Edward Gorey Biography

Edward St. John Gorey was a famous American writer and illustrator. He was famous, particularly in the gothic subculture, for his unconventional dark humored storylines and beautiful illustrations with the designs and ideas set in Victorian and Edwardian era. Throughout his lifetime, Gorey published more than 100 independent works and illustrated more than 50 works by other authors, including Samuel Beckett, Edward Lear, John Bellairs, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot, etc. He was very fond of anagrams and published most of his work under different pseudonyms that usually were anagrams of his own name, like, Ogdred Weary, Eduard Blutig, D. Awdrey-Gore, etc. He also wrote and directed theatrical works like Broadway production of ‘Dracula’, Le Theatricule Stoique’s acts and worked on PBS's Mystery series, among other things. The house that he spent most of his life in, Cape Cod house is called ‘Elephant House’ and is the theme of a photography book, ‘Elephant House: Or, the Home of Edward Gorey’, with photographs and text by Kevin McDermott and is now the ‘Edward Gorey House Museum’. Gorey never married or had any family, which is probably why he left the bulk of his estate to a charitable trust benefiting cats and dogs, as well as other species, including bats and insects.