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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
‘Titus Groan’ was a book I admired more than enjoyed. The world of Gormenghast was a full and exciting one, far more real and realised than Middle Earth. Although the characters seemed merely puppets for the story to play out, that fit with the over-arching themes of being strangled by tradition and they were interesting, eccentric and large enough to stand out in their oversized backdrop. It took me a few years to be ready to take on the sequel, ’Gormenghast’.
This is a far shaggier beast than ‘Titus Groan’ but maybe a more majestic one. What most stood out to me was that this is not a novel as would ever be written by a novelist. This is a book by a visual artist and where a picture may paint a thousand words, it frequently uses a thousand words to paint a picture. The description even threads into the parts of the book where the characters do things, making much of the book seem like it was progressing in slow motion.
At first my reaction to ‘Gormenghast’ was much as I remembered from the first book, an appreciation without much emotional engagement but as the book went on I began to realise that I had really grown to enjoy myself and was happy to follow the book through whatever twisted highways and byways it wanted to show me.
Essentially both books are about entropy. The castle of Gormenghast is a closed system, locked in constricting ritual and unaffected by influences of evolution from inside or outside. In the first book Steerpike arises as an agent of chaos and his actions to fulfil personal goals rather than being a cog in the castle’s clockwork upset the balance. The second book carries on this story of Steerpike but adds to it the greater chaos represented by Titus and his pursuit of freedom and a life outside the castle.
A ‘proper’ novel would have cut out most of the teacher stuff. The characters were amusing but didn’t really have much to do with the actual story. Titus’s itch to be his own person and not the lynchpin of castle ritual were more driven by his pursuit of ‘the Thing’, a wild girl, then boredom with his school. Most of the first part of the novel involves politics in the staffroom, a teacher who doesn’t believe in pain having his beard burnt off and the accidental death of Headmaster Deadyawn. Then follows a good quarter of the book following Irma Prunesquallor’s wish for a husband, the teachers’ awkward preparation for her party and the party itself. We don’t even see Steerpike for much of this first half. But it didn’t matter because I was having fun.
Was Mervyn Peake ever a teacher? He certainly gets what it’s like. His description of the lightness of the teachers once school is over was exactly right, as he depicted each teacher going back to their little apartments with a spring in their step. All this teacher stuff also had me grow to love Bellgrove. The small scene where Titus has been locked up for running away and he goes to play marbles with him was so touching that it made all the seemingly pointless flim-flam of the teacher stuff worth it.
The scenes at Irma’s party where both she and the teachers try their best to be romantic leads was also a great deal of fun, like a mutated Austen. If anything, they were worth it for this description of Irma Prunesquallor’s best smile;
“Every muscle in her face was pulling its weight. Not all of them knew which direction to pull, but their common enthusiasm was formidable.”
As well of all this non-essential stuff about teachers and parties, we are also treated to short chapters that simply describe a room in the castle, usually an abandoned one, just so we can get a flash of ‘the Thing’ moving through it. Although she is important to the story, representing the freedom the castle’s dead weight denies, they are more visual moments transposed into words than actual noveling. (My favourite room being the forgotten ball-room full of estuary birds).
That’s not to say the writing is bad, it’s frequently very good but its not writing the way a ‘writer’ would do it. There are frequent similes are over-the-top in a way no one but Dickens could get away with, such as this description of Doctor Prunesquallor’s mouth and teeth;
“It was a brand-new graveyard. But oh! how anonymous it was. Not a headstone chiselled with the owners name.” - a description that goes on for another four sentences. In many ways the character description reminded me of Dickens in all its effulgence, the description of Barquentine was as good as Dickens’s description of Scrooge. Peake is also a dab hand at alliteration, sprinkling it liberally through the book.
As for the plot itself, Steerpike’s descent from controlled planner to cackling evil monster was both interesting and plausible, as was the desire for Titus to break free from his life whilst feeling a pull to his heritage and responsibilities. The extended set-piece of the flooding castle, with the Countess finding her own mental abilities, the huge anonymous work of saving the castles stuff, the Bright Carvers segueing into the shipbuilding industry and everyone on the hunt for Steerpike- was engrossing, engaging and wonderful. The fight in the ivy between Steerpike and Titus used that slow-motion quality of Peake’s writing to dizzying effect and the climax was worth the buildup.
Most of all I loved the world of Gormenghast. I am not a fan of fantasy lands and you can throw as many songs and con-langs as you want into the mix, it doesn’t make it real to me. Gormenghast does feel real, it is mired in its own history and tradition, has a general worldview shaped by that history and yet still has room for individual expressions of it. Prunesquallor, for all his wit and flippancy is as rooted in the Gormenghast worldview as Flay, rather than cookie cutter Elves and such. What’s more, I loved the glimpses of the rituals. There was one that involved pouring wine over a tower, another that involved throwing a necklace into a particular window that was reflected in the moat. The rituals are baffling but they suggest a history and stories that came before in subtle and interesting ways.
I only hope nobody decides to ride a Gormenghast bandwagon (if there is one) and write prequels a la ‘The Song of Ice and Fire’, as much as the rituals suggest a history, the point in Gormenghast is that they have always been there… and may always be.
As much as this was not a conventional novel, barely even a ‘proper’ one, I love it for the commitment to the ideas, the (surprisingly) human characters and the beautifully realised world.
This is a far shaggier beast than ‘Titus Groan’ but maybe a more majestic one. What most stood out to me was that this is not a novel as would ever be written by a novelist. This is a book by a visual artist and where a picture may paint a thousand words, it frequently uses a thousand words to paint a picture. The description even threads into the parts of the book where the characters do things, making much of the book seem like it was progressing in slow motion.
At first my reaction to ‘Gormenghast’ was much as I remembered from the first book, an appreciation without much emotional engagement but as the book went on I began to realise that I had really grown to enjoy myself and was happy to follow the book through whatever twisted highways and byways it wanted to show me.
Essentially both books are about entropy. The castle of Gormenghast is a closed system, locked in constricting ritual and unaffected by influences of evolution from inside or outside. In the first book Steerpike arises as an agent of chaos and his actions to fulfil personal goals rather than being a cog in the castle’s clockwork upset the balance. The second book carries on this story of Steerpike but adds to it the greater chaos represented by Titus and his pursuit of freedom and a life outside the castle.
A ‘proper’ novel would have cut out most of the teacher stuff. The characters were amusing but didn’t really have much to do with the actual story. Titus’s itch to be his own person and not the lynchpin of castle ritual were more driven by his pursuit of ‘the Thing’, a wild girl, then boredom with his school. Most of the first part of the novel involves politics in the staffroom, a teacher who doesn’t believe in pain having his beard burnt off and the accidental death of Headmaster Deadyawn. Then follows a good quarter of the book following Irma Prunesquallor’s wish for a husband, the teachers’ awkward preparation for her party and the party itself. We don’t even see Steerpike for much of this first half. But it didn’t matter because I was having fun.
Was Mervyn Peake ever a teacher? He certainly gets what it’s like. His description of the lightness of the teachers once school is over was exactly right, as he depicted each teacher going back to their little apartments with a spring in their step. All this teacher stuff also had me grow to love Bellgrove. The small scene where Titus has been locked up for running away and he goes to play marbles with him was so touching that it made all the seemingly pointless flim-flam of the teacher stuff worth it.
The scenes at Irma’s party where both she and the teachers try their best to be romantic leads was also a great deal of fun, like a mutated Austen. If anything, they were worth it for this description of Irma Prunesquallor’s best smile;
“Every muscle in her face was pulling its weight. Not all of them knew which direction to pull, but their common enthusiasm was formidable.”
As well of all this non-essential stuff about teachers and parties, we are also treated to short chapters that simply describe a room in the castle, usually an abandoned one, just so we can get a flash of ‘the Thing’ moving through it. Although she is important to the story, representing the freedom the castle’s dead weight denies, they are more visual moments transposed into words than actual noveling. (My favourite room being the forgotten ball-room full of estuary birds).
That’s not to say the writing is bad, it’s frequently very good but its not writing the way a ‘writer’ would do it. There are frequent similes are over-the-top in a way no one but Dickens could get away with, such as this description of Doctor Prunesquallor’s mouth and teeth;
“It was a brand-new graveyard. But oh! how anonymous it was. Not a headstone chiselled with the owners name.” - a description that goes on for another four sentences. In many ways the character description reminded me of Dickens in all its effulgence, the description of Barquentine was as good as Dickens’s description of Scrooge. Peake is also a dab hand at alliteration, sprinkling it liberally through the book.
As for the plot itself, Steerpike’s descent from controlled planner to cackling evil monster was both interesting and plausible, as was the desire for Titus to break free from his life whilst feeling a pull to his heritage and responsibilities. The extended set-piece of the flooding castle, with the Countess finding her own mental abilities, the huge anonymous work of saving the castles stuff, the Bright Carvers segueing into the shipbuilding industry and everyone on the hunt for Steerpike- was engrossing, engaging and wonderful. The fight in the ivy between Steerpike and Titus used that slow-motion quality of Peake’s writing to dizzying effect and the climax was worth the buildup.
Most of all I loved the world of Gormenghast. I am not a fan of fantasy lands and you can throw as many songs and con-langs as you want into the mix, it doesn’t make it real to me. Gormenghast does feel real, it is mired in its own history and tradition, has a general worldview shaped by that history and yet still has room for individual expressions of it. Prunesquallor, for all his wit and flippancy is as rooted in the Gormenghast worldview as Flay, rather than cookie cutter Elves and such. What’s more, I loved the glimpses of the rituals. There was one that involved pouring wine over a tower, another that involved throwing a necklace into a particular window that was reflected in the moat. The rituals are baffling but they suggest a history and stories that came before in subtle and interesting ways.
I only hope nobody decides to ride a Gormenghast bandwagon (if there is one) and write prequels a la ‘The Song of Ice and Fire’, as much as the rituals suggest a history, the point in Gormenghast is that they have always been there… and may always be.
As much as this was not a conventional novel, barely even a ‘proper’ one, I love it for the commitment to the ideas, the (surprisingly) human characters and the beautifully realised world.
Patchier than its predecessor and more self-indulgent at point, but continues to build on its foundations and with some unforgettable sequences. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2021/08/27/peakes-progress/
The vivid descriptions are a treat, but mostly I enjoyed the surreal characters and the way Peake portrayed them. I chuckled many, many times.
This work is unique, and I dare say you haven't read anything like it before, and you possibly never will again.
If you liked [b:Titus Groan|39063|Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1)|Mervyn Peake|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327871204s/39063.jpg|3250394] you should not hesitate to read Gormenghast.
Any writer should give this a try, if only to find out: nothing is too bizarre. You can make it work. All of it. Yes, even that.
I wrote this article about the Gormenghast novels.
This work is unique, and I dare say you haven't read anything like it before, and you possibly never will again.
If you liked [b:Titus Groan|39063|Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1)|Mervyn Peake|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327871204s/39063.jpg|3250394] you should not hesitate to read Gormenghast.
Any writer should give this a try, if only to find out: nothing is too bizarre. You can make it work. All of it. Yes, even that.
I wrote this article about the Gormenghast novels.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Hace muchos, muchos años escuché mencionar una serie de libros de fantasía escritos por Mervyn Peake, a quien conocía como ilustrador de Alicia en el País de las maravillas (unas ilustraciones lúgubres y muy distintas a las clásicas de Alicia de Tenniel).
En un viaje a Buenos Aires encontré Titus Groan publicado por Minotauro y fue la sorpresa absoluta, algo nuevo a todo lo que había leído en fantasía antes. Unos años después encontré Gormenghast y luego de muchos, muchos años Titus Solo y logré terminar de leer una de las sagas de fantasía más extrañas y alucinantes que haya leído nunca.
Es difícil resumir de qué se trata exactamente Gormenghast, lo intenté aquí. No he conocido muchas personas que les guste, porque aunque hay castillos y reyes, no es fantasía exactamente; la acción es muy lenta, hay muchísimo diálogo (en la mejor tradición del nonsense británico) y los personajes son, en su mayoría, detestables.
Descubrí que la BBC había hecho una miniserie (2000) sobre los libros y fue la maravilla misma, siempre había sido difícil pensar en cómo podría quedar si la adaptaban y quedó (para mi gusto), muy bien. La serie logra recrear la atmósfera entre dickensiana y opresiva de las novelas, con el castillo de Gormenghast como glorioso y laberíntico fondo y los personajes principales en un casting de lujo. Acá fue donde vi por primera vez (y fui fan para siempre) a un glorioso Jonathan Rhys Meyers como el antagonista principal: Steerpike (Pirañavelo en español) y pude disfrutar a Christopher Lee como Flay.
Tiene una de las escenas que más me conmovió mientras leía (el incendio de la Biblioteca de Sepulcravo) y en general es un esfuerzo increíble por llevar a la pantalla una serie que tiene pocos, pero incondicionales seguidores (Robert Smith, entre ellos, que inspirado por la historia de Fuchsia, escribió: "The drowning man").
En un viaje a Buenos Aires encontré Titus Groan publicado por Minotauro y fue la sorpresa absoluta, algo nuevo a todo lo que había leído en fantasía antes. Unos años después encontré Gormenghast y luego de muchos, muchos años Titus Solo y logré terminar de leer una de las sagas de fantasía más extrañas y alucinantes que haya leído nunca.
Es difícil resumir de qué se trata exactamente Gormenghast, lo intenté aquí. No he conocido muchas personas que les guste, porque aunque hay castillos y reyes, no es fantasía exactamente; la acción es muy lenta, hay muchísimo diálogo (en la mejor tradición del nonsense británico) y los personajes son, en su mayoría, detestables.
Descubrí que la BBC había hecho una miniserie (2000) sobre los libros y fue la maravilla misma, siempre había sido difícil pensar en cómo podría quedar si la adaptaban y quedó (para mi gusto), muy bien. La serie logra recrear la atmósfera entre dickensiana y opresiva de las novelas, con el castillo de Gormenghast como glorioso y laberíntico fondo y los personajes principales en un casting de lujo. Acá fue donde vi por primera vez (y fui fan para siempre) a un glorioso Jonathan Rhys Meyers como el antagonista principal: Steerpike (Pirañavelo en español) y pude disfrutar a Christopher Lee como Flay.
Tiene una de las escenas que más me conmovió mientras leía (el incendio de la Biblioteca de Sepulcravo) y en general es un esfuerzo increíble por llevar a la pantalla una serie que tiene pocos, pero incondicionales seguidores (Robert Smith, entre ellos, que inspirado por la historia de Fuchsia, escribió: "The drowning man").
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's boring. It's meandering, at a glacial pace until everything happens at once (gives many moments unearned significance, like the death of The Thing, a wasted character). The sense of the scale of people and place is disorienting. The plot is more like a series of strange and horrible images, like a hieronymous bosch painting but with less colors. Nearly everyone is gleefully decrepit. I had a wonderful time. It doesn't have a nice heart to it at all, but neither does the castle itself.