by Mark Dery
10 Ibid.
11 Stephen Schiff, “Edward Gorey and the Tao of Nonsense,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 143.
12 At least that’s what he told Dick Cavett in a 1977 interview (see Ascending Peculiarity, 57). Oddly, he told Jane Merrill Filstrup, in an interview published the following year, that his “first drawing” was “done at age three and a half” (see Ascending Peculiarity, 75). Given Gorey’s precocity in other areas, not to mention the crudity of the drawing, the earlier date seems more likely.
13 Filstrup, “An Interview with Edward St. John Gorey,” 75.
14 Ibid.
15 Cavett, “The Dick Cavett Show,” 54.
16 “‘Tried to Drive Me Insane,’ Wife Asserts in Suit; Phone Man Kept Her in Sanitarium Until Reason Fled, She Declares,” Chicago Examiner, February 17, 1914, 2.
17 Lisa Solod, “Edward Gorey,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 96.
18 Edward Gorey, “Edward Gorey: Proust Questionnaire,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 182.
19 Gorey, Elliott interview.
20 Solod, “Edward Gorey,” 106.
21 Gorey, Elliott interview.
22 Alexander Theroux, The Strange Case of Edward Gorey, rev. ed. (Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2011), 84.
23 Edward Gorey to his mother, Helen Garvey Gorey, n.d., 1932. The letter in question was exhibited in Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey / G Is for Gorey—C Is for Chicago: The Collection of Thomas Michalak, two exhibitions that ran simultaneously from February 15 to June 15, 2014, at the Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago. Quote transcribed by my research assistant, Elizabeth Tamny.
24 Dyer, “Poison Penman,” 113.
25 Schiff, “Edward Gorey and the Tao of Nonsense,” 151.
26 See Elizabeth M. Tamny, “What’s Gorey’s Story? The Formative Years of a Very Peculiar Man,” Chicago Reader, November 11, 2005, 30.
27 Simon Henwood, “Edward Gorey,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 166.
28 A. Scott Berg, Lindbergh (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1998), 242.
29 See Patricia Albers, Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), 52.
30 Ben Hecht, A Child of the Century (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954), 153, 156.
31 Dyer, “Poison Penman,” 113.
32 Schiff, “Edward Gorey and the Tao of Nonsense,” 156.
33 Dyer, “Poison Penman,” 113.
34 Annie Nocenti, “Writing The Black Doll: A Talk with Edward Gorey,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 207.
35 Theroux, Strange Case, 2000 ed., 7.
36 Ibid., 65.
37 Board of Education, City of Chicago, Registration Card, April 16, 1934, digital scan obtained from Chicago Public Schools, Department of Compliance, Former Student Records, May 31, 2012.
38 Edward Gorey, letter to Jane Langton, February 20, 1998, Jane Langton Papers, Lincoln Town Archives, Lincoln, MA.
39 “Ted Gorey Report Card, Grade 6 1934–35, Room Teacher Viola Therman,” archived in “Howard School, Wilmette, Illinois, 6 and 7 grades, 1934–1937,” G Is for Gorey—C Is for Chicago, http://www.lib.luc.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/show/gorey/education/howard-school-wilmette-illin.
40 Theroux, Strange Case, 2000 ed., 32.
41 Cliff Henderson, “E Is for Edward Who Draws in His Room,” Arts and Entertainment Magazine, October 1991, 18.
42 Radio Guide, June 1, 1935, “Programs for Wednesday, May 29,” archived at the Internet Archive, http://archive.org/stream/radio-guide-1935-06-01/radio-guide-1935-06-01_djvu.txt.
43 Donna Grace, “Charm Secrets by Entertainer,” Windsor Daily Star, July 5, 1940, n.p.
44 Edward Leo Gorey, letter to John Boettiger, September 26, 1937, John Boettiger Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, NY.
45 Joyce Garvey LaMar, e-mail message to the author, July 17, 2012.
46 Edward Gorey, five-year diary, entry for February 18, 1938. Reviewed at the Edward Gorey House.
47 Gorey, five-year diary, July 2, 1939.
48 Gorey, five-year diary, March 21, 1938.
49 Dan Frank, “Colonel Francis Parker,” an essay by Francis W. Parker’s principal on the My Hero website, July 24, 2012, https://myhero.com/Colonel_Parker?iframe=true.
50 Donald Stanley Vogel, The Boardinghouse: The Artist Community House, Chicago 1936–37 (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1995), 5.
51 Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, in The Annotated Oscar Wilde, ed. H. Montgomery Hyde (New York: Clarkson Potter, 1982), 355.
52 Clifford Ross and Karen Wilkin, The World of Edward Gorey (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996), 33.
53 Ibid.
54 Paul Richard, e-mail message to the author, October 4, 2011.
55 Schiff, “Edward Gorey and the Tao of Nonsense,” 143.
56 Ross and Wilkin, The World of Edward Gorey, 11.
57 Carl Sandburg, “Chicago,” in Poetry 3, no. 6 (March 1914), 191, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=12840.
58 Albers, Joan Mitchell, 88.
59 Vogel, The Boardinghouse, 80.
60 See Albers, Joan Mitchell, 89.
61 “Email Exchange Between Connie Joerns and Tom Michalak 11.7.13.,” quoted in “Edward Gorey at the Francis W. Parker School,” G Is for Gorey—C Is for Chicago, http://www.lib.luc.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/show/gorey/education/edward-gorey-at-the-francis-w-.
62 Albers, Joan Mitchell, 90.
63 Ibid.
64 Robert Dahlin, “Conversations with Writers: Edward Gorey,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 49.
65 “Socialites on Top Again,” Parker Weekly 29, no. 12 (January 22, 1940), 1.
66 Quoted in “Edward Gorey at the Francis W. Parker School 2,” G Is for Gorey—C Is for Chicago, http://www.lib.luc.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/show/gorey/education/parker-2.
67 Solod, “Edward Gorey,” 102.
68 Edward Gorey, Harvard College National Scholarship Application, January 26, 1942, in Edward Gorey student records, Office of the Registrar, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University.
69 Henwood, “Edward Gorey,” 161.
70 Filstrup, “An Interview with Edward St. John Gorey,” 84.
71 Ibid.
72 Edward Gorey, foreword to Costumes by Karinska, by Toni Bentley (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995), n.p. The show Gorey saw is undoubtedly the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo’s Wednesday afternoon (2:30 p.m.) performance on January 3, 1940, at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre; the program, in order, consisted of Rouge et Noir, Bacchanale, and Shéhérazade.
73 Edward Gorey, “The Doubtful Interview,” in Gorey Posters (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1979), 6.
74 Gorey, foreword, Costumes by Karinska, n.p.
75 Ibid.
76 Grace Robert, The Borzoi Book of Ballets (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946), 258.
77 Albers, Joan Mitchell, 89.
78 Gorey, Harvard College National Scholarship application.
79 Edward Gorey, Harvard College application for admission, February 6, 1942, in Edward Gorey student records, Harvard University.
80 Quoted in Ariel Swartley, “Henry James’ Boston,” Globe Magazine (Boston), August 12, 1984, 10–45.
81 Herbert W. Smith, Harvard College National Scholarship application, school record form, January 28, 1942, 1–6.
82 Helen Gorey, letter to the Committee on Admission, Harvard College, September 6, 1946, in Edward Gorey student records, Harvard University.
83 Ibid.
84 Edward Gorey, letter to Bea Moss (née Rosen), addressed to “Darling,” n.d., in “Unpublished Gorey (letters to Bea Moss)” folder, Edward Gorey Collection, San Diego State University Library Special Collections.
85 Gorey, letter to Moss, addressed to “Dear Beatrix the-light-of-my-life,” n.d., San Diego State University Library Special Collections.
86 Gorey, letter to Moss, addressed to “Beatrix my beloved,” n.d., San Diego State University Library Special Collections.
87 Ibid.
88 Edward Gorey, “I Love Lucia,” Vogue, May 1986, 180.
89 David Leon Higdon, “E. F. Benson,” in The Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage, ed. Claude J. Summers (New York: Routledge, 2002), 84.
90 Filstrup, “An Interview with Edward St. John Gorey,” 84.
91 Gorey, “Dear Beatrix the-light-of-my-life.”
92 “The Army Specialized Training Program: A Brief Survey of the Essential Facts,” Journal of Educational Sociology 16, no. 9 (May 1943), 543.
93 Edward Gorey, Harvard College Application to Register, July 5, 1946, in Edward Gorey student records, Harvard University.
Chapter 2. Mauve Sunsets: Dugway, 1944–46
1 Ronald L. Ives, “Dugway Tales,” Western Folklore 6, no. 1 (January 1947), 54.
2 Ibid., 53.
3 Richard Dyer, “The Poison Penman,” in Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey, ed. Karen Wilkin (New York: Harcourt, 2001), 113.
4 Edward Gorey, “The Doubtful Interview,” in Gorey Posters (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1979), 5.
5 Janet “Jan” Brandt, unpublished book report on Ascending Peculiarity for her book group e-mailed to the author. She wrote the report before her husband, William E. “Bill” Brandt, died; he reviewed it and offered insights and information, which she incorporated.
6 All quotations from William E. Brandt are from his undated, unpaginated, unpublished memoir, relevant excerpts of which were photocopied and mailed to the author by Jan Brandt.
7 Brandt, unpublished memoir.
8 Edward Gorey interviewed by the Boston-based TV and radio interviewer Christopher Lydon, circa 1992. Unedited audiotape. Copy of tape provided to the author by Christopher Seufert.
9 Jane Merrill Filstrup, “An Interview with Edward St. John Gorey at the Gotham Book Mart,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 21.
10 Edward Gorey, Les Serpents de Papier de Soie, n.d., 1. Photocopy of typed manuscript of unpublished Gorey play provided to the author by Jan Brandt.
11 “How unutterably mad!”: Edward Gorey, A Scene from a Play, March 28, 1945, 4. Photocopy of typed manuscript of unpublished Gorey play provided to the author by Jan Brandt. “How hideously un-chic”: Ibid., 6. “Divine!”: Ibid.
12 Edward Gorey, L’Aüs et L’Auscultatrice, n.d., 3. Photocopy of typed manuscript of unpublished Gorey play provided to the author by Jan Brandt.
13 Gorey’s handwritten notes to Brandt on the cover pages of the only plays he dated, A Scene from a Play and Les Aztèques, read “March 28, 1945,” and “July 14, 1945,” respectively. It seems likely that he inscribed the typescripts immediately after finishing them or at least shortly thereafter, though there’s no way to be certain. So those two plays, at least, were written after February 22, 1945, when he turned twenty; whether he wrote any of the others before that date we don’t know.
14 Gorey, Les Serpents, 1.
15 An auscultatrice is “a nun appointed to listen to all conversation between the other nuns and their friends or visitors,” according to Alexander Spiers, A New French-English General Dictionary (Paris: Librairie Européenne de Baudry/Mesnil-Dramard, 1908), 64. As for aüs, the Belgian-American writer Luc Sante, who is fluent in French, defined it in an April 21, 2015, tweet to me as a slang term for a nuisance customer who won’t buy anything. Knowing Gorey’s fondness for wordplay, I’m inclined to believe he chose the words for their alliterative qualities rather than their meanings. In its rhymes and rhythms, the phrase recalls Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility—perhaps no accident, given Gorey’s devotion to Austen.
16 Edward Gorey, Les Aztèques, July 14, 1945, 15, 47. Photocopy of typed manuscript of unpublished Gorey play provided to the author by Jan Brandt.
17 G. K. Chesterton, “The Miser and His Friends,” quoted in The Universe According to G. K. Chesterton: A Dictionary of the Mad, Mundane, and Metaphysical, ed. Dale Ahlquist (Mineola, NY: Dover Books, 2011), 4.
18 Alexander Theroux, The Strange Case of Edward Gorey (Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2000), 8.
19 Jim Woolf, “Army: Nerve Agent Near Dead Utah Sheep in ’68; Feds Admit Nerve Agent Near Sheep,” Salt Lake Tribune, January 1, 1998, PDF archived on the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission website, 4, http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML0037/ML003729062.pdf.
20 Dick Cavett, “The Dick Cavett Show with Edward Gorey,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 60–61.
21 Edward Gorey, letter to Bill Brandt, April 17, 1947, 4, William E. Brandt Papers, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman.
22 Ibid., 2.
23 Edward Gorey, Veteran Application for Rooms, July 9, 1946, in Edward Gorey student records, Office of the Registrar, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University.
24 Quoted in Andrew J. Diamond, Chicago on the Make: Power and Inequality in a Modern City (Oakland: University of California Press, 2017), 1.
25 Christopher Lydon, “The Connection,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 224.
26 David Streitfeld, “The Gorey Details,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 178.
27 Dyer, “Poison Penman,” 113.
Chapter 3. “Terribly Intellectual and Avant-Garde and All That Jazz”: Harvard, 1946–50
1 Quoted in Brad Gooch, City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O’Hara (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), 6.
2 Ibid., 47.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid., 115.
5 Ibid.
6 Larry Osgood, interview with the author at Osgood’s home in Germantown, New York, April 28, 2011.
7 Gooch, City Poet, 115.
8 Ibid., 114–15.
9 “The greatest influence”: Alexander Theroux, The Strange Case of Edward Gorey (Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2000), 57. “Reluctant to admit”: Richard Dyer, “The Poison Penman,” in Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey, ed. Karen Wilkin (New York: Harcourt, 2001), 123–24.
10 Published in New York in 1971 by Albondocani Press, Early Stories collects “The Wavering Disciple” and “A Study in Opal” with four illustrations by Gorey.
11 Tobi Tobias, “Balletgorey,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 23.
12 Quoted in Michael Dirda, Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education (New York: W. W. Norton, 2005), 180.
13 Ronald Firbank, Vainglory, in The Complete Ronald Firbank (London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., 1961), 149.
14 Quoted in Dirda, Bound to Please, 181.
15 Ibid., 180.
16 Carl Van Vechten, Excavations (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926), 172.
17 Ronald Firbank, Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli (London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., 1929), n.p., archived on the Project Gutenberg website, http://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/firbankr-cardinalpirelli/firbankr-cardinalpirelli-00-h.html.
18 David Van Leer, The Queening of America: Gay Culture in Straight Society (New York: Routledge, 1995), 27.
19 Lisa Solod, “Edward Gorey,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 102.
20 Alfred Hower, Freshman Advisor’s Report, January 10, 1947, in Edward Gorey student records, Office of the Registrar, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University.
21 Helen Gorey, letter to Judson Shaplin, assistant dean of Harvard College, dated “Saturday, March 1st,” 2, in Edward Gorey student records, Harvard University.
22 Ibid., 1.
23 Roel van den Oever, Mama’s Boy: Momism and Homophobia in Postwar American Culture (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 1.
24 Gooch, City Poet, 115.
25 Edward Gorey, letter to Edmund Wilson, July 28, 1954, Edmund Wilson Papers, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
26 Gooch, City Poet, 107.
27 Ibid., 117.
28 “They were a counterculture”: Quoted in Stephen Schiff, “Edward Gorey and the Tao of Nonsense,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 152. “Improvised self-elected class”: Susan Sontag, “Notes on ‘Camp,’” in A Susan Sontag Reader (
New York: Vintage, 1983), 117.
29 “Way of seeing”: Sontag, “Notes on ‘Camp,’” 106. “My life has been concerned”: Dyer, “Poison Penman,” 121.
30 Edward Gorey, letter to Bill Brandt, April 17, 1947, 1, William E. Brandt Papers, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman. All quotations from Gorey letters to Brandt are from letters found in the Brandt Papers.
31 Dick Cavett, “The Dick Cavett Show with Edward Gorey,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 58.
32 “Dim proceedings”: Dyer, “Poison Penman,” 113. “Absolutely atrocious”: Robert Dahlin, “Conversations with Writers: Edward Gorey,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 47.
33 Jane Merrill Filstrup, “An Interview with Edward St. John Gorey at the Gotham Book Mart,” in Ascending Peculiarity, 79–80.
34 François, duc de La Rochefoucauld, in John Bartlett, Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown, 1919), archived at Bartleby.com, http://www.bartleby.com/100/738.html.
35 Edward Gorey, untitled article on the Maximes of La Rochefoucauld, n.d., 6, Edward Gorey Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin.
36 Ibid., 4.
37 Ibid., 2.
38 Ibid., 8.
39 “Incurable pessimism,” “passion and suffering,” “polite glaciality”: Gorey, untitled article on the Maximes, 9. “I read books”: Theroux, Strange Case, 2000 ed., 26–27.
40 Edward Gorey, fourth part of a novel, Paint Me Black Angels, December 14, 1947, 3, Edward Gorey Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin.
41 Gorey, letter to Brandt, April 17, 1947, 1.
42 Gorey, letter to Brandt, April 17, 1947, 3.
43 Donald Hall, letter to the author, February 9, 2011, 1.
44 Quoted in Gooch, City Poet, 117.
45 Gorey, letter to Brandt, November 10, 1947, 1.
46 Ibid.
47 Gorey, untitled article on the Maximes, 6.
48 Donald Hall, “English C, 1947,” in John Ciardi: Measure of the Man, ed. Vince Clemente (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1987), 53.
49 Edward Cifelli, John Ciardi: A Biography (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1998), 297.
50 Dahlin, “Conversations with Writers,” 28.
