering Gorey's unique world again.
LibraryThing member jphamilton
You could easily define me as an “Anything Gorey” kind of a guy, and this well-designed book was pretty satisfying from both an informational and a visual angle. There was a rich variety of black and white illustrations as well as photos all through the book. And even though I’ve been reading
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about Edward St. John Gorey for many years now, I still learned a great deal from this book. Possibly my only complaint is the author’s over-the-top fascination with what was Gorey’s sexual orientation, gay or asexual. For myself, I could care less but Mark Dery can’t leave the subject alone, returning to it again and again.

This is a full biography, from Gorey’s birth in February of 1925 to his April death in 2000, and while Dery isn’t a memorable writer, he does cover the material very thoroughly. It was a treat to learn so much more about someone that I thought a had a pretty full picture of. A picture that so often involved full-length fur coats, dirty tennis shoes, tons of rings covering his fingers, and that distinctive beard.

The book quotes Daniel Handler, better known as Lemony Snicket. “When I was first writing A Series of Unfortunate Events,” he says, “I was wandering around everywhere saying, I am a complete rip-off of Edward Gorey,” and everyone said, “Who’s that?” That was in 1999. “Now, everyone says, ‘That’s right you are a complete rip-off of Edward Gorey.’”

Here, so you’ll go away from this review with some knowledge.

His roommate at Harvard was Frank O’Hara.
He loved Agatha Christie.
His speech was peppered with midwestern words like zippy, zingy, goody, and jeepers.
He was a bookworm and was always reading in any line he had to be a part of.
His beard hid that he was a chinless wonder, according to Dery.
He considered working in publishing or opening a bookstore.
“I wanted to have my own bookstore until I worked in one.”
He hated Henry James for explaining things to death in his writing.
He loved horror films.
He drove a bright yellow VW Beetle with OGDRED on the plate.
He once said of death, “I hope it comes painlessly and quickly.”

If you want to know more, simply read the book.
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Awards

Boston Globe Best Book (Nonfiction — 2018)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2018

Physical description

512 p.; 9.5 inches

ISBN

0316188549 / 9780316188548
Page: 0.5999 seconds