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Legendary author-illustrator Edward Gorey — most famous for animating the timeless intro to PBS’ Mystery! — never had any children of his own, though he drew plenty of them. Delving into his complete works for a project recently, it dawned on me how my impression of this prolific writer had been cemented by my familiarity with just one or two of his books — like The Gashleycrumb Tinies, a deliciously morbid, alphabetical catalog of 26 children’s deaths. As it turns out, this is fairly representative of the fates of children throughout Gorey’s work — they nearly always meet a tragic end. Having gone through most of his books over the weekend, I wanted to share some of Gorey’s most striking (and sometimes shocking) panels involving kids — many of them creepier and more morbid than I had ever given Gorey credit for being.
We’ll start off with a classic, from the much-beloved Gasheycrumb Tinies:
Can you imagine a contemporary cartoon book depicting an axe-murdered child like this? In some ways, our culture has become much more permissive since Gashleycrumb was written in the early 60s; but these days unspeakable things happening to children seems a rarely-crossed taboo. (Also, the fact that Gorey channels a 19th century aesthetic probably allows him to get away with more of this than if his style were modern — what with the memento mori and general morbidness of the Victorian era, tragically-killed children don’t seem so out of place.)
From The Willowdale Handcar, this haunting image:
The following two are from The Fatal Lozenge, another of Gorey’s alphabetical catalogs — in this case, the object of each panel is the letter that progresses alphabetically (”Orphan” and “Zouave”).
The Hapless Child is the tragic story of a little orphaned girl who runs away from the mistresses at her cruel boarding school, only to be kidnapped and sold to “a brute” who makes her his slave. She escapes, on the brink of death, and is run down and killed in the street — by a wagon driven by her father, who’s back from the war, the rumors of his demise greatly exaggerated.
These are the first and last panels of The Pious Infant, a strange and morbid little tale:
The Beastly Baby is the story of the world’s fattest, noisiest and most loathsome baby (which perhaps explains, apart from his being gay, why Gorey never had any of his own). His treatment of Beastly is pitiless:
This is perhaps Gorey’s darkest panel, also from The Fatal Lozenge:
Comments (39)
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Wow! I’d never heard of this guy before. I think I’m glad, because I’d be way more messed up than I already am!
posted by Amy D on 10-6-2008 at 10:13 am
I love Edward Gorey, I’d watch Mystery on PBS just to see the opening credits…
I love the creaky spindly late-Victorian cemetery-freak vibe of his work!
Thanks!
posted by Dianne on 10-6-2008 at 10:31 am
Holy cr@ppola! I can’t believe these works existed without so many more people knowing about them. Sad and sick. Book-banners are going after Judy Blume; how did these escape notice (or did they?)
recaptcha: uncouth hope
posted by JaneM on 10-6-2008 at 10:34 am
I grew up with an appreciation of Gorey especially from my mom. It did not seem morbid to me until about 10 years ago when a friend of mine was complaining that Barnes and Noble was selling a book of The Gashleycrumb Tinies. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I owned it. I still find it somewhat amusing.
Other note…he had some animations on Nickelodeon back in the day that were used as fillers between programs.
posted by Michelle on 10-6-2008 at 10:37 am
i think these drawings would have scarred me for life as a child. i find them disturbingly morbid even now. but i have friends who would love this.
posted by Claire on 10-6-2008 at 10:58 am
My favorite of his is the Dwindling Party, a pop-up book about a family visiting a creepy house and they start disappearing one-by one. It’s the best!
posted by Wayne on 10-6-2008 at 11:03 am
Ooooh, that last one is SO creepy. I like Gorey’s illustrations – this was a cool post.
posted by Adrienne on 10-6-2008 at 11:10 am
Ahhh…The Gashleycrumb Tinies. My favorite is “N, is for Neville, who died of ennui.”
posted by loripop on 10-6-2008 at 11:19 am
I guess for people who don’t know Gorey, the Mystery thing is his best known work.
We don’t really know what his sexual orientation was. I’d say asexual.
posted by BassMan on 10-6-2008 at 11:29 am
Gorey did drawings about the Addams family, which later became a TV series.
posted by KJ on 10-6-2008 at 11:51 am
KJ- Gorey didn’t draw the Addams family, Charles Addams did.
posted by Kelly on 10-6-2008 at 11:59 am
I love Gorey and my husband has most of these books. Children aside, he has some really charming stuff, like _The Doubtful Guest_. I made my husband a three-foot Doubtful Guest doll for Christmas one year.
More Gashleycrumb Tinies:
B is for Basil, assaulted by bears
X is for Xerxes, devoured by mice
What’s interesting about them is that most of the drawings, with a few exceptions like Kate, actually depict the children at the moment BEFORE their demise. For example, T is for Titus who flew into bits, and it shows Titus beginning to pull the string binding what must be a package bomb or something. P is for Prue, trampled flat in a brawl, shows little Prue reaching up to open the door of a pub.
posted by Southern Buddhist on 10-6-2008 at 12:18 pm
Very disturbing. How warped that an adult man – with no children of his own – would devise and deliver such peculiar drawings to the world. Beyond bizarre, just kinda sick…
posted by Spuchy on 10-6-2008 at 12:26 pm
Ransom, your posts are always my most favorite.
This is a fantastic Halloween time subject.
posted by Amber on 10-6-2008 at 1:59 pm
I adore Edward Gorey’s work, and have just about everything he’s done. And for those of you who think he’s sick or ‘warped’, have you ever read ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales’ or seen the first few Disney animated films? Not much different, in my opinion.
posted by Rebecca on 10-6-2008 at 2:01 pm
Holy carp, this stuff makes GooseBumps look like Dr. Suess!
posted by Dave on 10-6-2008 at 2:30 pm
Great post! My favorite will always be the Gasheycrumb Tinies.
“E is for Edward, who choked on a peach.”
posted by Tanner on 10-6-2008 at 2:53 pm
I have the Gashlycrumb Tinies posted framed in my living room but I’d never seen his other work.
Pretty interesting!
posted by Ed on 10-6-2008 at 3:33 pm
I always loved his stuff because it seems so child-like aesthetically. That makes it even more disturbing.
The Freeze did a concept album in the late 90s based on his work, and did the album cover and even ended up writing a song for the record. It was called One False Move.
posted by Ian on 10-6-2008 at 4:07 pm
Gorey was not a homosexual- indeed he had no interest in sex with women ~or~ men.
posted by Zach on 10-6-2008 at 5:36 pm
Well, I knew Ed Gorey was a major sicko (a friend of mine has a lunchbox with his alphabet on it) but I had never thought it was this morbid! Although, I must admit, Tim Burton’s The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy (which this blog references, very clever) shall never be as cool as Gorey.
On a lighter note, I love the Mystery! animation. That’s practically the only reason I watch that programme! Well, that and Inspector Lynley is spectacular. Or at least he was, until he was cancelled.
PS: The reCaptcha is “hell docks.” Hm.
posted by Allison on 10-6-2008 at 8:06 pm
Gorey has always been a favorite! Too bad he killed off the ZOTE before I had a chance to have one as a pet.
posted by KenJ on 10-6-2008 at 9:45 pm
Ah – I love Gorey. I grew up reading his work. And believe it or not the head of my elementary school had the poster of the Gashlycrum Tinies on her door. I could recite it by the time I was 10.
I’m so sorry they don’t use the full Mystery intro any more.
posted by Jessica on 10-7-2008 at 8:57 am
I’ve always enjoyed Gorey. A year or two ago, a local professional theatre group put on an amazing play called “Gorey Stories,” based on some of his more famous works. It was brilliant, and managed to recreate both the detached narration and the surreal atmosphere of Gorey’s pictures. If you think it’s creepy on paper, just wait ’til you see it on stage…
posted by ava on 10-7-2008 at 9:43 am
there used to be a quiz you could take on ‘quizilla’ called “which edward gorey death will you die from?”
mine was:
‘S is for Susan who perished from fits’
it’s not there anymore…is was going to leave the link. :-(
captcha: circus throwing
posted by djalicat on 10-7-2008 at 11:07 am
I have always LOVED Gorey. I just realized that I don’t own any of his books. I should fix that.
reCAPTCHA: virtue Quakers
posted by August on 10-7-2008 at 12:19 pm
I’ve seen a couple of Gorey’s works, and should definitely put them on my TBR pile.
Very seasonal.
posted by boliyou on 10-7-2008 at 5:52 pm
Gashleycrumb Tinies reminds me of “The Little Book of Bunny Suicides”. Cute and morbid at the same time……you feel bad laughing.
posted by Amanda on 10-7-2008 at 9:24 pm
Holy S#!+
posted by Kevin on 10-7-2008 at 9:34 pm
Hee! What fragile little minds you break here!
Too bad you can’t do Dr. Seuss’ ADULT art, that would really twist up their pantaloons! ;p
: alleged tears
posted by tona b. on 10-8-2008 at 8:23 pm
The music video for Trent Reznor’s The Perfect Drug borrows heavily from gorey. My parents gave me some of his books when I was quite young, and as soon as I’m not paying tuition anymore, I want to start buying good prints of his work.
captcha:goebel private
posted by Lerren on 10-11-2008 at 8:01 pm
Let’s not forget that he also illustrated some of the wonderfully macabre children’s books by the late, great John Bellairs. I grew up appreciating Gorey’s artwork. It was more realistic than anything else being presented to children.
posted by april on 10-15-2008 at 1:05 pm
Truly disturbing! Especially the last one. YUK!
posted by Kirsten on 10-15-2008 at 1:22 pm
Never heard of the guy but found this fascinating. Is this the origin of the word “gory”, perhaps?
posted by Katherine on 10-17-2008 at 5:19 am
Katherine – I do hope you’re joking.
posted by G on 12-23-2008 at 9:27 pm
Love Edward Gorey — discovered him through the Bellairs books as well. i love the dark, tongue-in-cheek-ness of it all.
The author known as Lemony Snicket better be leaving offerings at a makeshift Gorey altar every night — he owes a lot to him!! :)
posted by starfish on 1-3-2009 at 10:45 pm
Eh..I don’t know. I’m not a prude by any sense of the imagination, but his sketches seem a bit on the too-morbid side to me. Did lots of children go missing in his neighborhood…..?
posted by Dawn on 1-31-2009 at 11:11 pm
Gorey won a Tony Award for designing the sets of a musical (Dracula- I believe). I’ve got all his books (the ones he wrote, and the ones he illustrated for other authors) but my absolute favorite is the Gilded Bat.
For the people who think he was weird: He also had many cats, and was famous for always wearing a white fur coat around his town. (the only garment on earth that wouldn’t show cat hairs, I assume)
posted by Twinkle on 7-8-2009 at 4:15 am
I adore Gorey! I read most of his stuff in middle school (I’m now a college-type), and I have the poster version of “The Gashlybrumb Tinies” on my wall. One melancholy death that isn’t mentioned here is the one that still freaks me out– the story of “The Insect God.” The final lines being:
“They stunned her, and stripped off her garments, and lastly
They stuffed her inside a kind of a pod;
And then it was that Millicent Frastley
Was sacrificed to The Insect God.”
posted by Teela on 10-13-2009 at 3:49 pm