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"A classic artistic parody from two of the world's most satiric minds. Moss uncovers remarkable historical anecdotes, which are accompanied by Gorey's absurdly deadpan drawings. Although the insightful scenarios involving Emily Dickinson, Mozart, Henrik Ibsen, and El Greco are all the product of Moss's fertile imagination, his uncanny emulation of style makes us believe they (just possibly) might be true"--
About the author
Howard Moss was the poetry editor of
The New Yorker for almost forty years, a role that he used to promote the work of then-little-known poets such as Anne Sexton, Richard Wilbur, and Sylvia Plath. Hugely influential on American poetry as we know it today, Moss was also a poet himself, as well as a literary critic and professor at Vassar.
Summary
A humor classic—fractured biographical moments from the lives of great writers and composers. Loosely based on historical anecdotes, this is a collection of mostly imagined encounters between literary figures and their real or imagined family members, friends, and bitter enemies. In Howard Moss’s satirical voice and Edward Gorey’s twenty-five deadpan illustrations, we see Jane Austen wielding artful passive aggression and Sense and Sensibility galleys, the Alcott girls sculpting fudge, the rise of Emily Dickinson’s ruthless witch hazel business, among other delights. Perfect for those who love literature too much to hold it closely to actual facts.
