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A doomed lord, an emergent hero, and an array of bizarre creatures haunt the world of the Gormenghast trilogy, which reigns as one of the undisputed fantasy classics of all time. At the center of it all is Titus Groan, the seventy-seventh Earl, who stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle and its kingdom.In this second volume, Titus comes of age within the walls of Gormenghast Castle and discovers various family intrigues. Having been "exiled" to show more grow up with the common children until the age of fifteen, Titus has discovered secret hiding places in the castle from where he can watch and learn unobserved. Disconnected from his future responsibilities, Titus drifts back and forth between the complicated social world he will grow up to govern and a world of fantasy and daydream.
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Peake's language is absolutely breathtaking. It could veer into the purplish, but somehow manages to steer away from that fate and ends up being impressive, evocative, and unique. It's not hard to see why Anthony Burgess, another master of language though in quite a different way, was an admirer. Gormenghast is a bit less rambling than Titus Groan, meaning it's got a few slivers more of plot, but overall it would be difficult to summarize what it's about.
Dickens is a good comparison, not only in use of overblown language and introduction of grotesque characters (with crazy names) but also in deployment of a plot that, in the end, doesn't really matter. I always feel with Dickens that the plots are so wildly implausible they cease to be show more important; it's the characters and their journeys that are the key. The same is true for Gormenghast. It would be hard to say what really "happens" in the book, but I'll admit to feeling choked up by Peake's deft expression of Titus's pure, wild, adolescent desperation for escape and adventure. show less
Dickens is a good comparison, not only in use of overblown language and introduction of grotesque characters (with crazy names) but also in deployment of a plot that, in the end, doesn't really matter. I always feel with Dickens that the plots are so wildly implausible they cease to be show more important; it's the characters and their journeys that are the key. The same is true for Gormenghast. It would be hard to say what really "happens" in the book, but I'll admit to feeling choked up by Peake's deft expression of Titus's pure, wild, adolescent desperation for escape and adventure. show less
With his painter's eye, Peake captures the beauty, the strangeness, the madness and the dread that suffuses the royalty and retinue of Gormenghast. Through sublime visuals that teeter between life and ether, the castle whorls with the eccentricities and complicated makeup of its characters who themselves capture the magic of living death. These characters are all bound by ritual and routine, yet they break off from the longsuffering grip of Gormenghast in a variety of ways, making for lots of verisimilar moments of comedy, tragedy and romance; a confluence of fully realized depth. It's these characters that really take the story of this atemporal castle to a higher summit in this second book.
In the first book, Peake's writing was show more denser—more coiled and experimental—but here in the second book he unravels his writing style while also presenting a much deeper, more intricate look at the characters and how they are all affected by Gormenghast's ritualistic traditions. In a way, it's a more grounded work than the first (as "grounded" as something like this can be). Peake's love of nature and of painting with his words doesn't change—as there are still many impressive, wondrous, and sometimes horrifying passages—but his altered focus on the castle and its inhabitants is noticeable in certain stylistic changes.
Some reviewers lament this "lens change," and while I agree that it's somewhat jarring in the beginning, it sprouts and blooms in its own subtle and dynamic ways throughout the novel. Peake proves himself to be a master of style, adapting to new inclusions while still championing his own fantastical vision and honed sense of aesthetics. The characters themselves seem more so than they were in the previous book, even. I'd even go so far as to say the book morphs as things continue in a way almost reflective of the aging of Titus.
It's impressive that Peake set out to detail Titus's entire life in a series of books, and was successful (at least in these first two Gormenghast books). While this idea appears good on paper, it's easy for something so expansive to get out of hand. But then again, Gormenghast is so unlike other fantasy stories I've read, and it is this different kind of meticulous book that sets Peake's ideas and execution head and shoulders above many preceding and more modern fantasists. Who knows if Peake would've been able to stay the course and keep things interesting, but I like to think he would've found way.
Peake makes it so that Titus's upbringing and slow coming-of-age is not only believable, but humorous and striking since Titus is one of the few characters that brings about change and chaos to the castle. And Peake doesn't focus immoderately on Titus, either; the boy is only one part of the fanciful mannerpunk array. The events that shape naive Titus and the restless, curious spirit that inhabits him is something that always makes his scenes a joy to read. His solitary lot in life and subsequent circumstances are evocative in their reality and surreality, and how Peake describes Titus's rebellion against a longstanding tradition is something that resonated with me quite a lot. In many ways, Gormenghast made me feel understood in ways that few books have been able to do.
While Titus Groan is a darker, more foreboding and mysterious work, Gormenghast presents a world that comes across as more established, and is more comic and tragic as Peake shows more areas of the castle and broadens the cast. Moments of silliness and mirth for certain characters take on a sorrowful tone when viewed from the larger picture of what they are lacking in their lives, and how the castle's rituals offer anything but fulfillment and suturing. My favorite chapter about one of these rituals contains some of the most exquisite writing from Peake; a masterful example of technical prowess and fabulation. Here are a few of my favorite parts from this chapter:
I don't want to spoil the context of this chapter, but it's certainly one of the most impactful ones of the book. Many other characters get their moments to shine; their key events, and their fleshed out and funny entanglement with each other. And not all is tragedy and gloom, either, for there are many moments that are so warm or touching that you'll inadvertently find yourself smiling and feeling happy for the denizens of Gormenghast. There are other moments of serenity, and of understanding between characters, and these altogether make for an immense and perfectly conflicting display of humanity. They are the castle as much as the castle is a part of them.
Another criticism I've read about this second book is that it meanders when Peake describes scenery. I can see what they mean, and I do think that being overly descriptive tends to have its drawbacks and can cause a scene to lose its momentum. However, with Peake there is not only a painstakingly crafted elegance to his descriptions, but there is motion to his phrasing; it's truly an ebullient cascade of prose that draws out the essence of nature and the characters. Though Peake is enamored with describing the castle and the land surrounding it, his writing remains controlled and deliberate. Here's another textual example that some may find wordy and momentum-halting, whereas I find it a fitting segue:
Its a single setting, and yet it Peake describes its cycle in succinct, pointed detail. His words give extra life to this glade, making it a potent, meditative scene (the scenic description doesn't end there, but it leads to a spoiler, so I didn't write out the whole thing). There are many of scenes of similar caliber that stretch on for longer, but I found myself enjoying them. Peake continually performs amazing feats with his vibrant and ominous writing, providing an excellent abode for the fantastical elements to inhabit.
This book is mighty; an epic unto itself. Its words brim with stark visuals that twist light, shadow and form as a candlelight does. I enjoyed the more expansive view of Gormenghast and how Peake gave us further insight into the peculiar characters and the fascinating ways that they waver between realms. As I read the last page, Gormenghast left me feeling satisfied but also melancholic. I know the series will soon be drawing to its close, and it's a shame that Peake never got to finish writing about Titus's life. I've grown attached to Gormenghast and its odd folk—the way they are described is so unique, memorable, and sometimes remarkably recognizable. But the story had to end sometime. I'm just glad that I got the chance to read such an amazing one. show less
In the first book, Peake's writing was show more denser—more coiled and experimental—but here in the second book he unravels his writing style while also presenting a much deeper, more intricate look at the characters and how they are all affected by Gormenghast's ritualistic traditions. In a way, it's a more grounded work than the first (as "grounded" as something like this can be). Peake's love of nature and of painting with his words doesn't change—as there are still many impressive, wondrous, and sometimes horrifying passages—but his altered focus on the castle and its inhabitants is noticeable in certain stylistic changes.
Some reviewers lament this "lens change," and while I agree that it's somewhat jarring in the beginning, it sprouts and blooms in its own subtle and dynamic ways throughout the novel. Peake proves himself to be a master of style, adapting to new inclusions while still championing his own fantastical vision and honed sense of aesthetics. The characters themselves seem more so than they were in the previous book, even. I'd even go so far as to say the book morphs as things continue in a way almost reflective of the aging of Titus.
It's impressive that Peake set out to detail Titus's entire life in a series of books, and was successful (at least in these first two Gormenghast books). While this idea appears good on paper, it's easy for something so expansive to get out of hand. But then again, Gormenghast is so unlike other fantasy stories I've read, and it is this different kind of meticulous book that sets Peake's ideas and execution head and shoulders above many preceding and more modern fantasists. Who knows if Peake would've been able to stay the course and keep things interesting, but I like to think he would've found way.
Peake makes it so that Titus's upbringing and slow coming-of-age is not only believable, but humorous and striking since Titus is one of the few characters that brings about change and chaos to the castle. And Peake doesn't focus immoderately on Titus, either; the boy is only one part of the fanciful mannerpunk array. The events that shape naive Titus and the restless, curious spirit that inhabits him is something that always makes his scenes a joy to read. His solitary lot in life and subsequent circumstances are evocative in their reality and surreality, and how Peake describes Titus's rebellion against a longstanding tradition is something that resonated with me quite a lot. In many ways, Gormenghast made me feel understood in ways that few books have been able to do.
While Titus Groan is a darker, more foreboding and mysterious work, Gormenghast presents a world that comes across as more established, and is more comic and tragic as Peake shows more areas of the castle and broadens the cast. Moments of silliness and mirth for certain characters take on a sorrowful tone when viewed from the larger picture of what they are lacking in their lives, and how the castle's rituals offer anything but fulfillment and suturing. My favorite chapter about one of these rituals contains some of the most exquisite writing from Peake; a masterful example of technical prowess and fabulation. Here are a few of my favorite parts from this chapter:
"The silence about him was like something that hummed against his eardrums. This was another kind of silence. This was not the silence of nothing happening – of emptiness, or negation – but was a positive thing – a silence that knew of itself – that was charged, conscious and wide awake."
"And it was this nocturnal glass in whose depths shone the moon-bathed foliage of the chestnut trees that held the eye the longest. For it was nothingness, a sheet of death; and it was everything. Nothing it held was its own although the least leaf was reflected with microscopic accuracy – and, as though to light those aqueous forms with a luminary of their own, a phantom moon lay on the water, as big as a plate and as white, save where the shadow of its mountains lay."
"At last, the time-hallowed ritual drew to its end, and the lofty creatures stepped from the shallow lake, and turning before they disappeared into the deep woods, bowed to Titus, as might the gods of Poetry and Battle bow to one another, as equals across enchanted water."
I don't want to spoil the context of this chapter, but it's certainly one of the most impactful ones of the book. Many other characters get their moments to shine; their key events, and their fleshed out and funny entanglement with each other. And not all is tragedy and gloom, either, for there are many moments that are so warm or touching that you'll inadvertently find yourself smiling and feeling happy for the denizens of Gormenghast. There are other moments of serenity, and of understanding between characters, and these altogether make for an immense and perfectly conflicting display of humanity. They are the castle as much as the castle is a part of them.
Another criticism I've read about this second book is that it meanders when Peake describes scenery. I can see what they mean, and I do think that being overly descriptive tends to have its drawbacks and can cause a scene to lose its momentum. However, with Peake there is not only a painstakingly crafted elegance to his descriptions, but there is motion to his phrasing; it's truly an ebullient cascade of prose that draws out the essence of nature and the characters. Though Peake is enamored with describing the castle and the land surrounding it, his writing remains controlled and deliberate. Here's another textual example that some may find wordy and momentum-halting, whereas I find it a fitting segue:
"The glade had been in darkness since the dawn. A strand of almost horizontal light had slid at the cockcrow through a multitude of trees and inflamed for a moment an obscure corner of the glade where a herd of giant ferns arched their spines (the long fronds falling like the manes of horses). They had shone with a cold, green, angry radiance. They had been exposed. The long ray had withdrawn as though it had not found what is was looking for. As the sun climbed, the glade appeared to darken rather than to absorb the strengthening light. The air was domed with foliage; layer after voluminous layer hanging in darkened swathes! All day long the darkness sat there, muffling the boles of the trees, a terrible day-time dusk, as thick as night. But all the while the uppermost branches of these same trees and the topmost layers of the leaf shone in the cloudless sunlight. When evening came and the sun was hanging over the western skyline the drowned glade began to lighten. The level beams streamed from the west; the glade shuddered, and then, silent and motionless as a picture of itself, it gave up all of its secrets. Of the trees that grew from this sunken circle of ground there was one which claimed immediate attention. Its girth was such that the trees that surrounded it, though tall and powerful, were made to look like saplings. It was the king. Yet it alone was dead."
Its a single setting, and yet it Peake describes its cycle in succinct, pointed detail. His words give extra life to this glade, making it a potent, meditative scene (the scenic description doesn't end there, but it leads to a spoiler, so I didn't write out the whole thing). There are many of scenes of similar caliber that stretch on for longer, but I found myself enjoying them. Peake continually performs amazing feats with his vibrant and ominous writing, providing an excellent abode for the fantastical elements to inhabit.
This book is mighty; an epic unto itself. Its words brim with stark visuals that twist light, shadow and form as a candlelight does. I enjoyed the more expansive view of Gormenghast and how Peake gave us further insight into the peculiar characters and the fascinating ways that they waver between realms. As I read the last page, Gormenghast left me feeling satisfied but also melancholic. I know the series will soon be drawing to its close, and it's a shame that Peake never got to finish writing about Titus's life. I've grown attached to Gormenghast and its odd folk—the way they are described is so unique, memorable, and sometimes remarkably recognizable. But the story had to end sometime. I'm just glad that I got the chance to read such an amazing one. show less
A fantasy written for the complex minds of adults; what a concept!
The hormone levels in this novel are low enough to be fatal to any Sarah J Maas heroine; they'd just wither and crumble (((((((((((in an elegant, luxurious and opulent way, of course!))))))))). For some reason Peake forgot to add the token badass female character. Oddly enough, this book does not end with a group of amazing teenagers saving the world from ultimate evil.
That's right, in the past, authors were capable of writing books that weren't complete formulaic, egregious shit. Publishers actually paid professionals to edit the books for quality control and the best reading experience. Not that the publishing industry needs to worry, I stopped eating at McDonalds in show more 1985 and they're still in business. So continue to produce those fine, high quality McBooks to meet the demands of the masses for easy, nutrition-free, fast, fast, fast consumption!
I'll be fine. I have two shelves of books ready for me to read. Second-hand books purchased from small sellers who understand the obscure tastes of discriminating readers. I prefer to spend my big, fat, middle-aged discretionary income with those types of businesses. As a result, I get five to ten used books for the same price as a new book. The quality of the material I receive is far greater in proportion than the quantity.
Plus, I plan to re-read this book.........multiple times........because it's complex........and beautifully written..........full of bizarre and wonderful characters. I loved this book. show less
The hormone levels in this novel are low enough to be fatal to any Sarah J Maas heroine; they'd just wither and crumble (((((((((((in an elegant, luxurious and opulent way, of course!))))))))). For some reason Peake forgot to add the token badass female character. Oddly enough, this book does not end with a group of amazing teenagers saving the world from ultimate evil.
That's right, in the past, authors were capable of writing books that weren't complete formulaic, egregious shit. Publishers actually paid professionals to edit the books for quality control and the best reading experience. Not that the publishing industry needs to worry, I stopped eating at McDonalds in show more 1985 and they're still in business. So continue to produce those fine, high quality McBooks to meet the demands of the masses for easy, nutrition-free, fast, fast, fast consumption!
I'll be fine. I have two shelves of books ready for me to read. Second-hand books purchased from small sellers who understand the obscure tastes of discriminating readers. I prefer to spend my big, fat, middle-aged discretionary income with those types of businesses. As a result, I get five to ten used books for the same price as a new book. The quality of the material I receive is far greater in proportion than the quantity.
Plus, I plan to re-read this book.........multiple times........because it's complex........and beautifully written..........full of bizarre and wonderful characters. I loved this book. show less
My feelings on this book run so hot and cold! And I do not have time to do thousands of pages justice in this short review, so here is a smattering of random thoughts
The good:
There are shining bits of artist's prose that stay with you forever. The flight of herons, the forgotten halls under the castle, a shaft of sunlight on brickwork.
By the final fight between Titus and Steerpike, I couldn't put the book down.
There are characters I love in it. The mighty countess, fighting danger, saving Gormanghast from the flood. The kind Doctor. Fuchsia, oh Fuchsia, naive and romantic and passionate.
The bad:
If as a feminist you want to talk about how annoying it is when horrible things happen to women just because it's convenient for character show more growth in some male protagonist, this is an excellent book which will give you more examples than you ever really wanted.
The oscillation between the schoolroom farce and courtship of Irma and the main plot of dark murders and angst has some rapid lurches in tone.
Steerpike is clearly the Evil Villain, but also clearly the most interesting character in the book, far more so than Titus. When your reader's sympathies find themselves straying towards the youth who burns people alive and leaves elderly women starving to death you know you have a problem with likable characters. show less
The good:
There are shining bits of artist's prose that stay with you forever. The flight of herons, the forgotten halls under the castle, a shaft of sunlight on brickwork.
By the final fight between Titus and Steerpike, I couldn't put the book down.
There are characters I love in it. The mighty countess, fighting danger, saving Gormanghast from the flood. The kind Doctor. Fuchsia, oh Fuchsia, naive and romantic and passionate.
The bad:
If as a feminist you want to talk about how annoying it is when horrible things happen to women just because it's convenient for character show more growth in some male protagonist, this is an excellent book which will give you more examples than you ever really wanted.
The oscillation between the schoolroom farce and courtship of Irma and the main plot of dark murders and angst has some rapid lurches in tone.
Steerpike is clearly the Evil Villain, but also clearly the most interesting character in the book, far more so than Titus. When your reader's sympathies find themselves straying towards the youth who burns people alive and leaves elderly women starving to death you know you have a problem with likable characters. show less
There are some truly excellent reviews on GR about this book and about Peake’s visual-poetic approach to writing. One in particular makes an intriguing argument that the more subdued visual-poetic, tableaux-like writing in Gormenghast is a reflection of Titus’s growing maturity and fecundity with langauge that leads away from a childlike visual sense impression as a dominant mode of narrative. I kind of like that reading, and I think it shapes my own reading about how maturity results in changes of perspective.
One change that I picked up on was the change in Titus’s engagement with ritual, which is central to daily life of the castle. Ritual played an equally significant role in Titus Groan but my impression of the rituals, as show more portrayed in that novel, were as fantastical, arcane, anachronistic, but ultimately harmless and charming eccentricities. In Gormenghast the rituals themselves are a bit more sinister, relentless, inevitable, and seated in webs of power … still anachronistic but more harmful and stultifying. Against these rituals, Titus rebels, escapes the castle and finds a figure of the desire he has for himself in the feral foster sister, dubbed “the Thing,” that lives in the woods.
In some ways, this novel may be a reflection of youthful rebellion, but I also think it says something about the potential oppressiveness of rituals as manners of conduct. In setting forth codes of conduct (whether civil, moral, religious, familial, etc.) the value of ritual is that it removes some of the need to rationalize and to discover and re-discover what are right actions in a given moment. Rituals are a form of memory and adherence to rituals can produce harmony of sorts by ensuring that the pieces of life that rituals bind together and align stay aligned even if the underlying reason has faded. But harmony may not always equal happiness because sometimes happiness is irrational and sometimes achieving happiness is an irrational process.
All in all, this is a delightful book and truly enjoyable to read. My review only picks up on the pieces that spoke directly to me, but it seems that there are plenty of toeholds in the narrative and characters to support a variety of reflections. show less
One change that I picked up on was the change in Titus’s engagement with ritual, which is central to daily life of the castle. Ritual played an equally significant role in Titus Groan but my impression of the rituals, as show more portrayed in that novel, were as fantastical, arcane, anachronistic, but ultimately harmless and charming eccentricities. In Gormenghast the rituals themselves are a bit more sinister, relentless, inevitable, and seated in webs of power … still anachronistic but more harmful and stultifying. Against these rituals, Titus rebels, escapes the castle and finds a figure of the desire he has for himself in the feral foster sister, dubbed “the Thing,” that lives in the woods.
In some ways, this novel may be a reflection of youthful rebellion, but I also think it says something about the potential oppressiveness of rituals as manners of conduct. In setting forth codes of conduct (whether civil, moral, religious, familial, etc.) the value of ritual is that it removes some of the need to rationalize and to discover and re-discover what are right actions in a given moment. Rituals are a form of memory and adherence to rituals can produce harmony of sorts by ensuring that the pieces of life that rituals bind together and align stay aligned even if the underlying reason has faded. But harmony may not always equal happiness because sometimes happiness is irrational and sometimes achieving happiness is an irrational process.
All in all, this is a delightful book and truly enjoyable to read. My review only picks up on the pieces that spoke directly to me, but it seems that there are plenty of toeholds in the narrative and characters to support a variety of reflections. show less
What makes the Gormenghast trilogy so interesting is that the life of its central character, Titus Groan, is far and away the least compelling aspect of the narrative. Were Mervyn Peake to focus wholly on Titus, he'd have written a book about a kid who feels restricted by responsibility and wants to be free of the burdens placed upon him by his heritage, a regular old story that we've heard before. What makes Gormenghast kick isn't what Titus is feeling but rather where he's feeling it. His struggles occur within the prodigious and endlessly complex Gormenghast castle, a place you could spend a lifetime exploring and never fully understand.
I rarely am interested in the setting of any particular novel. I care much more about the show more characters and how they think and act rather than where they might happen to be standing. But Gormenghast castle is an exception for me, because its bizarre grandeur is crucial to and inseparable from the people that reside within it. Only Gormenghast could withstand the physically imposing Countess Groan and her loyal menagerie. Only Gormenghast has the space to hold all of Fucshia's dreams and Steerpike's schemes. It's a structure that takes its outlandish personalities and gives free reign to their eccentricities, and most importantly, it's a really fun place to read about.
There are a few minor differences between this volume and its predecessor (Titus Groan). My favorite of these is the introduction of Gormenghast's teaching staff. They provide an abundance of levity in what becomes at times a fairly grim story. Peake seems to have a lot of fun naming all his characters, but Opus Fluke is the best of the bunch. I want to be named Opus Fluke.
I'm not quite sure when I'll read the third book in the trilogy. While Peake is a brilliant writer, I'm not too excited that in the divorce between Titus and Gormenghast, Peake decided to follow Titus. If I have a choice between reading about Titus crankily shirking responsibilities or Opus Fluke getting a gallon of red dye dumped down his throat for laughing too hard, I know which way I lean. show less
I rarely am interested in the setting of any particular novel. I care much more about the show more characters and how they think and act rather than where they might happen to be standing. But Gormenghast castle is an exception for me, because its bizarre grandeur is crucial to and inseparable from the people that reside within it. Only Gormenghast could withstand the physically imposing Countess Groan and her loyal menagerie. Only Gormenghast has the space to hold all of Fucshia's dreams and Steerpike's schemes. It's a structure that takes its outlandish personalities and gives free reign to their eccentricities, and most importantly, it's a really fun place to read about.
There are a few minor differences between this volume and its predecessor (Titus Groan). My favorite of these is the introduction of Gormenghast's teaching staff. They provide an abundance of levity in what becomes at times a fairly grim story. Peake seems to have a lot of fun naming all his characters, but Opus Fluke is the best of the bunch. I want to be named Opus Fluke.
I'm not quite sure when I'll read the third book in the trilogy. While Peake is a brilliant writer, I'm not too excited that in the divorce between Titus and Gormenghast, Peake decided to follow Titus. If I have a choice between reading about Titus crankily shirking responsibilities or Opus Fluke getting a gallon of red dye dumped down his throat for laughing too hard, I know which way I lean. show less
It's taken me a long time to get through this, the second volume of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. It's not because this is a particularly dull book - though the prose style that he uses often means that the plot is slow to unravel, and the writing is often dense and compacted - but because I made myself read it in chunks of fifty pages at a time so that I could savour it for longer.
I'm always at a loss as to how exactly he did it, but even with a style as Gothic as his was, Peake alway...more It's taken me a long time to get through this, the second volume of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. It's not because this is a particularly dull book - though the prose style that he uses often means that the plot is slow to unravel, and show more the writing is often dense and compacted - but because I made myself read it in chunks of fifty pages at a time so that I could savour it for longer.
I'm always at a loss as to how exactly he did it, but even with a style as Gothic as his was, Peake always managed to stay above the level of writing purple prose. Instead, he created a kind of writing that is beautiful and morbid and dark and funny and enjoyable and and extravagant and fantastic all at once.
The characters that he sketches are gorgeous things of murk and shadows and madness - Lady Gertrude, Titus, Fuschia, and above all, Steerpike - who inhabit a world which is seemingly so different from our own, but which always seems to share our modern preoccupations with delineations and values and the past, and always, always, the desire for freedom. It's often blackly funny in its observations on human behaviour, and wryly cynical to boot. Think of Terry Pratchett, and then skew the Discworld books to a place darker and weirder than anything Pterry ever conceived, and that is where the Gormenghast books dwell.
This is a large book in and of itself - over 500 pages in my paperback edition - and the trilogy itself sprawls to encompass many hundreds of pages more. But it's still a hugely rewarding work to read, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
There should be no rich, no poor, no strong, no weak,' said Steerpike, methodically pulling the legs off the stag beetle, one by one as he spoke. 'Equality is the great thing, equality is everything.' show less
I'm always at a loss as to how exactly he did it, but even with a style as Gothic as his was, Peake alway...more It's taken me a long time to get through this, the second volume of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. It's not because this is a particularly dull book - though the prose style that he uses often means that the plot is slow to unravel, and show more the writing is often dense and compacted - but because I made myself read it in chunks of fifty pages at a time so that I could savour it for longer.
I'm always at a loss as to how exactly he did it, but even with a style as Gothic as his was, Peake always managed to stay above the level of writing purple prose. Instead, he created a kind of writing that is beautiful and morbid and dark and funny and enjoyable and and extravagant and fantastic all at once.
The characters that he sketches are gorgeous things of murk and shadows and madness - Lady Gertrude, Titus, Fuschia, and above all, Steerpike - who inhabit a world which is seemingly so different from our own, but which always seems to share our modern preoccupations with delineations and values and the past, and always, always, the desire for freedom. It's often blackly funny in its observations on human behaviour, and wryly cynical to boot. Think of Terry Pratchett, and then skew the Discworld books to a place darker and weirder than anything Pterry ever conceived, and that is where the Gormenghast books dwell.
This is a large book in and of itself - over 500 pages in my paperback edition - and the trilogy itself sprawls to encompass many hundreds of pages more. But it's still a hugely rewarding work to read, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
There should be no rich, no poor, no strong, no weak,' said Steerpike, methodically pulling the legs off the stag beetle, one by one as he spoke. 'Equality is the great thing, equality is everything.' show less
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ThingScore 100
Reading this at the age of 13, I understood that fantasy, the place I was looking for, is not to be found in dragons, ghosts, or magic wands. It resides in language. Fantasy is death by owls. It’s mourning through gesture. It’s music, incantation in half-light. An inverted heart.
For years after reading Gormenghast, I didn’t read genre fantasy. Later, I came back to it. Now, I read show more eclectically and with confidence, because I know what I want. show less
For years after reading Gormenghast, I didn’t read genre fantasy. Later, I came back to it. Now, I read show more eclectically and with confidence, because I know what I want. show less
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Group Read: Gormenghast Trilogy - Titus Groan, Gormenghast, Titus Alone in 2013 Category Challenge (October 2013)
Author Information
48+ Works 17,062 Members
Some Editions
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Series
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Gormenghast
- Original title
- Gormenghast
- Original publication date
- 1950
- People/Characters
- Titus Groan; Steerpike; Fuchsia Groan; Alfred Prunesquallor; Irma Prunesquallor; Mr. Flay (show all 36); Gertrude Groan; Nannie Slagg; Clarice Groan; Cora Groan; The Poet; Barquentine; Rottcodd; Craggmire; The Ostler; Professor Opus Fluke; Professor Perch-Prism; Headmaster Bellgrove; Headmaster Deadyawn; The Fly; Professor Flannelcat; Professor Shred; Professor Shrivell; Professor Spiregrain; Professor Splint; Professor Throd; Professor Cutflower; Professor Crust; Professor Mulefire; Dogseye; Parsley; Chives; Sage Minor; Mollocks; Canvas; The Thing
- Important places
- Gormenghast
- Related movies
- Gormenghast (2000 | IMDb)
- Dedication
- For Maeve
- First words
- Titus is seven. His confines, Gormenghast. Suckled on shadows; weaned, as it were, on webs of ritual: for his ears, echoes, for his eyes, a labyrinth of stone: and yet within his body something other -- other than this umbr... (show all)ageous legacy. For first and ever foremost he is child.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And so, exulting as the moonlit rocks fled by him, exulting as the tears streamed over his face -- with his eyes fixed excitedly upon the blurred horizon -- and the battering of the hoof-beats loud in his ears, Titus rode out of his world.
- Original language
- English
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- Reviews
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- Languages
- 12 — Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
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- ISBNs
- 57
- ASINs
- 32