I didn't know much at all about the man himself before reading this, and now I do. Of course, Gorey's interests and influences are much more far-reaching and eclectic than merely the ones I've cited above. These are all characters I loved as a child, so something in his art must speak to that part of me. According to the interview here, Gorey adores Dickens (especially his lesser-read works) and, according to interpretation offered in the essay, in his art he both celebrates and parodies the unrealistic, melodramatic innocence of characters like Little Nell and those of other 19th-century authors, such as Frances Hodgson Burnett's Sara Crewe and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. Though I've been attracted to Gorey's art for some time now, I couldn't have told you before I read this book why I was.
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