While flipping through Amphigorey once again, I attempted to figure out why I found it so funny. Author Connor Murray Posted on ApLeave a comment on Categorizing Edward Gorey’s Work A Series of Gorey Events While they may not be child-friendly stories, the stories are happy in the sense that they cause the audience to laugh or smile when reading them. Having said that, why would one read a book full of his stories if not to receive some sort of benefit or satisfaction? The characters are child-friendly, (actually remind me of characters in Roald Dahl books), why not make the characters in the stories more sinister in nature, to match the events that take place in the story? The nature of the cartoon drawings and the nonsensical nature of his stories make them entertaining and I would argue, have the ability to instill happiness in the viewer. I think Gorey truly believed and wanted to convince people that his work was not for children, and that sad things did happen in his stories. This Gorey quote seems to perfectly summarize the way Gorey categorizes his work, however, I extremely disagree with Gorey in his evaluation.

And there’s probably no happy nonsense, either.” Read more at: As Schubert said, there is no happy music. Sunny, funny nonsense for children - oh, how boring, boring, boring. I’m trying to think if there’s sunny nonsense. “If you’re doing nonsense it has to be rather awful, because there’d be no point. The juxtaposition between Gorey’s child-friendly artistic style and his stories’ content is quite obvious and got me to wonder, what was Gorey’s view of his own artwork? I remembered a quote mentioned in class about how Gorey did not consider his work to be for children, so I looked the quote up and this is what I found: Due to the friendly and childish nature of the characters within his book, one would assume the stories the images describe to be more appropriate for a younger audience, but of course the stories contain mature content. Animated sequences of his work have introduced the PBS series Mystery! since 1980.Amphigory, by Edward Gorey, was one of the most confusing and therefore intriguing works we have looked at all year. He was also a very successful set and costume designer, earning a Tony Award for his Broadway production of Edward Gorey's Dracula. A mix of poetry and prose, light-hearted and decidedly more morbid storytelling, the book is sure to satisfy both fans of art and lovers of short stories alike.Įdward Gorey (1925-2000) wrote and illustrated such popular books as The Doubtful Guest, The Gashlycrumb Tinies, and The Headless Bust. In this gorgeously detailed volume, American artist and author Edward Gorey accents amphigory (nonsense verse or composition) with his signature cross-hatched pen-and-ink drawings.

An illustrated collection of 15 macabre short stories.

Amphigory edward gorey