Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey and Peter F. Neumeyer (2011)
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Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer (1969)
Gorey & Neumeyer: Floating Worlds (2011)
[The Green Dolphin Bookshop, Auckland CBD - 10/11/21]:
Peter F. Neumeyer, ed. Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2011.
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Born To Be Posthumous
Earlier this year I got a comment on a post, "Hershel Parker: Archivist Agonistes", on my Imaginary Museum blog:
I'm a newcomer to all this ... and I'm thoroughly intrigued and entranced (my own fields, way back, having been -- Kafka and E. B. White [sic].) But belatedly, thank you. Peter F. NeumeyerThe post in question had already given rise to some friendly correspondence with the great Melville scholar Hershel Parker, but it was nice to see it spreading its net still further.
The name seemed to ring a bell, though. Peter F. Neumeyer? ... But then I remembered my own quest to acquire a copy of a book of letters by Edward Gorey and (yes) Peter F. Neumeyer. I saw it advertised online, and dropped by the Green Dolphin bookshop to examine it. Unfortunately the person who'd last manned the till had already put it aside - presumably as a result of my enquiry - so the owner couldn't locate it anywhere.
After running up and down stairs, and rooting through large numbers of boxes, he eventually found it right in front of his desk. All the while I stood guiltily by, wondering if there'd be an extra inconvenience charge for all this kerfuffle ...
In any case, I did end up buying the book (he quoted a very reasonable price), and was glad to add it to my small library of Goreyana: or should that be - on the analogy of the first Queen Elizabeth - G[l]oriana?
I replied as warmly as I could to Dr. Neumeyer's comment, although (to date) I've received no reply. So if the question should ever arise: 'Who even reads blogs anymore, let alone comments on them?', my answer would have to be: erudite souls of my own, or (as in this case) the previous generation ...
'But who is this Edward Gorey you speak of?', you may well be asking.
For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Edward Gorey (1925-2000) specialised in strange little picture books, set in a kind of sub-Victorian haze, which chronicled the unfortunate fates of various hapless individuals, mostly orphan children.
If that sounds a little macabre, it is. If it also sounds reminiscent of such works as Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, or Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, then that's no accident. Both authors admit a considerable debt to Gorey's work, as does Tim Burton, many of whose films display his unmistakable influence.
Gorey, who lived a life of high camp and preposterous eccentricity (as chronicled in the book of interviews Ascending Peculiarity), was certainly one of the great originals of the twentieth century.
That's how I put it in my 2021 blogpost, "The Mysteries of Auckland: H. P. Lovecraft", which touched in passing upon Edward Gorey. In that case, however, I was examining his connections with another great loner and oddball, Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
The immediate pretext for my post, though, was the fact that I'd just purchased a copy of the book above, Mark Dery's exhaustive biography of Gorey, which I've finally got around to reading as an accompaniment to my longterm project of reading one or two of Gorey's own picture books before going to sleep each night.
I wish I owned some of the original books, but have been forced to make do with the four large anthologies of his work published between 1972 and (posthumously) 2006. They are, in order of appearance:
The original page balance can't be maintained in this larger format, but then, on the other hand, at least they give you some idea of the scope of the work he achieved in these forty-odd years.
The only other interesting piece of Goreyana I possess (besides a few books with illustrations or cover designs by him) is the toy theatre above. It's a bit difficult to know what to do with it, exactly.
It did, however, have the effect of inspiring me to try my own hand at the puppet theatre genre - Bunraku in Japan - in the form of the collaborative chapbook Scenes from The Puppet Oresteia (2011).
Another of the many affinities I feel with Gorey is his respect (and, indeed adoration) for Murasaki Shikibu's great eleventh-century psychological novel The Tale of Genji, of which he apparently had "multiple copies" in his personal library.
I'm not surprised. At last count, I myself had at least eleven copies of the four complete English translations of the novel which have appeared so far - as well as numerous commentaries and critical books on the subject.
Japanese art and culture in general appear to have been the great touchstone in the production of his own drawings and writings. There's a spareness and prevasive melancholy about almost all of his work which is profoundly in tune with the principles of wabi-sabi [finding beauty in the "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete"] and mono no aware ["the pathos of things"].
About ballet, and in particular the ballets of George Balanchine, I feel far less qualified to speak. Suffice it to say that "Mr. B." appears to have been his principal artistic hero - the kind you feel to be so far above you that there's scarcely even a temptation to emulate them ...
All this, and sundry other matters, are expounded at length in these three complementary books: Wilkin's book of interviews, Neumeyer's book of letters, and Dery's biography. I strongly recommend each of them - though possibly at different times, in diverse moods.
Books I own are marked in bold:
- The Unstrung Harp; or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel (1953)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Listing Attic (1954)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Doubtful Guest (1957)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Object-Lesson (1958)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Bug Book (1959)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Fatal Lozenge: An Alphabet (1960)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Curious Sofa: A Pornographic Tale by Ogdred Weary (1961)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Hapless Child (1961)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Beastly Baby (1962)
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Willowdale Handcar: Or, the Return of the Black Doll (1962)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Vinegar Works: Three Volumes of Moral Instruction (1963)
- The Gashlycrumb Tinies; or, After the Outing
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Insect God
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The West Wing
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Gashlycrumb Tinies; or, After the Outing
- The Wuggly Ump (1963)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Nursery Frieze (1964)
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Sinking Spell (1964)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Remembered Visit: A Story Taken from Life (1965)
- Included in Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- The Gilded Bat (1966)
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- Three Books from Fantod Press [1] (1966)
- The Evil Garden: Eduard Blutig's Der Böse Garten
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Inanimate Tragedy
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Pious Infant by Mrs Regera Dowdy
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Evil Garden: Eduard Blutig's Der Böse Garten
- [with Victoria Chess] Fletcher and Zenobia (1967)
- The Utter Zoo (1967)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- The Blue Aspic (1968)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- The Other Statue (1968)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- The Epiplectic Bicycle (1969)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- The Iron Tonic: Or, A Winter Afternoon in Lonely Valley (1969)
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- [with Peter F. Neumeyer] Donald and the ... (1969)
- Three Books from the Fantod Press [2] (1970)
- The Chinese Obelisks: Fourth Alphabet
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- [with Peter F. Neumeyer] Donald Has a Difficulty
- The Osbick Bird
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Chinese Obelisks: Fourth Alphabet
- The Sopping Thursday (1970)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- [with Peter F. Neumeyer] Why We Have Day and Night (1970)
- Three Books from the Fantod Press [3] (1971)
- The Deranged Cousins; or, Whatever
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Eleventh Episode by Raddory Gewe, drawings by Om
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- [The Untitled Book]
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Deranged Cousins; or, Whatever
- [with Victoria Chess] Fletcher and Zenobia Save the Circus (1971)
- [by Alphonse Allais] Story for Sara: What Happened to a Little Girl (1971)
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- [by Charles Cros] The Salt Herring (1971)
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Awdrey-Gore Legacy (1972)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- Leaves from a Mislaid Album (1972)
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Black Doll: A Silent Film (1973)
- Categor y: Fifty Drawings (1973)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- The Lavender Leotard: or, Going a Lot to the New York City Ballet (1973)
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- A Limerick (1973)
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- Three Books from the Fantod Press [4] (1973)
- The Abandoned Sock
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Disrespectful Summons
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Lost Lions
- Included in Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- The Abandoned Sock
- The Glorious Nosebleed: Fifth Alphabet (1975)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- L'Heure bleue (1975)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- The Grand Passion: A Novel (1976)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- The Broken Spoke (1976)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- Les Passementeries Horribles (1976)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- Scènes de Ballet (1976)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Edward Gorey’s Dracula: A Toy Theatre (1977)
- Edward Gorey’s Dracula: A Toy Theatre. 1977. Second Edition. Rohnert Park, CA: Pomegranate Communcations, Inc, 1979.
- The Loathsome Couple (1977)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- Alms for Oblivion Series: Dogear Wryde Postcards (1978)
- The Green Beads (1978)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- The Galoshes of Remorse (1979)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- [with Larry Evans] Gorey Games (1979)
- Gorey Posters (1979)
- Interpretative Series: Dogear Wryde Postcards (1979)
- Dancing Cats and Neglected Murderesses (1980)
- 'Neglected Murderesses' included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Les Urnes Utiles (1980)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- Mélange Funeste (1981)
- The Dwindling Party (1982)
- The Water Flowers (1982)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- The Eclectic Abecedarium (1983)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- E. D. Ward, A Memorial Bear by Dogear Wryde (1983)
- [with Malcolm Whyte & Nancie West Swanber] Gorey Cats (1982)
- The Prune People (1983)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- Gorey Stories (1983)
- The Tunnel Calamity (1984)
- Les Échanges Malandreux (1984)
- The Prune People II (1985)
- The Improvable Landscape (1986)
- The Raging Tide: Or, The Black Doll's Imbroglio (1987)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Signs of Spring (1988)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- The Dripping Faucet (1989)
- The Helpless Doorknob: A Shuffled Story (1989)
- Tragédies Topiares: Dogear Wryde Postcards (1989)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Q. R. V. (1989)
- Q. R. V.: The Universal Solvent (1990)
- included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- The Stupid Joke (1990)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- The Tuning Fork (1990)
- Included in Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- The Fraught Settee (1990)
- La Balade Troublante (1991)
- The Betrayed Confidence (1992)
- The Doleful Domesticity; Another Novel (1992)
- The Grand Passion (1992)
- Serious Life: A Cruise (1992)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Verse Advice (1993)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- The Dancing Rock by Ogdred Weary (1993)
- The Floating Elephant by Dogear Wryde (1993)
- The Pointless Book; or, Nature & Art by Garrot Weedy (1993)
- Figbash Acrobate (1994)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- The Retrieved Locket (1994)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Another Random Walk (1994)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Random Walk (1995)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- The Fantod Pack (1995)
- The Unknown Vegetable (1995)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Bibliophile with Cats (1996)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Q. R. V. Unwmkd (1996)
- Q. R. V. Hikuptah (1996)
- Thoughtful Alphabets (1996)
- The Just Dessert: Thoughtful Alphabet XI (1997)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- The Deadly Blotter: Thoughtful Alphabet XVII (1997)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- The Haunted Tea-Cosy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas (1998)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- The Headless Bust: A Melancholy Meditation on the False Millennium (1999)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Seasonal Confusion (2000)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Thoughtful Alphabet VIII (The Morning after Christmas, 4 AM) (2001)
- The Admonitory Hippopotamus: or, Angelica and Sneezby (2002)
- Included in Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Saint Melissa the Mottled (2012)
- The Betrayed Confidence Revisited (2014)
- The Mourning Fan (2019)
- The Worsted Monster (2020)
- Amphigorey (1972)
- The Unstrung Harp (1953)
- The Listing Attic (1954)
- The Doubtful Guest (1957)
- The Object-Lesson (1958)
- The Bug Book (1959)
- The Fatal Lozenge (1960)
- The Hapless Child (1961)
- The Curious Sofa (1961)
- The Willowdale Handcar (1962)
- The Gashlycrumb Tinies (1963)
- The Insect God (1963)
- The West Wing (1963)
- The Wuggly Ump (1964)
- The Sinking Spell (1964)
- The Remembered Visit (1965)
- Amphigorey: Fifteen Books. 1953-1965. New York: Perigee, 1972.
- Amphigorey Too (1975)
- The Beastly Baby (1962)
- The Nursery Frieze (1964)
- The Pious Infant (1966)
- The Evil Garden (1966)
- The Inanimate Tragedy (1966)
- The Gilded Bat (1967)
- The Iron Tonic (1969)
- The Osbick Bird (1970)
- The Chinese Obelisks (1970)
- The Deranged Cousins (1971)
- The Eleventh Episode (1971)
- [The Untitled Book] (1971)
- The Lavender Leotard (1973)
- The Disrespectful Summons (1973)
- The Abandoned Sock (1973)
- The Lost Lions (1973)
- [by Alphonse Allais] Story for Sara (1971)
- [by Charles Cros] The Salt Herring (1971)
- Leaves from a Mislaid Album (1972)
- A Limerick (1973)
- Amphigorey Too. New York: Perigee, 1975.
- Amphigorey Also (1983)
- The Utter Zoo (1967)
- The Blue Aspic (1968)
- The Epiplectic Bicycle (1969)
- The Sopping Thursday (1970)
- The Grand Passion (1976)
- Les Passementeries Horribles (1976)
- The Eclectic Abecedarium (1983)
- L'Heure bleue (1975)
- The Broken Spoke (1976)
- The Awdrey-Gore Legacy (1972)
- The Glorious Nosebleed (1975)
- The Loathsome Couple (1977)
- The Green Beads (1978)
- Les Urnes Utiles (1980)
- The Stupid Joke (1990)
- The Prune People (1983)
- The Tuning Fork (1990)
- Amphigorey Also. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 1983.
- Amphigorey Again (2006)
- The Galoshes of Remorse (1979)
- Signs of Spring (1988)
- Seasonal Confusion (2000)
- Random Walk (1995)
- Categor y (1973)
- Bibliophile with Cats (1996)
- The Other Statue (1968)
- 10 Impossible Objects (abridged)
- The Universal Solvent (abridged) (1989)
- Scènes de Ballet (1976)
- Verse Advice (1993)
- The Deadly Blotter (1997)
- Creativity
- The Retrieved Locket (1994)
- The Water Flowers (1982)
- The Haunted Tea-Cosy (1998)
- Christmas Wrap-Up
- The Headless Bust (1999)
- The Just Dessert (1997)
- The Admonitory Hippopotamus (2002)
- Neglected Murderesses (1980)
- Tragédies Topiares (1989)
- The Raging Tide (1987)
- The Unknown Vegetable (1995)
- Another Random Walk (1994)
- Serious Life: A Cruise (1992)
- Figbash Acrobate (1994)
- La Malle Saignante
- The Izzard Book
- Amphigorey Again. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2007.
- Theroux, Alexander. The Strange Case of Edward Gorey. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books, 2000.
- Wilkin, Karen, ed. Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey, Selected Interviews. 2001. Orlando, FL: Harvest, 2002.
- Neumeyer, Peter F., ed. Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2011.
- Dery, Mark. Born to be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey. William Collins. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2018.
- Whyte, Malcolm. Gorey Secrets: Artistic and Literary Inspirations behind Divers Books by Edward Gorey. Foreword by Peter F. Neumeyer. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2021.
Books:
Collections:
Secondary:
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Helen Plunkett: Peter Neumeyer at the Cartoon Art Museum (9/11/2011)
l-to-r: Stephanie King, Peter Neumeyer, Malcolm Whyte & Helen Neumeyer
Peter F. Neumeyer
(1929- )
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Books:
- [Ed.] Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Castle: A Collection of Critical Essays. A Spectrum Book. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1969.
- [with Edward Gorey] Donald and the .... New York: Addison-Wesley, 1969.
- [with Edward Gorey] Donald Has a Difficulty. Yarmouth Port, MA: Fantod Press, 1970.
- [with Edward Gorey] Why We Have Day and Night. New York: Young Scott Books, 1970.
- The Faithful Fish. New York: Young Scott Books, 1971.
- Gorey X 3. Illustrated by Edward Gorey. New York: Addison-Wesley, 1976.
- The Jumblies, by Edward Lear
- The Dong with a Luminous Nose, by Edward Lear
- Donald and the…, by Peter F. Neumeyer
- Homage to John Clare: A Poetical and Critical correspondence (1980)
- Dream Cat. La Jolla, CA: Green Tiger Press, 1982.
- [Trans.] Hans Baumann. Mischa and His Brothers. Illustrated by Reinhard Michl. 1984. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1991.
- [Adapted] Gaston Leroux: The Phantom of the Opera. Illustrated by Don Weller. 1988. New York: Gibbs Smith, 1989.
- [Ed.] E. B. White. The Annotated Charlotte’s Web. 1952 (1994)
- White, E. B. The Annotated Charlotte’s Web. Illustrated by Garth Williams. 1952. Ed. Peter F. Neumeyer. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994.
- [Trans.] Quint Buchholz. Sleep Well, Little Bear. 1993. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994.
- [Trans.] Quint Buchholz. The Collector of Moments. 1997. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999.
- "The Zemach Legacy." In Dancing Line and Merry Color: The Worlds of Margot and Kaethe Zemach. Amherst, MA: Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 2004.
- [Ed.] Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer (2011)
- Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2011.
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- category - Fantasy Literature: Authors
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