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Mervyn Peake (1911–1968)

Author of The Gormenghast Trilogy

52+ Works 15,145 Members 303 Reviews 146 Favorited
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About the Author

Series

Works by Mervyn Peake

The Gormenghast Trilogy (1967) 4,334 copies
Titus Groan (1946) 4,009 copies
Gormenghast (1950) 2,622 copies
Titus Alone (1959) 2,008 copies
Mr Pye (1953) 449 copies
Titus Awakes (2011) 241 copies
A Book of Nonsense (1972) 178 copies
Peake's Progress (1978) 156 copies
Letters from a Lost Uncle (1948) 150 copies
Boy in Darkness (1956) — Author — 137 copies
The Inner Landscape (1969) 119 copies
Figures of Speech (2003) 49 copies
Collected Poems (2008) 48 copies
Selected Poems (1972) 45 copies
Writings and Drawings (1974) 35 copies
Complete Nonsense (2011) 20 copies
Rhymes Without Reason (1944) 10 copies
Shapes and sounds (1974) 7 copies
The Glassblowers (1950) 7 copies
Sketches from "Bleak House" (1983) — Illustrator — 5 copies
Gormenghast / Titus Alone (1950) 2 copies
Gormenghast: A Fantasy Opera (2000) — Creator — 2 copies
Titus dans les ténèbres (1995) 2 copies
Titus 1 copy
Lettere dal Polo Nord (2003) 1 copy
Gormenghast the Game (2013) 1 copy
Twelve Poems, 1939-60 (1975) 1 copy
11 Poems 1 copy

Associated Works

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) — Illustrator, some editions — 26,134 copies
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass (1865) — Illustrator, some editions — 24,786 copies
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) — Illustrator, some editions — 16,767 copies
The Swiss Family Robinson (1812) — Illustrator, some editions — 8,489 copies
Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871) — Illustrator, some editions — 7,614 copies
The Fifth Child (1988) — Cover artist, some editions — 2,347 copies
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) — Illustrator, some editions — 2,346 copies
The Hunting of the Snark (1876) — Illustrator, some editions — 1,286 copies
Droll Stories (1832) — Illustrator, some editions — 1,153 copies
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories (2011) — Contributor — 796 copies
Household Tales {Crane} (1963) — Illustrator, some editions — 759 copies
The Flying Sorcerers: More Comic Tales of Fantasy (1997) — Contributor — 499 copies
Knights of Madness: Further Comic Tales of Fantasy (1998) — Contributor — 296 copies
Shudder Again: 22 Tales of Sex and Horror (1993) — Contributor — 228 copies
The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories (1994) — Contributor — 186 copies
Witchcraft in England (1945) — Illustrator — 167 copies
Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic (1990) — Contributor — 152 copies
New Worlds for Old (1971) — Contributor — 99 copies
New Worlds Quarterly 1 (1971) — Illustrator — 69 copies
Gormenghast [TV miniseries] (2000) — Creator — 53 copies
Mervyn Peake (1976) — Illustrator — 35 copies
Weird Shadows From Beyond (1965) — Contributor — 33 copies
The Sunday Books (2010) — Illustrator — 29 copies
The adventures of the young soldier in search of the better world (1943) — Illustrator, some editions — 27 copies
Quest for Sita (1946) — Illustrator, some editions — 26 copies
Prayers and graces : a little book of extraordinary piety (1944) — Illustrator — 23 copies
Le livre d'or de la Science-Fiction : Le manoir des roses (1978) — Contributor — 20 copies
Nightfrights (1972) — Contributor — 17 copies
Thou Shalt Not Suffer A Witch (1996) — Illustrator, some editions — 12 copies
Das Hobbit-Buch (1988) — Author — 7 copies
More Prayers and Graces: A Second Book of Unusual Piety (1957) — Illustrator — 5 copies
Dreamers of Dreams: An Anthology of Fantasy (1978) — Author — 4 copies
All This and Bevin Too. With Drawings by Mervyn Peake. (1978) — Illustrator — 4 copies
The Day We Embarked for Cythera {short story} (1970) — Illustrator, some editions — 3 copies
The Pot of Gold (1959) — Illustrator, some editions — 1 copy

Tagged

19th century (1,145) adventure (796) Alice (855) Alice in Wonderland (572) anthology (403) British (675) British literature (781) children (1,203) children's (1,942) children's books (457) children's fiction (444) children's literature (1,367) classic (3,130) classic literature (365) classics (2,924) ebook (594) England (449) English (503) English literature (877) fantasy (7,144) fiction (9,493) Folio Society (478) Gormenghast (303) gothic (710) horror (1,093) humor (520) illustrated (719) Kindle (506) Lewis Carroll (455) literature (1,782) novel (1,388) own (382) poetry (1,113) read (1,189) science fiction (618) short stories (461) to-read (3,140) unread (474) Victorian (330) young adult (372)

Common Knowledge

Members

Discussions

OT: Extraordinary Editions - MR PYE in Folio Society Devotees (May 18)
Gormenghast LE 2022 in Folio Society Devotees (April 4)
Gormenghast LE! in Folio Society Devotees (May 2022)

Reviews

I liked this book but I will admit it is not going to be for everyone. It moves at a languid pace. The words are as important as any story that is going on. For me it was a lot like reading an over the top fantasy novel that Dickens might have written. Only Dickens made his writing more accessible.

I can see the roots of a lot of writers I really like in this book though (China Mieville for instance). I am glad I finally read it and will work my way through the other books but this is going to be a series I will not read straight through.… (more)
 
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cdaley | 97 other reviews | Nov 2, 2023 |
The artwork is gorgeous! The story is not as good as I remember from childhood, I couldn’t help just feeling bad for Jackson.
 
Flagged
ellie.sara18 | 7 other reviews | Oct 6, 2023 |
I can't even describe how much I loved this book. Peake's use of language was amazing and enthralling and I felt like I was being physically pulled into Gormenghast. Brilliant book.
 
Flagged
beentsy | 97 other reviews | Aug 12, 2023 |
My rating covers the overall package, as well as the stories; the forewords and accompanying art. It's a nice little package, even if nothing is quite as good as the title story.

While not outstanding, the collection shows that Peake bordered on literary chameleon. His style, rhythm and pace seems to change from story to story according to what feels apt for the narrative. Always pretty, often whimsical, but the range of writing feels wide.


Boy In Darkness - 4

Nothing beats Titus Groan for me, but this is an enjoyable little nightmare and a nice extension to the world of Gormenghast (and beyond). It starts and ends a little clunkily, but the meat of the tale is engrossing and packed with delicious prose. I'm sad I've now read everything the world has to offer.


The Weird Journey - 3.5

Beautiful prose weaves a breif, whimsical narrative, producing less wonder than expected.


I Bought A Palm-tree - 3.5

A simple, witty story about the spontaneous and uninformed purchasing of a palm-tree.


The Connoisseurs - 3.5

An on the nose, but amusing, satire on art.


Danse Macabre - 3.75

A dark, ghostly tale. I found the writing a tad laborious at first, but the direction the story takes toward the end is intriguing and the ending nothing short of brutal.


Same Time, Same Place - 3.5

A runaway youth and his naive, romantic pursuit. Nicely written, very readable.


Overall a nice little collection. Worth picking up as a fan of Peake, and certainly worth it for the title story alone if you're a Gormenghast completionist.
… (more)
 
Flagged
TheScribblingMan | 2 other reviews | Jul 29, 2023 |

Lists

Awards

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Maeve Gilmore Editor, Introduction, Foreword, , Preface
R. W. Maslen Editor, Introduction
Sebastian Peake Editor, Introduction
P. J. Lynch Illustrator
Joanne Harris Foreword
Sting Actor
Alan Lee Cover artist
Peter Harding Cover artist
Saul Reichlin Narrator
Rupert Degas Narrator
Anthony Burgess Introduction
Robert Pepper Cover artist
Quentin S. Crisp Introduction
Julek Hellar Cover artist
China Miéville Introduction
Michael Moorcock Introduction
Michael Moorcock Introduction
Anna Ravano Translator
Mark Robertson Cover artist
Tad Williams Introduction
Åke Ohlmarks Translator
Roberto Serrai Translator
Bob Pepper Cover artist
David Louis Edelman Introduction
Brian Sibley Introduction
Richard M. Powers Cover artist
Gervasio Gallardo Cover artist
John Watney Introduction
Ian West Cover designer
Fabian Peake Afterword

Statistics

Works
52
Also by
36
Members
15,145
Popularity
#1,512
Rating
3.9
Reviews
303
ISBNs
277
Languages
17
Favorited
146
Touchstones
583

Charts & Graphs