Titus Groan (Gormenghast #1)
by
Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Peake's gothic masterpiece, the Gormenghast trilogy, begins with the superlative Titus Groan, a darkly humorous, stunningly complex tale of the first two years in the life of the heir to an ancient, rambling castle. The Gormenghast royal family, the castle's decidedly eccentric staff, and the peasant artisans living around the dreary, crumbling structure make up the...more
Paperback, 396 pages
Published
November 1st 1991
by Overlook Press
(first published January 19th 1946)
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“This tower, patched unevenly with black ivy, arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry and pointed blasphemously at heaven. At night the owls made of it an echoing throat; by day it stood voiceless and cast its long shadow.”There stands the Gormenghast - as if sealed inside a crystal ball - looming in all its grotesque wonder. The old, musty smell. The susurrus of narrow passages. The torches casting an eerie circle of light. The hustle and bustle of the castle dwe...more
How to review this weird and wonderful book? The setting, characters and plot etc are extraordinary, but it is the language that is utterly bewitching. The fact Peake was also an artist is evident in the special care with which he describes light (or absence of), skin and textures.
It is usually classed as fantasy, but it is more like historical fiction, with an occasional dash of the supernatural - magical realism set in the past. Or is it? This first volume has a profound sense of place (Gormen...more
It is usually classed as fantasy, but it is more like historical fiction, with an occasional dash of the supernatural - magical realism set in the past. Or is it? This first volume has a profound sense of place (Gormen...more
I know of no author in all of the English language who is like Peake, or who could aspire to be like him. His voice is as unique as that of Milton, Bierce, Conrad, Blake, Donne, or Eliot, and as fully-realized. I am a hard and critical man, cynical and not easily moved, but there are passages in the Gormenghast series which so shocked me by the force of their beauty that I would close my eyes and snap the book shut, overwhelmed with wonderment, and take a moment to catch my breath.
I would drop m...more
I would drop m...more
Nov 22, 2010
Suna
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasy,
all-time-favourites
When I first read Titus Groan years ago, I disliked it intensely.
I couldn't connect with the world and its inhabitants at all, although I was instantly drawn to Fuchsia even then.
This time round, I read it with a constant pulse of barely contained excitement: My mind was awash with the language, the thick, thick tension that the snail-like pace of the narrative evoked and the mindsets that made up the passions and motives of the characters.
Such characters!
Some of my favourites:
Steerpike, Hanniba...more
I couldn't connect with the world and its inhabitants at all, although I was instantly drawn to Fuchsia even then.
This time round, I read it with a constant pulse of barely contained excitement: My mind was awash with the language, the thick, thick tension that the snail-like pace of the narrative evoked and the mindsets that made up the passions and motives of the characters.
Such characters!
Some of my favourites:
Steerpike, Hanniba...more
What an odd fantasy! No swords, no sorcery, no elves, no thieves, no imaginary beasts, no multiple planes of existence . . . nothing but a cavernous castle peopled by eccentrics with Dickensian names (Sepulchrave, Prunesquallor, Swelter, Flay) whose lives are determined by centuries--perhaps millenia--of complex rituals. Although the people themselves seem to be British, the enormous burden of tradition under which they labor seems Asiatic in its detailed intensity, and it is instructive to lear...more
Titus Groan is a novel that defies classification yet it is one hundred percent powerfully written and one hundred percent a classic. It is however not for those who don't like to patiently sit through a long, description driven narrative. But for those who appreciate those elements in a work of fiction or perhaps those who found the unique ideas of The Trial interesting I strongly recommend this novel.
The best genre that I could possibly associate this with is fantasy. However it is also a nove...more
Mervyn Peake was one of those gifted people you burningly resent, he was a brilliant artist and then he thought oh I need something else to occupy my time when I'm not doing brilliant drawings and paintings, hmm what can I do, ah yes I'll write one of the century's greatest fantasies in one of the most individual and beautiful prose styles, and create about a dozen of the most memorable and delightful characters in all of fiction, including a real heartbreaker of a heroine called Fuchsia, yes, h...more
More and more often I don't finish books because I just don't have the time for bad or boring books, and besides I find it's actually depressing to get bogged down in them. Unfortunately this was one of them. I didn't get past page 150 or so, definitely feeling it wouldn't get much better or even different. I so would have liked to like this better. I recently saw a small exhibition about his life and work at the British Library, and this is what made me finally start this novel. The drawings on...more
Writers who are also artists have a distinctive writing style. You can see it in Lewis Carroll and William Blake but Mervyn Peake, who was primarily an illustrator and artist, is exceptional in using written drawing. Every sentence describes a scene and I suspect that, rather than the content of the Gormenghast novels, is why Peake is compared so often to Carroll or even J R Tolkien.
Gormenghast is a dilapidated castle, a labyrinth of towers, staircases, hallways and rooms, populated by a cast o...more
Gormenghast is a dilapidated castle, a labyrinth of towers, staircases, hallways and rooms, populated by a cast o...more
Lose yourself in this teaser of a story…
*damn, it feels so good to discover another favorite...*
It’s been a while since an author was able to paint a wholly different world across his pages that, before I knew it, I was hooked. And certainly even before the last page, I was more than eager for the next installment.
As Burgess mentioned in the introduction, Peake’s creation would hardly be given justice with so simple a category as a “gothic”—certainly it is that—but there is a whimsical quality...more
*damn, it feels so good to discover another favorite...*
It’s been a while since an author was able to paint a wholly different world across his pages that, before I knew it, I was hooked. And certainly even before the last page, I was more than eager for the next installment.
As Burgess mentioned in the introduction, Peake’s creation would hardly be given justice with so simple a category as a “gothic”—certainly it is that—but there is a whimsical quality...more
I've championed Mervyn Peake for a long time, but really, if you've not read him, you should. This, the first of three novels set around the massive, rotting castle Gormenghast focuses on the events surrounding the birth of the 77th earl of said castle, Titus. It's equal parts Poe, Dickens, and Shakespeare. For some reason, it's often compared to Tolkien, if only because it was published around the same time (eight years before, actually) and was probably incredibly hard to classify at the time....more
I began reading this series because it was referenced in a song by The Cure. Really glad I did. This first book is very good, though sometimes overly descriptive. Very colorful and quirky characers make it worth wading through a few minorly boring bits. These books are grouped with the fantasy genre but the only real fantasy elements are that it takes place in an imaginary kingdom and there is a caslte in it.
This story is about a giant castle, called Gormenghast, which is big as a city. The Cou...more
This story is about a giant castle, called Gormenghast, which is big as a city. The Cou...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
In very broad terms, writers have to deal with two main issues when putting their stories to paper: the 'macro' issue (i.e., the overall plot, theme(s), and desired character development), and the 'micro' issue (wordsmithing, prose, and style). The greatest writers, in their greatest works, manage to nail one issue, while successfully covering their shortcomings on the other. Mervyn Peake not only managed to nail both issues in toto, he is left with plenty of literary "hammer power" to spare.
Lik...more
Lik...more
It's 1979, and a feckless, lazy youth is doggedly refusing to read any of the tedious, old-fashioned and uninteresting 'classic' literature required by 'A' Level teachers, preferring a diet of fantasy and science fiction. One of the teachers, 'Violent' George Spencer, noting the lack of interest, claims confidently that he will recommend a book (two, in fact) that, he promises, will grip from the first page and will be much better than the fiction the pupil is currently reading. The student was...more
Wow! Wow!
This is some of the most impressive prose I've experienced in a while. And the book itself is unlike any other I've read. The use of the language kept me hooked throughout. The plot is enigmatic and entangling. The characters are numerous and, frequently, described in hilarious detail.
The language consistently moves the reader along with a poetic rhythm that is often humorous, satiric, loving, mystical, evocative, lyrical, terrifying, seductive and always intoxicating.
There is no other...more
This is some of the most impressive prose I've experienced in a while. And the book itself is unlike any other I've read. The use of the language kept me hooked throughout. The plot is enigmatic and entangling. The characters are numerous and, frequently, described in hilarious detail.
The language consistently moves the reader along with a poetic rhythm that is often humorous, satiric, loving, mystical, evocative, lyrical, terrifying, seductive and always intoxicating.
There is no other...more
Everything else I read seems flat and thin compared to Titus Groan. I didn't think I would enjoy a book so densely described, and peopled with such unlikeable characters, and yet I love it madly.
I agree with another reviewer who calls it "continually oppressive". It feels like it is always raining heavily in Gormenghast, and the intrigues and conspiracies are the fruit of a long confinement indoors. None of the characters are at all pleasant, and yet they are wildly interesting and complicated....more
I agree with another reviewer who calls it "continually oppressive". It feels like it is always raining heavily in Gormenghast, and the intrigues and conspiracies are the fruit of a long confinement indoors. None of the characters are at all pleasant, and yet they are wildly interesting and complicated....more
Titus d’Enfer ne pouvait être écrit que par un anglais. Cette folie, ce côté « over-the-top » (la bataille épique entre Lenflure, le gros cuisinier, et Craclosse, le serviteur squelettique est un grand moment) se situent dans la tradition britannique et parfois, les personnages m’ont eu l’air tout droit sortis de l’univers de Dickens. En effet, il faut peu de mots à l’auteur pour arriver à décrire un personnage, au-delà de son physique, par son attitude, sa façon de parler… C’est parfois délira...more
Well, that took forever. When someone (don't ask me who) said that this was a giant of the fantasy genre, I thought "Well, I should give this a try." Freaking A. Talk about boring. And dull. And excessively long.
Plot? Sure there was one. I just didn't seem to care all that much about it.
Fantastical locations? Also present, just explained in a way that was reminiscent of 10th grade English class. I felt I should be taking notes in the margins on the metaphoric use of color.
So, it all comes down...more
Plot? Sure there was one. I just didn't seem to care all that much about it.
Fantastical locations? Also present, just explained in a way that was reminiscent of 10th grade English class. I felt I should be taking notes in the margins on the metaphoric use of color.
So, it all comes down...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is at heart, a ridiculous book. Most of the reviews you read about it refer to it as some kind of quintessential Gothic novel. It's hard for me to classify it as such when the action takes place in a world that is so obviously not our own. It seems to me that although he was following many of the tropes of Gothic literature, he was in fact pressing them towards their extreme, in many cases with humorous results.
For instance, the atmosphere is continually oppressive, no matter what the sit...more
For instance, the atmosphere is continually oppressive, no matter what the sit...more
This is such a weird and wonderful tale, so extravagant and bizarre and funny and upsetting, that it's hard to know how to approach it. It's a twentieth century novel whose plot is full of Gothic exuberances; its characters are slyly-observed caricatures; the universe in which its events take place must surely exist in a kind of hermetically-sealed bubble, because that existence would otherwise be impossible. This beginning to the Gormenghast trilogy is so outlandish that it would be difficult t...more
Like Moby Dick - or even Lolita - Titus Groan uses a poetic, highly personalized, almost extravagant and over the top prose style to depict grotesque, extreme people going about dark, absurd things. Peake’s characters and the world they live in seem like Gorey or Kubin drawings brought to life, and, what’s extraordinary is that they don’t just seem that way in description, they actually talk that way – the dialogue is some of the most bizarre yet fitting and purposeful of any I’ve read. Peake’s...more
Dec 13, 2012
Audrey
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Audrey by:
Grandma
Shelves:
books-i-own,
trade-n-books
How do I even begin to describe this sprawling epic? Mervyn Peake was a master of words, plain and simple. Funny that I should use the expression "plain and simple" of Peake, for in this book, there is nothing of either term about his prose. Not at all.
The plot is slow and centers around the strange characters and goings-on of the very eccentric castle Gormenghast. Certainly not a book you can breeze through in a week-end, but I definitely recommend it...to whom, I'm not sure. Once I finally mad...more
The plot is slow and centers around the strange characters and goings-on of the very eccentric castle Gormenghast. Certainly not a book you can breeze through in a week-end, but I definitely recommend it...to whom, I'm not sure. Once I finally mad...more
Apr 17, 2013
Jocelyn
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Jocelyn by:
Keely, Jonathan, and Kyle (and Alex?)
I have now decided that I'm poorly read until I've read this book.
i have a kind of love/hate relationship with this series; it's sort of like reading an extended gahan wilson cartoon, and i adore gahan wilson but part of his brilliance is in his brevity. the gormenghast novels go on and on and on (and on, and on): an excercise in outrageousness, where nothing much happens, but when what takes place actually DOES happen it's with jerks and twitches and involuntary exclamations, and murder, and much furtiveness, until it all resolves, from a distance, into a pre...more
Could I love a book any more deeply than "Titus Groan"?
From the very first sentence Mervyn Peake's narration is a rich savoury dessert that demands to be shared. Upon reading the first page I immediately desired to reread it all again, only this time aloud, in front of an open fire, preferably in a large stone mead hall. The world of Gormenghast is beautiful in it's ominous spirit, and the characters grotesque and lovely. It is a fantastical world, dreary and almost lifeless - but in these rich...more
From the very first sentence Mervyn Peake's narration is a rich savoury dessert that demands to be shared. Upon reading the first page I immediately desired to reread it all again, only this time aloud, in front of an open fire, preferably in a large stone mead hall. The world of Gormenghast is beautiful in it's ominous spirit, and the characters grotesque and lovely. It is a fantastical world, dreary and almost lifeless - but in these rich...more
Deeply complex and well-crafted, this haunting gothic masterpiece is a work of sheer brilliance and inspired vision.
Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy is a work of literary genius, containing such exquisitely detailed and stunningly beautiful narrative. Unlike anything within current contemporary fiction, Mervyn Peake revels in our beautiful language and brings such atmospheric nuance to the page. Experimenting with language and description (in the vein of classic literature within the 18th cen...more
Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy is a work of literary genius, containing such exquisitely detailed and stunningly beautiful narrative. Unlike anything within current contemporary fiction, Mervyn Peake revels in our beautiful language and brings such atmospheric nuance to the page. Experimenting with language and description (in the vein of classic literature within the 18th cen...more
Titus Groan and Gormenghast are one (rather two) of my desert island books. The prose is so dense, the landscape so vast, the emotions, the madness, the ambitions so shocking and perfect that this work can be read over and over and still move and entertain. More like any great work of art as time passes it means different things to me.
I first read it when I was quite young and then the entity that is Castle Gormenghast itself became a part of my life. I could smell the dry dusty places while I w...more
I first read it when I was quite young and then the entity that is Castle Gormenghast itself became a part of my life. I could smell the dry dusty places while I w...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Great Gormeng...: Titus Groan - thoughts before group reading (spoiler free) | 22 | 55 | May 11, 2013 11:01pm | |
| The Great Gormeng...: Titus Groan - Group Read (starts July 1st through to August 31st) | 1 | 16 | Apr 18, 2013 01:20am | |
| The Great Gormeng...: Titus Groan - thoughts before group reading (contains spoilers) | 1 | 8 | Apr 18, 2013 01:19am |
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 compl...more
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“Lingering is so very lonely when one lingers all alone.”
—
67 people liked it
“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.”
—
43 people liked it
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Jan 30, 2013 09:18am
Thanks Jeffrey.
"I started this book a few years ago and set it aside. Your review has convinced me I need to...more
Jan 30, 2013 03:40pm