Mervyn Peake - The Gormenghast Trilogy

[andydecker]

Mervyn Peake – The Gormenghast Trilogy

1 Titus Groan – (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1946, 438 pages)

2 Gormenghast – (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1950, 454 pages)

3 Titus alone – (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1959, 223 pages)

There are many, many editions of this. The following is a paperback edition by Methuen-Mandarin.

Cover: Mark Robertson
Methuen-Mandarin, 1989, reprinted 1990, twice.


Cover: Mark Robertson
Methuen-Mandarin, 1989, reprinted 1990


Cover: Mark Robertson
Methuen-Mandarin, 1989, reprinted 1990, twice.

Book 1 has a nice foreword by Anthony Burgess, Book 3 is the revised text edited by Langdon Jones.

The trilogy has got a lot of praise over the decades, it has been compared to The Lord of the Rings. There was a tv-movie and all books are still in print.

[enoch]

Love the cover art for all of these.

[dem bones]

Couple of 'seventies Penguin editions with Peake cover art. I read them back to front. Teenage me adored Gormenghast, probably still would if I had the stamina for it.

Mervyn Peake - Gormenghast (Penguin, 1979: originally Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1950)

Mervyn Peake

Gormenghast is the second book in Mervyn Peake's Titus trilogy: a magnificent flight of Gothic fancy which ranks as one of this century's most remarkable feats of imaginative writing.

Titus, 77th Lord Groan of Gormenghast, is restless in his cobwebbed kingdom of crumbling towers and ivied quadrangles, dank passages and battlements elbow-deep in moss. The castle is instinct with spreading evil: Titus's father, his twin sisters and several castle officials have met terrible and secret ends and Titus feels that, if he isn't destined for a similar fate, his life can only ever be an endless round of pre-ordained ritual. Somehow he must cut off the evil at source — or escape into the unknown world beyond Gormenghast.

The cover shows a detail from 'Studies for Steerpike and Barquentine', by the author

Mervyn Peake - Titus Alone (Penguin, 1977: originally Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1959)

Mervyn Peake

In the third part of the great Gormenghast trilogy, Titus, 77th Earl of Groan, exiles himself from the mad dark rites of his ancestral home to wander in the world at large. He discovers that in many ways it is more strange and frightening than Gormenghast itself — and Gormenghast was at least home.
Peake has peopled his lurid vision with dark and troublesome denizens; melancholic Muzzlehatch; the fading Juno; the spicy Cheeta; a galaxy of worrying strangers that inhabit the ominous Under-River; the fearful but arrogant Titus himself.

In his last visionary satire Peake chronicles atrocities and hilarities alike with the same deadly control that never wavers.

The cover shows a detail from 'Irma Prunesquallor' by Mervyn Peake (photo Rodney Todd-White)

[David A. Riley]

Jul 22, 2023 16:58:12 GMT dem bones said:

Couple of 'seventies Penguin editions with Peake cover art. I read them back to front. Teenage me adored Gormenghast, probably still would if I had the stamina for it.

Mervyn Peake - Gormenghast (Penguin, 1979: originally Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1950)

Mervyn Peake

Gormenghast is the second book in Mervyn Peake's Titus trilogy: a magnificent flight of Gothic fancy which ranks as one of this century's most remarkable feats of imaginative writing.

Titus, 77th Lord Groan of Gormenghast, is restless in his cobwebbed kingdom of crumbling towers and ivied quadrangles, dank passages and battlements elbow-deep in moss. The castle is instinct with spreading evil: Titus's father, his twin sisters and several castle officials have met terrible and secret ends and Titus feels that, if he isn't destined for a similar fate, his life can only ever be an endless round of pre-ordained ritual. Somehow he must cut off the evil at source — or escape into the unknown world beyond Gormenghast.

The cover shows a detail from 'Studies for Steerpike and Barquentine', by the author

Mervyn Peake - Titus Alone (Penguin, 1977: originally Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1959)

Mervyn Peake

In the third part of the great Gormenghast trilogy, Titus, 77th Earl of Groan, exiles himself from the mad dark rites of his ancestral home to wander in the world at large. He discovers that in many ways it is more strange and frightening than Gormenghast itself — and Gormenghast was at least home.
Peake has peopled his lurid vision with dark and troublesome denizens; melancholic Muzzlehatch; the fading Juno; the spicy Cheeta; a galaxy of worrying strangers that inhabit the ominous Under-River; the fearful but arrogant Titus himself.

In his last visionary satire Peake chronicles atrocities and hilarities alike with the same deadly control that never wavers.

The cover shows a detail from 'Irma Prunesquallor' by Mervyn Peake (photo Rodney Todd-White)

Oddly enough I was thinking about the first two books only a week or so ago and did a big search to see if I could find my copies. In the end I only found the second. I would like to reread them. It's years since I read them for the first time, though I musdt admit I'm a bit like you: I don't know whether I would have the stamina or not. Still, I did manage recently to reread Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth, so these should be easy. I never finished the third. I just didn't care for it much.

[enoch]

I never finished the third book either.  Couldn't stand it.  I do wish Peake had written & illustrated more Captain Slaughterboard stories.  A sequel would probably be out of the question since Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor ended on a perfect note, but prequels would have been great.

[Knygathin]

What is the appeal of these books? Is it all about court intrigues? Satire? Is it real fantasy, with magic, monsters and dragons?

I watched a few minutes of the tv-series when it aired, and found it aesthetically repulsive.

[enoch]

The TV series is not really a fair way to evaluate the books.  I thought the series had great casting for the most part, but was very disappointed with it overall and didn't finish watching it.  The first two books are radically different than the third book, which is not worth reading IMO and I will basically not even discuss here.  (Peake was dying as he was writing it and never really finished it, so I don't criticize him for it, either).  The first two books have no monsters or magic, and if it weren't for the unreal size of Gormenghast Castle (apparently covering thousands of acres) it might be set in our world.  The characters are quite grotesque, like some of Dickens' characters were.  To me, the plot (kitchen boy Steerpike's Machiavellian schemes to rise above his station as far as possible) is just a skeleton upon which to hang a lot of gorgeous prose, fascinating scenery and interesting characterizations.  If you don't care for Peake's style, I don't think you'll like the books.  If you do like his style, you'll enjoy them immensely.  The first two books, anyway; the third book ventures into fantasy/science fiction and I just really do not care for it at all.  Luckily, the first two books make a compete story so there's no real cliffhanger ending.

[Knygathin]

Thank you enoch for the clarification. I have never read anything by Peake. I see that he did grotesque drawings too.

[Shrink Proof]

I thought the books were hard work to read. I was more hopeful about the TV series but it was fairly hard going too. As with the books, I persevered and the series came alive at the very end. I'm not sure that was enough to compensate for the effort though - it felt like a lot more than just four episodes. Looking back, the books are well written and the series/film was well made. I just don't like the story much...

[helrunar]

I had a similar reaction, Dr Shrink Proof. The film did have some images that have stayed with me 23 years later. I videotaped it but could never bring myself to re-watch the tape.

I thought Christopher Lee's performance was extraordinary. Much more lively and with a range that the crap film roles he mostly did in his later life hadn't allowed.

The covers featuring Mervyn Peake's drawings are fascinating. 

Hel.

[Knygathin]

I peeked at the first paragraph of the first book, and it peaked my interest. I want to continue reading!!

[enoch]

I believe that if you like that first paragraph, you'll like the rest of the books (the first two, at least).  Peake's descriptive powers are one of the main joys of the books for me, and that opening paragraph is very typical of his style.

[dem bones]

Mervyn Peake - The Titus Books (Penguin, 1983)

Julek Hellar

Blurb:
A doomed ritual lord, an emergent hero, twisted trees, glinting knives and strange creatures haunt the dark, foreboding world of Mervyn Peake.

There are tears and there is strange laughter; fierce births and deaths beneath umbrageous ceilings; dreams and violence and disenchantment contained within a labyrinth of stone. And at the centre of it all is the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, Lord of Gormenghast.

'One of the most important works of the imagination to come out of the age that also produced Four Quartets, The Unquiet Grave, Brideshead Revisited, The Loved One, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four — Anthony Burgess in the Spectator
'We are constantly in touch, through him, with something far greater than ourselves — John Watney in his introduction to Peake's Progress