History Creator / EdwardGorey

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The ''really'' {{filth}}y parts of ''The Curious Sofa'' are all in your head; Gorey ''implies'' everything, without actually saying or showing anything in detail, and the reader's mind does the rest. (It doesn't help that he uses increasingly awkward synonyms for "well-endowed" throughout the book, "well-endowed" meaning pretty much what you think it means.)

Edward Gorey (1925-2000) was a writer/illustrator best known for writing several short tales, often told in rhyme (usually couplets) and very surreal and macabre. The art was a very distinct style of ink drawing that was described as very Victorian. He admitted that his own professional art training was "negligible", but he was still known to have done illustration work for a wide variety of media, including the opening for the Creator/{{PBS}} show ''Mystery!''.

* AnimalisticAbomination: There's something...not quite right about the title character of ''The Doubtful Guest''.

* ''The Gashleycrumb Tinies'' (1963): An alphabet book featuring the [[TheManyDeathsOfYou various gory deaths]] of [[CrossesTheLineTwice 26 small children]].

* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: Inverted with the aptly-named "Beastly Baby". Gorey goes out of his way to make the thing as unpleasant as possible: it's smelly, whiny, and cruel (one of the illustrations shows it ''killing a kitten'') on top of being ugly, and no one is particularly concerned when it is snatched up by an eagle one day and falls to earth with a very audible splat (or rather, a "wet sort of explosion") when the eagle loses its grip.

* DadaComics: Arguably some of his stranger works veer into this territory. For instance, ''The Inanimate Tragedy'' is about a bunch of small objects committing suicide. ''The Blue Hour'' is about two dogs in bowler hats having [[SeinfeldianConversation bizarre conversations]].

** ''The Gashleycrumb Tinies'', in one famous example, comes up with a hilarious child death for every letter of the alphabet.

* [[RecurringExtra Reoccurring Prop]]: A small white index card appears in every story.

** From time to time, a creepy faceless, armless black doll appears.

-->''The'' Proctor ''buys a pupil ices\\

* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: Inverted with the aptly-named "Beastly Baby". Gorey goes out of his way to make the thing as unpleasant as possible: it's smelly, whiny, and cruel (one of the illustrations shows it ''killing a kitten'') on top of being ugly, and no one is particularly concerned when it is snatched up by an eagle one day and subsequently explodes when the eagle attempts to eat it.

* InfantImmortality: [[AvertedTrope DOES NOT EXIST!]] ''The Gashleycrumb Tinies'', in one famous example, comes up with a hilarious child death for every letter of the alphabet.

* InfantImmortality: [[AvertedTrope DOES NOT EXIST!]] "The Gashlycrumb Tinies", in one famous example, comes up with a hilarious child death for every letter of the alphabet.

* HilariousInHindsight: One cannot read a certain limerick in ''The Listing Attic'' without thinking of [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall a certain internet celebrity who's become popular in recent years]].

* NightmareFuel: Often.

* BlackComedy: Much like Creator/CharlesAddams, Gorey was an expert at finding the humor in even the grisliest situations.

* BlackComedy: Like Creator/CharlesAddams, Gorey is an expert at finding the humor in even the grisliest situations.
* CreatorCameo: He's drawn himself into his comics from time to time, most notably "He wrote it all down Zealously."

* BlackComedy: Like Creator/CharlesAddams, Gorey is an expert at finding the humor in even the most macabre situations.

* BlackComedy: Even at his most depressing, Gorey is incredibly deadpan.

[[AuthorAppeal Gorey had a fondness for anagrams, jumbling up his own name to make several pseudonyms. He also liked ballet, fur coats, tennis shoes and cats, all of which were featured in his work]]. [[OneOfUs He also had an affection for some of the darker TV shows during his time]], including ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and ''TheXFiles''.

* HilariousInHindsight: One cannot read a certain limerick in ''The Listing Attic'' without thinking of [[AtopTheFourthWall a certain internet celebrity who's become popular in recent years]].