Born to Be Posthumous

The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey

By: Mark Dery

Narrated by: Adam Sims

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 known -- in the late 1940s, no less -- 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, yes -- 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 Gorey.

I now feel as though I knew him as well as anyone.

Truly illuminating. Having admitted his illustrations since the late 90's I finally visited the Edward Gorey House on Cape Cod and immediately needed to learn all I could about the man. This book was wonderful in its ::ahem:: illustration of the man so unique and yet so human. I enjoyed this work immensely!

Fresh modern worthy

I completely enjoyed this book. Narrators performance had just the right crispness and irreverence. What a wonderful experience that we can enjoy Gorey and contextualize him in LGBTQ atheistics and culture and at the same time allow him his fabulous mysteries of identity. Highly recommend both the book and the actor ,

Tiring to listen to.

I loved Edward Gorey's art and his life was very interesting, but I found listening to Adam Sims rather exhausting. A little too intense and overworked.

Appreciated the Biography

Admittedly a difficult person on whom to collect information, Mark Dery has done an excellent job of seeking it out. I also bought the book, which I will pass on, so I could see some of the drawing he was writing about. It's a long book and I'm glad to have done that - the font in the book is so tiny I would have given up! I came away with a greater picture of the man (as much as anyone might be able) behind the Art.
I was a little bored with the narrator. I felt his tone was a bit newscaster-ish. That being said, I'm also not exactly sure how this biography should be read.

Great way to learn about Gorey!

I liked the robustness and balanced approach to the writing. The author conveyed a lot of information without grandstanding or appearing to insert possible conjecture.