Perhaps one of his most autobiographical works, The Unstrung Harp is a look at the literary life and its 'attendant woes- isolation, writer's block, professional jealousy, and plain boredom.' But as with all of Edward Gorey's books, The Unstrung Harp is also about life in general, with its anguish, turnips, conjunctions, illness, defeat, string, parties, no parties, desuetude, fever, tides, labels, mourning, elsewards. Finally, The Unstrung Harp is about Edward Gorey the writer, about Edward Gorey writing The Unstrung Harp. Originally published in 1953, it's a small masterpiece.