The fusing of Victorian and Edwardian days in Gorey's work is accompanied by ‘The sin of accidie’ (Chaucer). This world, in which costume and furnishings are always very important, is sometimes late Victorian: balustraded and panelled great houses, in which the cups hang on hooks in the china closet and the master may be found chewing the bell rope sometimes of the early nineteenhundreds, where young men in pegtop trousers and boaters and young ladies in sailor blouses become involved in sinister incidents while rowing or playing croquet sometimes, though more rarely, of the twenties, in which girls with short skirts and cloche hats may be subjected to upsetting experiences’ (Wilson). In striving to work entirely to please himself, Gorey now has created ‘a whole little personal world, equally amusing and somber, nostalgie and claustrophobic, at the same time poetic and poisoned. This uniqueness was first introduced to the American reading public in 1954, with his book, The Unstrung Harp or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel. He not only writes the text and makes the drawings, but he also hand-letters each word from the title page to the end of each story. No type has ever been set for any of his own books. In The New Yorker Magazine, 26 December 1959, Edmund Wilson was the first person to write on Gorey's art - even though at the time it consisted ‘of four small volumes.

These sets display his whimsical nature to portray the most bloodcurdling diabolical image with a tongue-in-cheek aspect - with illustrations of Hell-Fire and Brimstone which may have been found in a Victorian child's book.įor more than twenty years now, Gorey's work as both artist and author has slowly been acclaimed by a small horde of enthusiasts of the macabre which somehow find its way on the brink between sanity and the other side. This ‘production’ engendering his name originated because of the use of costumes and sets designed by him. Edward Gorey is neither actor, director nor producer. Today, New Yorkers are attending the performances to Standing-Room-Only capacity. ‘The Edward Gorey Dracula’ opened on Broadway in the autumn of 1977 to unpropitious houses.

The Eleventh Episode by Edward Gorey