A centennial look back at Edward Gorey's macabre art and guarded life

Edward Gorey’s centennial gets the deluxe treatment with “E Is for Edward,” a lush coffee-table tribute by Gregory Hischak. But the community didn’t just nod politely—they split into two delightfully dramatic camps. One camp slammed down a mysterious archive drop like a mic, radiating “I have the deep cuts” energy. The other camp shouted: Get off the couch and go to the Gorey House on Cape Cod, where the Gashlycrumb Tinies scavenger hunt turns fans into gothic gumshoes.

Strongest opinion of the day? The museum-goers, who insist the Gorey experience is better in real life, with clues, creaky floorboards, and a dash of morbid whimsy. Meanwhile, the archive crowd treats the new book like a starting point, not the destination—if you love Gorey’s macabre line art and guarded mystique, they say, follow the breadcrumbs online. Cue the mini-drama: coffee-table vs field trip, with “down the Cape” locals flexing that they know the best way to do it. The humor? Fans riffed on the Tinies vibe—alphabet-of-doom energy meets summer road trip—and teased whether the scavenger hunt is kid-friendly or secretly designed to humble adults. Either way, Gorey’s legacy is thriving: half fandom flipping pages, half fandom chasing clues in a house full of shadows.