Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey - Hardcover

Mark Dery is a cultural critic. He coined the term "Afrofuturism," popularized the concept of "culture jamming," taught at Yale and NYU, and has published widely on pop culture, the media, and on the mythologies (and pathologies) of American life. His books include Flame Wars, a seminal anthology of writings on digital culture; Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the end of the century, The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink, and the essay collection, I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts: Drive-by Essays on American Dread, American Dreams. Like Gorey, his mission in life "is to make everybody as uneasy as possible."

One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, The Guardian, Boston Globe, Paste, Mental Floss, San Francisco Chronicle

"As a perfervid Goreyphile, I was a bit leery of a biography undertaking to spell out the details of his life. Did I really want to have the mystery solved? But Mark Dery drags the pond to revelatory result, contextualizing and analyzing Gorey, plunging into his obsessions, dissecting his sexuality, and even examining the philosophical import of nonsense while somehow managing to leave the central enigma radiantly intact. This is an absolutely riveting book about an utterly sui generis subject."―Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home

"The best biographies are the result of a perfect match between author and subject, and it's relatively rare when the two align perfectly. But that's the case with Born to Be Posthumous--Dery shares Gorey's arch sense of humor, and shows real sympathy for his sui generis outlook and aesthetics. Dery's book is smart, exhaustive, and an absolute joy to read... the biography [Gorey] has long deserved."―NPR

"A detailed, devoted, and highly readable biography of the illustrator who--from The Doubtful Guest to The Curious Sofa--defined and embodied a world of camp, gothic hilarity."―Ben Schott, The Guardian

"Smart and entertaining... brings us closer than ever to understanding a man devoted to enigmas."―Washington Post

"Edward Gorey has been granted the most remarkable biography, one I believe he could have lived with. What was the likelihood that this singular genius could be restored, with such compassion and grace, within his whole context: Balanchine, surrealism, Frank O'Hara, Lady Murasaki, et al? This is a Dery Gorey book."―Jonathan Lethem

"Provocative... Dery makes a convincing case that Gorey was the true godfather of Goth, inspiring a generation of pop culture memento mori, from the IMAX-scale nightmares of Tim Burton... to the travails of Lemony Snicket... Dery has set the standard for a comprehensive appraisal of his legacy."―San Francisco Chronicle

"An entertaining account of an artist who liked to be coy with anybody who dared to write about him."―New York Times

"Gorey has found a superb biographer in Mark Dery... Some enigmas aren't meant to be solved--but they can be usefully illuminated. That's just what Dery does in this excellent book."―Seattle Times

"Ravishing...Dery portrays the man behind those odd little books that delighted in showing children in danger, blending Victorian and Surrealistic sensibilities; Gorey was a Harvard man, a balletomane, and ultimately, an enigma."―The Boston Globe