Mervyn Peake





Mervyn Peake

Author profile


born
July 09, 1911 in Kuling, Jiangxi, China

died
November 17, 1968

gender
male

website

genre


About this author

Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English modernist writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books, though the Titus books would be more accurate: the three works that exist were the beginning of what Peake conceived as a lengthy cycle, following his protagonist Titus Groan from cradle to grave, but Peake's untimely death prevented completion of the cycle, which is now commonly but erroneously referred to as a trilogy. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J.R.R. Tolkien, but his surreal fiction was influenced by his early love for Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson rather than Tolkien's studies of mythology and philology.

Peake also wrote poetry...more


Average rating: 3.89 · 10,423 ratings · 870 reviews · 55 distinct works
Titus Groan (Gormenghast Tr...
3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 3,112 ratings — published 1946 — 44 editions
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The Gormenghast Novels
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3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 avg rating — 2,722 ratings — published 1959 — 16 editions
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Gormenghast (Gormenghast Tr...
4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 2,522 ratings — published 1950 — 40 editions
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Titus Alone (Gormenghast Tr...
3.35 of 5 stars 3.35 avg rating — 1,068 ratings — published 1959 — 38 editions
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Mr Pye
3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 avg rating — 197 ratings — published 1953 — 9 editions
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Boy In Darkness: And Other ...
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4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 avg rating — 91 ratings — published 1956 — 2 editions
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Captain Slaughterboard Drop...
4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 57 ratings — published 1939 — 5 editions
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Letters from a Lost Uncle
4.08 of 5 stars 4.08 avg rating — 50 ratings — published 1948 — 4 editions
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Peake's Progress: Selected ...
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4.26 of 5 stars 4.26 avg rating — 47 ratings — published 1978 — 8 editions
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A Book of Nonsense
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4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 avg rating — 43 ratings — published 1972 — 6 editions
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More books by Mervyn Peake…
Titus Groan Gormenghast Boy In Darkness Titus Alone The Gormenghast Novels Boy In Darkness: And Other ...
The Gormenghast Books (7 books)
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3.881904563015558 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 9,577 ratings
“Lingering is so very lonely when one lingers all alone.”
Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan

“Why break the heart that never beat from love?”
Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan

“We are all imprisoned by the dictionary. We choose out of that vast, paper-walled prison our convicts, the little black printed words, when in truth we need fresh sounds to utter, new enfranchised noises which would produce a new effect.”
Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan

Polls

AUGUST FANTASY: This poll decides which 2 books move on to the run-off poll for our August Fantasy Book of the Month!

 
  13 votes, 26.0%

 
  11 votes, 22.0%

 
  6 votes, 12.0%

 
  6 votes, 12.0%

 
  5 votes, 10.0%

 
  5 votes, 10.0%

 
  4 votes, 8.0%

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