The Gormenghast Novels: Titus Groan, Gormenghast, Titus Alone

Rating:
Summary: Dreaming pools of blood
Review: The Gormenghast novels by Mervyn Peake are arguably the most outstanding example of visual imagry in literature. (Please note the apology implicit in the use of the word ARGUABLY). Beginning with moody origins of TITUS GROAN, moving through the treacherous adventures of GORMENGHAST, and culminating with the introspective violence of TITUS ALONE, this trilogy is the vast majority of the unfinished chronicles of the life of Titus Groan.

If these stories had no other qualities worth mentioning, the heavy prose Peake used to carry his dark and intense visualizations is worthy of high praise. However, in addition to Peake's vivid scenery and ornate, but direct, prose, he formed in these books a fantastic world that, in my opinion, sometimes approaches, and many times surpasses George MacDonald's darker, more adult fantasies.

Peake's consistent prose and poetry tells a story that can engulf the reader in emotions of pity, horror, fear, hope, hilarity, sorrow, loss, annoyance, hate... etc. I found I had felt these emotions for, against, and because of his impossible, believable, personable characters within a span of some twenty pages.

Characters in these works are created more like characterizations than actual personas, but Peake uses this to effect like a master artist, causing the elements and actions of each character to be absorbed by the castle Gormenghast. Castle Gormenghast, itself, is not a backdrop, as any other author would make it, but a living, stony-breathed entity that absorbed all occurrences within its sphere as a canvas does an artists paint. Upon the completion of this wonderful collection I found myself depressed at the impossibility of another sequel and missing all of the characters interred within the books pages, knowing that there is no possibility of completion for their darkly lived lives.

The wish that Peake had been able to complete another Titus book is not original, by any means. The relatively small groups of people who love and study Peake's work began commiserating on that subject before his death. The amount of dedicated research that fans of Titus have focused on the life and work of Peake is truly astounding. Thankfully, some of the outstanding results of that research are outlined, briefly but thoroughly, in this collection.

I highly recommend these novels to anyone who enjoys dark imagery, uncomfortable escapist plots, and fantasies that reach deeper than sword swinging heroes. Those of us who have wandered dissatisfied through the masses of escapist pulp that are pushed at us, who have read through Poe's work to relax after a day of high school persecutions, and who have wished that George MacDonald had left more of Lillith, will find here the commentary on human nature, the vivid dreams, and the intense visions that we are so often disappointed of finding in works of more modern and, usually, louder acclaim.


Rating:
Summary: Some of the greatest books I've ever read
Review: Mervyn Peake ranks with Frank Herbert and J. R. R. Tolkien as one of my three literary idols and strongest influences. There's not much that I can say that hasn't already been said, other than that I will die a happy man if I ever get to be one tenth as good at descriptive prose as this man was.

As an interesting side note, and this may have been mentioned in one or more other reviews, this was not originally intended to be a trilogy. Peake had started on a fourth installment when he was forced to stop as he literally went insane. Hey, if you don't believe me read the appendices in the back of this collection.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and Profound
Review: Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy is one of the most beautiful pieces of work I've ever read. The characters, settings, and events are very unique, and his writing is complimented by the additions of his artwork. Mr. Peake was a poet and an artist as well as an author, and his prose is some of the most vivid and beautiful that I've ever come across - he definitely made use of his many wonderful talents while writing these books. The only comparison of prose and imagery I can think of is to The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, yet the mood of Gormenghast is incapable of comparison.

While many people were disappointed with the third book, I actually thought it held some of the most profound moments. Mr. Peake's deteriorating health may have had an impact on his ability to flesh out his characters in Titus Alone, but what we get in return is a poignant look into the soul of a dying genius. This work will stay with me forever.

Rating:
Summary: Agree with C.S. Lewis' comments
Review: This book expands consciousness, as wussy and stupid as that sounds, it was true for me. I've never read a book like this, you can't compare it to Lord of the Rings. As good as Lord of the Rings was, it was mass-produced, written for specific demographics (young-adults, which is "coincidentally" the biggest book buying audience. Well that's not fair, the book really didnt start selling until like 30 years later) Gormenghast is written for the writer, which to me is a much more honest way to create things (I guess in a way, so was Tolkein's Silmarillion, although I wouldn't necessarily consider it to have been written). He gives a new face to fear and desperation, an almost beauty to both. It took me a while to start reading this thing, but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. It's dark and depressing, but in such a new and different way, all over the story is incredibly original. Phenominal, absolutely excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Loved the first 2, the third was bleah
Review: I was not immediately drawn into the Poe-ish world of Gormenghast (although I love the dark twistings of Poe's work), but plowed on, and after perhaps 100 pages it began to get interesting as I sat back and let the atmosphere soak in. The characters are very Dickensian (think Uriah Heep, not Samuel Pickwick), and the decay and gloom of Gormenghast is so creepily interesting!

The interest in the physical world of Gormenghast sustained me through "Titus Groan" and "Gormenghast," but the third book, "Titus Alone," is all about Titus in some weird city-world after he has left his ancestral home. Since I never developed a real affinity for the character of Titus, I felt this part of the book to be weak and I didn't like it very much.

Until the end of the second book ("Gormenghast"), I felt that this could have been a real place. True, the characters we had seen to date must have been trapped in the past, because there are no mentions of cars, planes, any kind of transport or technology. The Seventy-Seventh Earl could have been born in any time period, even our own, if you consider that the castle is so remote and self-sustaining that it could plod along without the outside world encroaching. However, the third book is full of fanciful futuristic things like flying globes that have sensors in them to gather data and little automated things like glass needles (I don't even remember what these were supposedly for), so it becomes clear that this whole thing is a work of "fantasy" - fantasy as in "fantastic, out of this world" and not fantasy as in "made-up."

It's not a casual read. I tried reading it while working out on the treadmill one day, but it really deserves to be read at night, in the mysterious dark.

If you are looking for something unusual and inventive, this set of books is worth a shot.

Rating:
Summary: Grown up fantasy
Review: Mervyn Peake is at last getting his due! These books were originally written at the same time as Lord of The Rings. There are many similarities; the rich and complex settingss, the well-described characters, and the use of of language. After all, both Tolkien and Peake were educated men. There the similarities end. Tolkien's inspiration seems to be the medieval heroic epics and fairy tales, where Peake's inspiration seems to be eighteenth century gothic horror stories. Gormghast is a wast labyrinthic fortress/city/palace. It had its heyday long before our tale starts. Now, most of Gormenghast is abandoned, left to shadows and rot. Only a small part is inhabited by the inbred ruling family and their retainers. Whatever creative spirit and vitality that are left are drowned in ancient meaningless rituals and childish political intrigue.
Such is the setting. The story first centres around the ruthless machinations of a kitchen boy to advance his status in this staid society. At first glance, we sympathize with his struggle, then we are revolted, but in the end: how does his vitality compare with the staid society he tries to usurp?
In the last book, Titus Alone, we follow the young heir to Gormenghast in his travels in the outside world. This is not Fantasy as we know it, here Peake breaks new ground. Outside Gormenghast the world has moved on; we have no feudal lords - we have ruthless industrialists! The Fantasy becomes a surrealist social commentary of Peake's own era. It is weird, and at first disconcerting, but the more I think about it, the better it becomes.
This is not "sword and sorcery' or a classic 'the heroe's journey,' it is something unique, and unjustly forgotten.