From: Ali -chan [tira_misu@edmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2000 6:31 PM
To: goodbye@goreyography.com
Subject: ;_;

The news of Mr. Gorey's demise was unexpected and disenheartening when I finally learned of it on Tuesday, April 18.  Saddening? Very, but at age 75, Mr. Gorey had had time to leave behind an impressive body of work.  Work sought after by fans of his uniquely macabri illustrative style.
I am one of those fans.
I first discovered the work of Mr. Gorey when i was 7 years old; he illustrated the covers and frontispieces of a seires of books by John Bellairs (an author who i enjoyed reading at the time).  However, it didn't actually occur to me to seek out the work of Mr. Gorey until I was a bit older, when i saw a copy of "the Ghastlycrumb Tinies" at a local bookstore.  The art was instantly recognizable: dark, moody, and drawn with a line quality that cannot be ignored.  Hatched and cross-hatched in such a way as to seem like a simple sketch, until you take a closer look and realise that each and every little line was deliberately placed.... It's intricate, to say the least.
As an aspiring artist, I can appreciate the distinctive motif and line characteristics that was Mr. Gorey's hallmark.  His way of representing the world, the antique, combined with a wonderfully morbid sense of humour is what places him among my favourite illustrators; kind of a secret, dark, indulgence.
Mr. Gorey will be missed by myself, and you as well, i'll wager (you're reading this aren't you?), but his presence will still be around...
Now, every time I go to pull a page off of my day by day calendar, I'll look at the illustration, and think of the man who once penned the strangely gothic image before me.

Goodbye Mr. Gorey.

~allison skertich


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