A fellow artist friend introduced me to Gorey (via The Gashlycrumb Tinies and The Curious Sofa) when I was in my late teens.
For several years afterwards, I assumed that Gorey was British (yes, this was back in the days when Googling everything was not yet an endemic instinct trained by ubiquitous internet and portable computing devices). I was shocked when I learned otherwise.
This reminds me, I loaned my copies of Amphigorey, Amphigorey Too, and Amphigorey Also to a friend recuperating from surgery (how better to recover one’s health?), and I still haven’t gotten them back! If you like Gorey’s stuff and you’re ever on Cape Cod, btw, Gorey’s house in Yahmith is open to the public.
I’ve loved this book since about 1980. It’s not exactly new, is it?
Not at all, but it’s still a wonderful reminder that Edward Gorey will always be new to someone (and I envy that someone).
My sister introduced me to Gorey’s books around 1979. I absolutely adore them, though my own copies of the three Amphigoreys must have been lent to the wrong people. Thought they were OOP.
Off I go to order new copies!
I love handing that someone “The Curious Sofa”, because it is so polymorphously perverse and so very pornographic without actually showing or saying anything offensive, and the ending is such a nasty surprise. I like to think Tom Wolfe cribbed his fictional sex act, “that thing with the cup”, from “The Curious Sofa” (possibly the terrible thing Gerald did to Elsie with the saucepan).
I was introduced to Edward Gorey’s illustrative style in college, by a friend who loaned me her copies of Amphigorey and Amphigorey Too. I gave copies of The Gashlycrumb Tinies to friends for Christmas, and yes, they are still my friends. How can you not love the creator of The Addams Family?
umm that was Chas Addams, another guy entirely.
On topic. One of the first things the lovely offspring memorized was The Gashlycrumb Tinies. He would want it read over and over. I could start A is for Amy who fell down the… and he would finish each letter all the way to drinking too much gin.
D’oh!!! My mistake; brain fut. The style is similar, which is all I can offer in my defense 
p.s. I still like The AddamsFamily too 
The Mickee Faust Academy of the Really Dramatic Arts (also known as the Faustkateers) in Tallahassee, Florida, has staged “The Curious Sofa” as a fairly long skit during one of our shows, and “The Hapless Child” as another, shorter one. Our fearless leader, Mickee, is a Gorey fan.
In the top three for the new puppy’s name was of course Wuggly Ump.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
