author
Herbert Gorman
A journalist-turned-novelist and critic, he became best known as James Joyce’s first biographer while also building a career in historical fiction, reviews, and literary journalism. His work moved easily between newspapers, biography, and darker imaginative fiction, including the eerie novel The Place Called Dagon.
1 Audiobook
The place called Dagon
by Herbert Gorman
About the author
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1893, Herbert Sherman Gorman was an American writer, critic, and editor who worked for several New York newspapers, including the New York Times and the Herald Tribune. Alongside his journalism, he wrote poetry, articles, and book reviews, and he went on to publish around twenty books, many of them historical novels and biographies.
Gorman is especially remembered for writing the first full biography of James Joyce, a distinction that gave him a lasting place in literary history. His range was wider than that single achievement, though: he also wrote fiction, and readers of strange or atmospheric literature often know him for The Place Called Dagon.
He spent time in literary circles in New York and beyond, and his career reflects the lively newspaper and book culture of the early twentieth century. He died in 1954, leaving behind work that connected journalism, biography, and imaginative storytelling.