August 5 2008
Amphigorey Again by Edward Gorey
Amphigorey Again is the fourth collection of Edward Gorey’s delightfully morbid neo-Victorian illustrated stories, stand alone art pieces, and illuminated alphabets. Gorey is an illustrator who depicts a world that exists only in his imagination: it’s a world of absurdly-named aristocrats, imperiled children, dreary graveyards, cats, and topiary gardens. Of course, Gorey’s art is not without a certain tenor of black humor. My particular favorite in this volume is “The Raging Tide: or, The Black Doll’s Imbroglio,” a truly cracked take on the Choose Your Own Adventure series. Besides the usual depressive tone of Gorey’s work, the final pages of Amphigorey Again strike a sad note; the collection ends with “The Izzard Book,” the illustrations for which were left unfinished at the time of Gorey’s death.
