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A review by cartoonmicah
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
5.0
Titus Groan is really a novel without precedent in my experience. It is at once serious and comic throughout, filled with a cast of bizarrely sculpted characters in a world that is darkly fantastic without resorting to any sort of magical elements. If Tim Burton had written Downton Abbey set in Hogwarts and populated by the characters from Wonderland and Oz, it might come out to be something like this.
Titus Groan, the future 77th Earl of Gormenghast and long awaited male heir apparent, has been born at last. Gormenghast is a massive decaying fortress that has stretched itself out over 1400 years to include endless miles of cavernous halls, secret passageways, secluded nooks, abandoned wings, massive libraries, galleries, and attics. The behemoth building is peopled by servants who spend most of their time helping the Earl begrudgingly fulfill the tasks assigned to him by tradition. Every day of the melancholic Lord Sepulchrave’s life is spent in fulfilling hundreds of bizarre accumulated rituals to commemorate random events in the history of the family Groan. He, along with his enormous bird-and-cat-loving wife, his dim twin sisters, and his daughter Fuchsia make up the Groan family, until Titus is born. They are attended by a strange cast of character such as Dr. Prunesquallor, Mr. Flay, Nanny Swelter, Sourdust, and Steerpike, among others. As the first year of Titus Groan’s life passes away, a host of intrigues, espionages, plots, duels, and grudges develop toward a fever pitch with a multitude of changes, culminating with portentous omens at the celebration of his first birthday and his official naming ceremony. One can hardly bear to wait for that comes in the next book.
Peake was a nonsensical verse poet and it shows and shines in his prose. His characters and descriptive powers are as bizarre and creepy and beautiful as anything found elsewhere in literature. It is hard to imagine anything plausible in our world taking place in Gormenghast and I found myself imagine the character in claymation more easily than in real human forms. Everything here is fun and creepy and whimsical and dramatic, like The Addams family meets Dickens in medieval garb.
I’m honestly not sure who would enjoy this book, but if Oliver Twist went to Hogwarts, you might get something like this.
Titus Groan, the future 77th Earl of Gormenghast and long awaited male heir apparent, has been born at last. Gormenghast is a massive decaying fortress that has stretched itself out over 1400 years to include endless miles of cavernous halls, secret passageways, secluded nooks, abandoned wings, massive libraries, galleries, and attics. The behemoth building is peopled by servants who spend most of their time helping the Earl begrudgingly fulfill the tasks assigned to him by tradition. Every day of the melancholic Lord Sepulchrave’s life is spent in fulfilling hundreds of bizarre accumulated rituals to commemorate random events in the history of the family Groan. He, along with his enormous bird-and-cat-loving wife, his dim twin sisters, and his daughter Fuchsia make up the Groan family, until Titus is born. They are attended by a strange cast of character such as Dr. Prunesquallor, Mr. Flay, Nanny Swelter, Sourdust, and Steerpike, among others. As the first year of Titus Groan’s life passes away, a host of intrigues, espionages, plots, duels, and grudges develop toward a fever pitch with a multitude of changes, culminating with portentous omens at the celebration of his first birthday and his official naming ceremony. One can hardly bear to wait for that comes in the next book.
Peake was a nonsensical verse poet and it shows and shines in his prose. His characters and descriptive powers are as bizarre and creepy and beautiful as anything found elsewhere in literature. It is hard to imagine anything plausible in our world taking place in Gormenghast and I found myself imagine the character in claymation more easily than in real human forms. Everything here is fun and creepy and whimsical and dramatic, like The Addams family meets Dickens in medieval garb.
I’m honestly not sure who would enjoy this book, but if Oliver Twist went to Hogwarts, you might get something like this.