Gormenghast (series)
Encyclopedia
The Gormenghast series comprises three novels by Mervyn Peake
, featuring Castle Gormenghast
, and Titus Groan, the title character of the first book.
(1946), Gormenghast
(1950), and Titus Alone
(1959). A novella, Boy in Darkness
(1956), tells the story of a brief adventure by the young Titus away from Gormenghast, although it does not explicitly name the castle.
Peake had intended to write a series of books following Titus Groan through his life, as well as detailing his relationship with Gormenghast. At least two other books, tentatively titled Titus Awakes
and Gormenghast Revisited, were planned; but Parkinson's disease
and Peake's ensuing death at age 57 prevented him from writing down more than a few hundred words and ideas for further volumes. Only three pages of Titus Awakes were coherently written, and these appear in the Overlook Press edition of Titus Alone (ISBN 0–87951–427–2) and in the omnibus volume (0-87951-628-3).
In the 1970s, Peake's widow Maeve Gilmore
wrote her version of Titus Awakes, which she called Search without End. The Peake family rediscovered this novel at the end of 2009 and it was published by Overlook Press as Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast. to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Peake's birth.
work. However, the books have no magic
and no intelligent races other than humans, which is unusual in high fantasy
such as The Lord of the Rings
. Another valid classification would be to place Gormenghast in the genre of the grotesque
, with marked gothic and surrealist
influences. It may also be considered a fantasy of manners
.
Gormenghast is less focused on a central protagonist than many novels. Though Titus and Steerpike are often considered the main characters, they share the narrative with many of the other denizens of the castle. In a way, the main character could be seen as the setting itself, with the castle and social structure of Gormenghast taking a central role in unifying the story.
at its centre, and ruled by the noble family of Groan since time immemorial. It is never made clear whether it is set on Earth or some other world. The kingdom derives its name from Gormenghast Mountain, and is isolated from the outside world by inhospitable regions on each side of it. To the North are marshy wastelands, to the South are salt grey marshes (and presumably then the ocean), to the East are quicksands and the tideless sea, and to the West are knuckles of endless rock. To the West also lies the claw-like Gormenghast Mountain, with the Twisted Woods and Gormenghast river at its foot. East of them are escarpments described as "an irregular tableland of greeny-black rock, broken and scarred and empty", then desolate swamp before the vicinity of the castle is reached. Gormenghast Mountain is said to be so large that from the castle it looks at most a few miles distant, whereas in fact it is a day's ride away on horseback. However, this is contradicted by events within the story, when various characters are able to travel on foot to the castle and back within a single day. Given that it is surrounded on three sides by watery regions, it is not implausible that the entire region can be flooded, as described in the second book Gormenghast.
At the centre of the earldom is the vast, largely deserted Castle, whose remaining inhabitants centre their lives on the ritual surrounding the ruling family of Groan. The castle is described as being like an immense island of stone, its every outline familiar to the inhabitants, who know: "every bay, inlet and headland of the great stone island of the Groans, of its sheer cliffs, of its crumbling outcrops, the broken line of the towers". Dominating the ivy-covered, crumbling castle is the highest tower, the Tower of Flints, which is inhabited by great numbers of owls. The castle is so huge that most of the inhabitants do not venture outside except for certain ceremonies. Outside the castle, clustered under the northern walls, is a hodge-podge of mud dwellings inhabited by the "Bright Carvers", whose only purpose is to carve elaborate objects out of wood and present them to the Earl. They are in awe of the "Castles", as they call Gormenghast's inhabitants.
Some contact with the outside world is implied; Dr. Prunesquallor at one point sketches an ostrich skeleton, while Steerpike procures a monkey from somewhere. Otherwise, the impression given is that Gormenghast is stagnant, insular, and introspective. A recurring theme is the time-consuming and pointless rituals that the inhabitants submit to regularly, the origin and purpose of which is long-forgotten. Gormenghast makes a stark contrast with the industrious and technologically advanced city which is the setting of Titus Alone.
ous Titus, as the heir to the throne of the House of Groan, and finishes just over a year later with his "Earling" or formal investiture as the seventy-seventh Earl of Groan, after the untimely death of his father Sepulchrave
. As Titus is only an infant in this novel, he plays a minor role. The main plot therefore follows the somewhat bizarre inhabitants of Gormenghast Castle, and in particular chronicles the rise to power of Steerpike
, a scheming kitchen boy. Steerpike successfully destroys the existing order of the castle by inciting the twin sisters of Sepulchrave, Cora and Clarice, to burn Sepulchrave's beloved library. This event drives Sepulchrave into madness and eventually into taking his own life. Although Cora and Clarice are not exposed as the perpetrators of the fire, they are now under Steerpike's power. A sub-plot involves the feud between Sepulchrave's loyal servant Flay, and the chef Swelter, which ends with them fighting and Swelter being killed.
that stretches before him. His desire for freedom is awakened by the sight of his foster sister, known only as "The Thing", a feral child who lives in the woods of Gormenghast (due to her mother being banished as an outcast) and who terrorizes the Bright Carvers, the inhabitants of the mud dwellings outside the castle walls. Her life of wild freedom makes him realise that an existence is possible other than the rigid formalities and ritual of the castle. Meanwhile, Steerpike continues his rise to power by killing Barquentine, the Master of Ritual, and taking his place, but he is eventually unmasked as a traitor and murderer. The castle is flooded by a rainstorm, and in a watery duel with Titus, Steerpike is killed, leaving the way clear for Titus to reign. However, his desire to leave Gormenghast now overwhelming, Titus has other ideas and flees the castle for the wider world beyond Gormenghast Mountain.
genre). This novel is more randomly plotted than its two predecessors, without a strong lead character or a fixed setting. A heavily edited first edition was published in 1959; a fuller version compiled by Langdon Jones from Peake's early drafts was issued in 1970 and forms the basis for all subsequent editions.
. Eventually, he leaves Gormenghast after defeating Steerpike
in battle. Titus discovers a world outside of Gormenghast where the castle and its inhabitants are unknown.
Titus' character is one of yearning for freedom and the romance of being an ordinary person without the responsibilies the Earldom and the tradition that comes with it.
Titus features in another book called Boy in Darkness
which is unconnected to the main story.
Lord Sepulchrave
: 76th Earl and Titus's father. He is a melancholy man who feels shackled by his duties as Earl, although he never questions them. His only escape is reading. However, when the castle's Library is burnt down, he is driven insane and comes to believe that he is one of the death-owls that live in the abandoned Tower of Flints.
The Countess Gertrude: 76th Countess and Titus's mother. An immense, statuesque woman with coils of dark red hair, she pays little attention to her family or the rest of Gormenghast. Instead, she spends her time locked away in her bedroom, in the company of a legion of cats and birds, the only things toward which she shows affection. However, once given the chance to use her intelligence she turns out to be one of the cleverest people in the castle, when (along with Flay and the doctor) she recognizes and investigates the worrying changes transpiring in Gormenghast. She becomes a leader figure of sorts during the flooding of the castle and hunt for Steerpike, but once the threat has passed she retreats back into her own world of isolation. According to Sepulchrave's sisters, the Ladies Cora and Clarice, Gertrude is of common blood and not of the noble bloodline of the Groans.
Fuchsia
: Titus's sister. At times impatient, immature, and self-absorbed, she can also be extremely warm and caring. At first, she resents Titus, but soon develops a deep bond with him. Of all Titus's family, she is the one he loves most. Fuchsia also develops a very close, but brief bond with her father, Lord Sepulchrave during his final mental breakdown after the Library Fire. Broken by disappointment and disillusionment, she is killed as she accidentally slips from the windowsill where she is only contemplating suicide - and striking her head on the stonework, drowns unconscious, in the floodwaters surrounding the Castle. She thus tragically never realises her true potential.
Cora and Clarice Groan: Titus's aunts (sisters of Sepulchrave), a pair of identical twins. Both suffered from spasms in their youth, so the left hand sides of their bodies are paralyzed. They have virtually the same personalities and neither of them is very intelligent—they are perhaps even mentally impaired
—although Cora is slightly cleverer than Clarice. During the family breakfast, the narrator notes that both sisters are thinking the same thoughts. Both crave political power and dislike Gertrude, whom they believe robbed them of their rightful place in the hierarchy of Gormenghast. Their mindless ambition and thirst for revenge lead them to become Steerpike's pawns.
: A youthful outsider, beginning as a kitchen boy, who worms his way into the hierarchy of Gormenghast for his own personal gain. Ruthlessly murderous, with a Machiavellian, highly intelligent and methodical mind, and a talent for manipulation, he can appear charming and sometimes even noble. But due to his fundamentally evil nature, he has natural personal enmity with Titus. He is finally hunted down and killed by Titus, who holds him responsible for the death of his sister, Fuchsia.
Mr. Flay: Lord Sepulchrave's personal servant, who believes in strictly holding to the rules of Gormenghast. Nevertheless, he is not completely hard-hearted and cares a great deal for Titus and Fuchsia. He is eventually exiled from Gormenghast for throwing one of the Countess's cats at Steerpike. However, he secretly keeps an eye on the doings in the castle, and plays a crucial role in Steerpike's eventual unmasking as a traitor.
Dr. Alfred Prunesquallor: The castle's resident physician. He is an eccentric individual with a high-pitched laugh and a grandiose wit which he uses on the castle's less intelligent inhabitants. Despite his acid tongue, he is an extremely kind and caring man who also is greatly fond of Fuchsia and Titus. (In a few places in the text, Dr. Prunesquallor is given the first name of Bernard, but this was an error by Peake.) Although he appears at first to be foppish and weak, the doctor later shows himself to be both intelligent and courageous, and he plays an important role in defeating Steerpike.
Irma Prunesquallor: Doctor Prunesquallor's sister. Though she is anything but pretty, she is considerably vain. She desperately desires to be admired and loved by men. She becomes romantically involved with Bellgrove.
Abiatha Swelter: The fat, sadistic head chef of Gormenghast. His profound hatred for Flay leads him to attempt his murder; however, he is killed by his intended victim.
Nannie Slagg: An ancient dwarf who serves as the nurse for infant Titus and Fuchsia before him. She is somewhat unintelligent and has an inferiority complex. Nevertheless she is kind and loving, and is the only figure who shows any real affection to the children when they are young.
Sourdust: The Master of Ritual when the series begins. He is the one who coordinates the various arcane rituals that make up daily life in Gormenghast. After his death in the Library Fire, his position is taken up by his son Barquentine.
Barquentine
: Follows his father into the role of Master of Ritual. He is lame in one leg, hideous, and unbelievably dirty. He is a consummate misanthrope who abuses and insults everybody he meets, and who cares only for the rigid application of the laws and traditions of Gormenghast. He makes the grievous error of allowing Steerpike to become his assistant.
Bellgrove: School Professor. One of Titus's teachers, who eventually ascends to Headmaster of Gormenghast. In many respects, he is the standard absent-minded professor who falls asleep during his own class and plays with marbles. However, deep inside him there is a certain element of dignity and nobility. At heart he is kindly, and if weak, at least has the humility to be aware of his faults. He begins a rather unusual romance with Irma Prunesquallor. He becomes something of a father figure to Titus.
Keda: A woman from the Bright Carvers' village just outside the walls of Gormenghast. She is chosen to be Titus's wet nurse, but eventually leaves this position. She has two lovers who fight a duel and both die for her, but not before one of them impregnates her. Eventually she kills herself by leaping off a crag, after giving birth to a daughter - The Thing. (In the film adaptation, she dies in childbirth.)
The Thing: The daughter of Keda, foster sister of Titus. Due to her illegitimacy she is an outcast who becomes a feral child
living in the wilderness surrounding Gormenghast. She is fierce and untameable, living only for herself, and takes her revenge on the Bright Carvers by mutilating their carvings. Believing that she is in every way the opposite of Gormenghast, Titus becomes infatuated with her. She is killed by a bolt of lightning.
, the power hungry, psychopathic and devious rebel, who shares Titus' contempt for the rules and traditions of Gormenghast. The conflict in Titus' soul is mirrored in the outer world of Gormenghast. The dark, oppressive castle, with its dry, dusty, lifeless halls and corridors of grey stone, is constantly contrasted with the landscape outside, which although wild and desolate, is raw, untamed, and elemental. The Outer Dwellers bear children of unearthly radiance, one of whom becomes Titus's foster sister; the child of Keda known only as The Thing. She becomes a feral child, caring nothing for others and living wild in the forests around Gormenghast mountain. She becomes a symbol to Titus of all the freedom that he longs for.
The contrast between Titus and Steerpike is at the heart of Gormenghast. Both are rebels, who hate the oppression and rigidity of the castle. Titus' rebellion is largely positive however, driven only by the urge to be free. Steerpike's rebellion is negative, as he desires to exercise control and power over others, seeking to overthrow the tyranny of Gormenghast with a tyranny of his own. Titus by contrast does not seek power over anyone else, only to control his own destiny. Though Steerpike manages to escape his life in the kitchens, he cannot see beyond the castle, while Titus wants to escape into the world outside. Titus's rage to be free, apparent throughout the first two novels, begins in earnest at the end of Titus Groan. He unwittingly blasphemes at his own baptism and again at his coronation, throwing the symbols of his office into the lake as his foster sister, the changeling
who seems more an elemental spirit than a human child, calls to him over the water. As he grows to manhood, his emergence into liberation is darkly shadowed by the progress of Steerpike
, who has declared "Equality is everything" whilst pulling the legs off a beetle. Steerpike's rise to power is psychopathic, fuelled by some fundamental urge to destroy the castle. He is not a true anarchist; he seeks only to destroy what he hates, utilizing all his formidable powers to force his way into the castle's establishment, becoming eventually Master of Ritual; the symbol of the fascism
that Titus most detests. With the death of his foster-sister by lightning, Titus loses his boyhood; with the death of Fuchsia by drowning, his heart is hardened, and he has the strength to kill Steerpike. In killing Steerpike, Titus is symbolically also killing his own shadowside. If he were to stay in the castle, his anger and resentment would turn inwards, leading him to abuse his power over others as Steerpike sought to do. With the eventual execution of Steerpike, the last bond of connection with his immemorial home is severed and "...turning his back...Titus rode out of his world."
The immense awareness of Tradition in the novel, manifest in the Ritual that dominates and suffocates all life within its walls is personified by Sepulchrave
, the 76th Earl of Groan and Titus's father, whose days are almost wholly consumed adhering to the obscure and esoteric tenets of Gormenghast tradition. The line of Groan has therefore supposedly been in existence for over a thousand years, perhaps as much as three. Sepulchrave is petrified by melancholia
and is a paradigm example of the fantasy archetype
known as the Knight of the Doleful Visage or Fisher King
. The family is reduced to a few members whose mental and physical abnormalities are profound. Titus himself is frequently described as 'hideous'. Cora and Clarice are epileptic, delusional, feeble-minded mono-maniacs. Gertrude in some sense appears to typify a baleful Earth Mother; ponderous and heavy, loving and cruel by turns, impassive of her own child, tender to her bird and cats, she is "the Countess Gertrude of huge clay". Titus' dread and rebellion against the iron letter of Gormenghast Law (enforced and embodied in his lifetime by the stony and loathsome dwarf Barquentine
) becomes one of the main factors leading to his preoccupation with freedom.
Though the castle is oppressive and tyrannical, Peake's language continually flames and shimmers with the love of youth, beauty and impermanence. "Deep within the fist of stone, a doll's hand wriggles, warm and rebellious. And, with his tiny entrance, enters change." At all times, the possibility of escape and beauty stands alongside the reality of imprisonment and death. Keda's suicide, the deaths of Rantel and Braigon, Fuchsia's dreams and reveries, Titus's small transgressions are all rendered in pellucid language that counterpoints and undermines the deadly weight of the castle.
; its 'umbrageous ceilings', its 'empire of red rust' and the way in which it shapes and deforms the personalities of those who dwell in and under it, marks Gormenghast out as one of the great Gothic
edifices, as Hill House in Shirley Jackson
's The Haunting of Hill House
or Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto
. Gormenghast is frequently referred to as a personality by its inhabitants and may be the only true example of Gothic Expressionism in English literature. Author Anthony Burgess
argued for the Gormenghast novels' status as a major classic of the Twentieth century; resounding with horrible images drawn from a century of war; the Holocaust in Sepulchrave's library; the attaching of a calf's skull to Sourdust's skeleton; Flay and Swelter enacting their danse macabre
in the hall of Spiders.
The castle is the setting for the first two books in the series, Titus Groan
and Gormenghast
. It incorporates many of the elements of both mediæval castles and Regency
period stately homes, though in practice it operates like a small city-state. It has its own government, a Byzantine system of laws and rituals, a class system, and is seemingly self-sufficient. Vast areas of the castle are abandoned. It is possible that the blackened and jagged skyline of Gormenghast was suggested by the bombed ruins of London or Dresden
following World War II; Peake was an official war artist and had been present at the opening of some of the Nazi concentration camps, an experience that touched him deeply and haunted him throughout his life. It has also been posited that Gormenghast had its ancient roots in the Forbidden City
of Peking
. Peake was born in China
and lived there until he was eleven, a fact which might also have some bearing on the fantastical artworks of the Bright Carvers who dwell without the castle walls. The isolated Channel Island
of Sark
, with its then surviving feudal system of government may also be an influence, as Peake lived there for a time. In a chapter of Gormenghast (novel)
, where Titus and his mother attempt to trace Steerpike's whereabouts, the placenames she reels off are all places on Sark
.
. The encounter between Dr Prunesquallor and the Countess Gertrude when she demands goat's milk, and the subsequent attempts to procure it for her, also provide an element of comedy. These comic interludes are probably intended to provide the reader with some light relief from the otherwise dark and serious themes of the book.
It is impossible to ignore the significance of madness
as well as its relationship with genius and (thwarted) artistic expression as a theme in the Gormenghast novels. Though Peake was an artist and poet who knew many years of perfect health and happy productivity, his paralysis caused by the Parkinson's disease
that afflicted him during the last years of his life, is an undeniable influence on the novels. Several of the characters in the novel are passionate, sensitive and clever, but all have been subjugated by their environment. Fuchsia
possesses a great and passionate love which, finding no outlet, wastes itself in frustration and is cruelly abused by Steerpike. Sepulchrave
's great sensitivity to beauty and poetry and his prodigious mental powers are frozen in misery. Doctor Prunesquallor is likewise a man of elegance, wit and brains, deformed into an eccentric by his environment. The Poet, a cryptic figure in the novel, represents some hidden spirit of introverted aestheticism in the castle; he remains in the shadows. Conversely, the established professional academics, the schoolmasters of Gormenghast, are parodies of Oxbridge
learning; pedantic, futile, vulgar, lazy and grotesque.
produced a dramatization, adapted by Michael le Moignan and Lawrence Lucas and produced by David Chandler
, of all three Gormenghast novels. It was first broadcast in 1983 as eight one-hour episodes, and repeated in 1986 in four two-hour parts. This is the only major adaption that includes Titus Alone
in addition to Titus Groan
and Gormenghast
.
In 1984, BBC Radio 4
broadcast two 90-minute plays based on Titus Groan
and Gormenghast
, adapted by Brian Sibley
and starring Sting as Steerpike
and Freddie Jones
as the Artist (narrator). A slightly abridged compilation of the two, running to 160 minutes, and entitled Titus Groan of Gormenghast, was broadcast on Christmas Day, 1992. BBC 7
repeated the original versions on 21 and 28 September 2003.
In 2011, Brian Sibley, who had previously adapted the book for radio in 1984, adapted the story again, this time as six one-hour episodes broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as the Classic Serial
starting on 10 July 2011. The serial was titled The History of Titus Groan and adapted all three novels written by Peake and the recently discovered concluding volume, Titus Awakes
completed by his widow, Maeve Gilmore
. It starred Luke Treadaway
as Titus, David Warner
as the Artist and Carl Prekopp
as Steerpike. Also starring were Paul Rhys
, Miranda Richardson
, James Fleet
, Tamsin Greig
, Fenella Woolgar
, Adrian Scarborough
and Mark Benton
.
and the PBS
station WGBH
of Boston
produced a miniseries, titled Gormenghast, based on the first two books of the series. The cast included Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Steerpike
and Christopher Lee
as Mr. Flay.
Also made in 2000, the 30-minute TV short film A Boy In Darkness
(adapted from Peake's novella Boy in Darkness) was the first production from the BBC Drama Lab. It was set in a 'virtual' computer-generated world created by young computer game designers, and starred Jack Ryder
(from EastEnders
) as "The Boy" (a teen-aged Titus Groan), with Terry Jones
(Monty Python's Flying Circus
) narrating.
, London, was first shown publicly. The stop-frame
puppet animation, which depicts some of the events from Titus Groan
and Gormenghast
, was initially inspired when Joan found a tattered paperback copy of Titus Groan while she was staying at a youth hostel in Holland.
and directed by David Glass. The production features atmospheric music and lighting and relies heavily on mime
, all to convey the immense vastness of the Gormenghast castle on the small stage. It has toured theatres in the UK during 2006 and 2007.
A stage version of Titus Alone was produced at the University of Sussex
in 2001, using sound and physical theatre to evoke the strange world beyond Gormenghast Castle. It focused on themes of madness and the nature of reality to question whether Titus' memories of the castle are real, or merely fantasies of a damaged mind. It was particularly inspired by Mervyn Peake's loss of his mental faculties due to Parkinson's-induced dementia.
, founder of seminal German 'Krautrock
' group Can
has written an opera called Gormenghast, based on the novels, and a number of songs including 'Stranger Than Fiction' and 'Titus' by New Zealand rock group Split Enz
and 'The Drowning Man' by The Cure
were inspired by Peake's work. The British progressive rock group Strawbs feature a Ford/Hudson
composition called 'Lady Fuschia' (sic) on their 1973 album Bursting at the Seams
, about one of the main protagonists of this trilogy. Northern Irish progressive rock band Fruupp
included a song called Gormenghast, inspired by the novels, on their fourth and final album Modern Masquerades, released in 1975. The bands Fuchsia
(late 1960s folk rock) and Titus Groan (late 1960s rock) are named after the novels.
, the second novel of The Enemy series by Charlie Higson
, a character named Chris Marker (cf. Chris Marker
) reads The Gormenghast Trilogy on a bus.
Terry Pratchett
's Discworld novel Pyramids centres on Teppic, the heir to a vaguely Egyptian rule, whose father (still living as the book opens) bears striking resemblances to Sepulchrave; his deceased mother's love for her palace cats can be seen as a parallel to Gertrude.
Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R...
, featuring Castle Gormenghast
Gormenghast (castle)
Gormenghast is a fictional castle of titanic proportions that features prominently in a series of fantasy works penned by Mervyn Peake. It is the setting for the first two books in the Gormenghast series, Titus Groan and Gormenghast...
, and Titus Groan, the title character of the first book.
Works in the series
The series consists of three novels, Titus GroanTitus Groan (novel)
Titus Groan is a novel by Mervyn Peake. It is the first novel in the Gormenghast series.-Plot introduction:The book is set in the huge castle of Gormenghast, a vast landscape of crumbling towers and ivy-filled quadrangles that has for centuries been the hereditary residence of the Groan family and...
(1946), Gormenghast
Gormenghast (novel)
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake, is the second novel in his Gormenghast series. It is the story of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, from age 7 to 17. As the story opens, Titus dreads the pre-ordained life of ritual that stretches before him...
(1950), and Titus Alone
Titus Alone
Titus Alone is a novel written by Mervyn Peake and first published in 1959. It is the fourth work in the Gormenghast series. The other works in the series are Titus Groan, Gormenghast, the novella Boy in Darkness, and the fragment Titus Awakes.-Plot summary:The story follows Titus' journey in the...
(1959). A novella, Boy in Darkness
Boy in Darkness
Boy in Darkness is a horror novella written by Mervyn Peake. It was first published in 1956 by Eyre & Spottiswoode as part of the anthology Sometime, Never: Three Tales of Imagination...
(1956), tells the story of a brief adventure by the young Titus away from Gormenghast, although it does not explicitly name the castle.
Peake had intended to write a series of books following Titus Groan through his life, as well as detailing his relationship with Gormenghast. At least two other books, tentatively titled Titus Awakes
Titus Awakes
Titus Awakes is the editorial title applied to a novel being planned by Mervyn Peake at the time he became too ill to write, about 1960. It was to have been the fourth novel in the Gormenghast series, after Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone...
and Gormenghast Revisited, were planned; but Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
and Peake's ensuing death at age 57 prevented him from writing down more than a few hundred words and ideas for further volumes. Only three pages of Titus Awakes were coherently written, and these appear in the Overlook Press edition of Titus Alone (ISBN 0–87951–427–2) and in the omnibus volume (0-87951-628-3).
In the 1970s, Peake's widow Maeve Gilmore
Maeve Gilmore
Maeve Patricia Mary Theresa Gilmore, known professionally as Maeve Gilmore was a British painter, sculptor, and writer.- Personal background :...
wrote her version of Titus Awakes, which she called Search without End. The Peake family rediscovered this novel at the end of 2009 and it was published by Overlook Press as Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast. to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Peake's birth.
Genre and style
The series is usually described as a fantasyFantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
work. However, the books have no magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
and no intelligent races other than humans, which is unusual in high fantasy
High fantasy
High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. High fantasy was brought to fruition through the work of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, whose major fantasy works were published in the 1950s...
such as The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
. Another valid classification would be to place Gormenghast in the genre of the grotesque
Grotesque
The word grotesque comes from the same Latin root as "Grotto", meaning a small cave or hollow. The original meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient Roman decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome at the end of the 15th century...
, with marked gothic and surrealist
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
influences. It may also be considered a fantasy of manners
Fantasy of manners
The fantasy of manners is a subgenre of fantasy literature that also partakes of the nature of a comedy of manners . Such works generally take place in an urban setting and within the confines of a fairly elaborate, and almost always hierarchical, social structure. The term was first used in print...
.
Gormenghast is less focused on a central protagonist than many novels. Though Titus and Steerpike are often considered the main characters, they share the narrative with many of the other denizens of the castle. In a way, the main character could be seen as the setting itself, with the castle and social structure of Gormenghast taking a central role in unifying the story.
Setting
Gormenghast is a remote and reclusive earldom dominated by the huge Castle GormenghastGormenghast (castle)
Gormenghast is a fictional castle of titanic proportions that features prominently in a series of fantasy works penned by Mervyn Peake. It is the setting for the first two books in the Gormenghast series, Titus Groan and Gormenghast...
at its centre, and ruled by the noble family of Groan since time immemorial. It is never made clear whether it is set on Earth or some other world. The kingdom derives its name from Gormenghast Mountain, and is isolated from the outside world by inhospitable regions on each side of it. To the North are marshy wastelands, to the South are salt grey marshes (and presumably then the ocean), to the East are quicksands and the tideless sea, and to the West are knuckles of endless rock. To the West also lies the claw-like Gormenghast Mountain, with the Twisted Woods and Gormenghast river at its foot. East of them are escarpments described as "an irregular tableland of greeny-black rock, broken and scarred and empty", then desolate swamp before the vicinity of the castle is reached. Gormenghast Mountain is said to be so large that from the castle it looks at most a few miles distant, whereas in fact it is a day's ride away on horseback. However, this is contradicted by events within the story, when various characters are able to travel on foot to the castle and back within a single day. Given that it is surrounded on three sides by watery regions, it is not implausible that the entire region can be flooded, as described in the second book Gormenghast.
At the centre of the earldom is the vast, largely deserted Castle, whose remaining inhabitants centre their lives on the ritual surrounding the ruling family of Groan. The castle is described as being like an immense island of stone, its every outline familiar to the inhabitants, who know: "every bay, inlet and headland of the great stone island of the Groans, of its sheer cliffs, of its crumbling outcrops, the broken line of the towers". Dominating the ivy-covered, crumbling castle is the highest tower, the Tower of Flints, which is inhabited by great numbers of owls. The castle is so huge that most of the inhabitants do not venture outside except for certain ceremonies. Outside the castle, clustered under the northern walls, is a hodge-podge of mud dwellings inhabited by the "Bright Carvers", whose only purpose is to carve elaborate objects out of wood and present them to the Earl. They are in awe of the "Castles", as they call Gormenghast's inhabitants.
Some contact with the outside world is implied; Dr. Prunesquallor at one point sketches an ostrich skeleton, while Steerpike procures a monkey from somewhere. Otherwise, the impression given is that Gormenghast is stagnant, insular, and introspective. A recurring theme is the time-consuming and pointless rituals that the inhabitants submit to regularly, the origin and purpose of which is long-forgotten. Gormenghast makes a stark contrast with the industrious and technologically advanced city which is the setting of Titus Alone.
Titus Groan
The story begins with the birth of the eponymEponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous Titus, as the heir to the throne of the House of Groan, and finishes just over a year later with his "Earling" or formal investiture as the seventy-seventh Earl of Groan, after the untimely death of his father Sepulchrave
Sepulchrave
Sepulchrave, Lord Groan is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan .- Character :Sepulchrave is the 76th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast, the gigantic, isolate citadel-state which forms the setting/otherworld for the Titus Groan novels of Mervyn Peake.He is father to Titus Groan and...
. As Titus is only an infant in this novel, he plays a minor role. The main plot therefore follows the somewhat bizarre inhabitants of Gormenghast Castle, and in particular chronicles the rise to power of Steerpike
Steerpike
Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast.In 2000 Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers portrayed Steerpike in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast.-Character:...
, a scheming kitchen boy. Steerpike successfully destroys the existing order of the castle by inciting the twin sisters of Sepulchrave, Cora and Clarice, to burn Sepulchrave's beloved library. This event drives Sepulchrave into madness and eventually into taking his own life. Although Cora and Clarice are not exposed as the perpetrators of the fire, they are now under Steerpike's power. A sub-plot involves the feud between Sepulchrave's loyal servant Flay, and the chef Swelter, which ends with them fighting and Swelter being killed.
Gormenghast
The second book follows Titus from the age of seven to seventeen. As the 77th earl and lord of Gormenghast, he dreads the life of pre-ordained ritualRitual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
that stretches before him. His desire for freedom is awakened by the sight of his foster sister, known only as "The Thing", a feral child who lives in the woods of Gormenghast (due to her mother being banished as an outcast) and who terrorizes the Bright Carvers, the inhabitants of the mud dwellings outside the castle walls. Her life of wild freedom makes him realise that an existence is possible other than the rigid formalities and ritual of the castle. Meanwhile, Steerpike continues his rise to power by killing Barquentine, the Master of Ritual, and taking his place, but he is eventually unmasked as a traitor and murderer. The castle is flooded by a rainstorm, and in a watery duel with Titus, Steerpike is killed, leaving the way clear for Titus to reign. However, his desire to leave Gormenghast now overwhelming, Titus has other ideas and flees the castle for the wider world beyond Gormenghast Mountain.
Titus Alone
The story follows Titus as he travels far from Gormenghast and finds a futuristic world of industrialists and advanced technology (in some ways anticipating the steampunkSteampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
genre). This novel is more randomly plotted than its two predecessors, without a strong lead character or a fixed setting. A heavily edited first edition was published in 1959; a fuller version compiled by Langdon Jones from Peake's early drafts was issued in 1970 and forms the basis for all subsequent editions.
Characters of the series
Peake populated his imaginary castle with a large cast of characters. These include:Ruling family
Titus Groan: The main character of the series, and heir to the Earldom of Gormenghast. He succeeds to the title of 77th Earl while still a child, but as he grows older, he develops ambivalent feelings toward his home. He is torn between pride in his lineage and the desire to escape from the castle and its traditions. Titus is born at the beginning of the first book of the series, the son of Sepulchrave and Gertrude, and is an infant throughout the whole of Titus Groan (novel)Titus Groan (novel)
Titus Groan is a novel by Mervyn Peake. It is the first novel in the Gormenghast series.-Plot introduction:The book is set in the huge castle of Gormenghast, a vast landscape of crumbling towers and ivy-filled quadrangles that has for centuries been the hereditary residence of the Groan family and...
. Eventually, he leaves Gormenghast after defeating Steerpike
Steerpike
Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast.In 2000 Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers portrayed Steerpike in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast.-Character:...
in battle. Titus discovers a world outside of Gormenghast where the castle and its inhabitants are unknown.
Titus' character is one of yearning for freedom and the romance of being an ordinary person without the responsibilies the Earldom and the tradition that comes with it.
Titus features in another book called Boy in Darkness
Boy in Darkness
Boy in Darkness is a horror novella written by Mervyn Peake. It was first published in 1956 by Eyre & Spottiswoode as part of the anthology Sometime, Never: Three Tales of Imagination...
which is unconnected to the main story.
As for Titus, he was almost grown now to his full height. But he was of an odd highly-strung natures -- sullen and excitable by turns. Strong as need be for his years, he was more apt to have his energy sapped by the excess of his imagination than of his body.
Lord Sepulchrave
Sepulchrave
Sepulchrave, Lord Groan is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan .- Character :Sepulchrave is the 76th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast, the gigantic, isolate citadel-state which forms the setting/otherworld for the Titus Groan novels of Mervyn Peake.He is father to Titus Groan and...
: 76th Earl and Titus's father. He is a melancholy man who feels shackled by his duties as Earl, although he never questions them. His only escape is reading. However, when the castle's Library is burnt down, he is driven insane and comes to believe that he is one of the death-owls that live in the abandoned Tower of Flints.
... a dark figure stole forth, closing the door behind him quietly, and with an air of the deepest dejection.... His face was very long and was olive coloured. The eyes were large, and of an eloquence, withdrawn. His nostrils were mobile and sensitive. His mouth, a narrow line....
The Countess Gertrude: 76th Countess and Titus's mother. An immense, statuesque woman with coils of dark red hair, she pays little attention to her family or the rest of Gormenghast. Instead, she spends her time locked away in her bedroom, in the company of a legion of cats and birds, the only things toward which she shows affection. However, once given the chance to use her intelligence she turns out to be one of the cleverest people in the castle, when (along with Flay and the doctor) she recognizes and investigates the worrying changes transpiring in Gormenghast. She becomes a leader figure of sorts during the flooding of the castle and hunt for Steerpike, but once the threat has passed she retreats back into her own world of isolation. According to Sepulchrave's sisters, the Ladies Cora and Clarice, Gertrude is of common blood and not of the noble bloodline of the Groans.
As the candles guttered or flared so the shadows moved from side to side, or up and down the wall, and with those movements behind the bed there swayed the shadows of four birds. Between them vacillated an enormous head. This umbrage was cast by her ladyship, the 76th Countess of Groan. She was propped against several pillows and a black shawl was draped around her shoulders. Her hair, a very dark red color of great luster, appeared to have been left suddenly while being woven into a knotted structure on the top of her head. Thick coils still fell about her shoulder or clustered on the pillows like burning snakes. Her eyes were of the pale green that is common among cats. They were large eyes, yet seemed, in proportion to the pale area of her face, to be small. The nose was big enough to appear so in spite of the expanse that surrounded it. The effect which she produced was one of bulk....
Fuchsia
Fuchsia Groan
Fuchsia Groan is a fictional character: The daughter of Sepulchrave, 76th Earl of Groan, in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast...
: Titus's sister. At times impatient, immature, and self-absorbed, she can also be extremely warm and caring. At first, she resents Titus, but soon develops a deep bond with him. Of all Titus's family, she is the one he loves most. Fuchsia also develops a very close, but brief bond with her father, Lord Sepulchrave during his final mental breakdown after the Library Fire. Broken by disappointment and disillusionment, she is killed as she accidentally slips from the windowsill where she is only contemplating suicide - and striking her head on the stonework, drowns unconscious, in the floodwaters surrounding the Castle. She thus tragically never realises her true potential.
... a girl of about fifteen with long, rather wild black hair. She was gauche in movement and in a sense ugly of face, but with how small a twist might she not suddenly have become beautiful. Her sullen mouth was full and rich -- her eyes smoldered. A yellow scarf hung loosely around her neck. Her shapeless dress was flaming red. For all the straightness of her back, she walked with a slouch.
Cora and Clarice Groan: Titus's aunts (sisters of Sepulchrave), a pair of identical twins. Both suffered from spasms in their youth, so the left hand sides of their bodies are paralyzed. They have virtually the same personalities and neither of them is very intelligent—they are perhaps even mentally impaired
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
—although Cora is slightly cleverer than Clarice. During the family breakfast, the narrator notes that both sisters are thinking the same thoughts. Both crave political power and dislike Gertrude, whom they believe robbed them of their rightful place in the hierarchy of Gormenghast. Their mindless ambition and thirst for revenge lead them to become Steerpike's pawns.
She and her sister were dressed in purple with gold buckles at their throats by way of brooches, and another gold buckle each at the end of hatpins which they wore through their gray hair in order apparently to match their brooches. Their faces, identical to the point of indecency, were quite expressionless, as though they were the preliminary layouts for faces and were waiting for sentience to be injected.
Other major characters
SteerpikeSteerpike
Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast.In 2000 Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers portrayed Steerpike in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast.-Character:...
: A youthful outsider, beginning as a kitchen boy, who worms his way into the hierarchy of Gormenghast for his own personal gain. Ruthlessly murderous, with a Machiavellian, highly intelligent and methodical mind, and a talent for manipulation, he can appear charming and sometimes even noble. But due to his fundamentally evil nature, he has natural personal enmity with Titus. He is finally hunted down and killed by Titus, who holds him responsible for the death of his sister, Fuchsia.
His body gave the appearance of being malformed, but it would be difficult to say exactly what gave it this gibbous quality. Limb by limb it appeared that he was sound enough, but the sum of these several members accrued to an unexpectedly twisted total. His face was pale like clay and save for his eyes, masklike. These eyes were set very close together, and were small, dark red, and of startling concentration.
Mr. Flay: Lord Sepulchrave's personal servant, who believes in strictly holding to the rules of Gormenghast. Nevertheless, he is not completely hard-hearted and cares a great deal for Titus and Fuchsia. He is eventually exiled from Gormenghast for throwing one of the Countess's cats at Steerpike. However, he secretly keeps an eye on the doings in the castle, and plays a crucial role in Steerpike's eventual unmasking as a traitor.
Mr. Flay appeared to clutter up the doorway as he stood revealed, his arms folded.... It did not look as though such a bony face as this could give normal utterance, but rather that instead of sounds, something more brittle, more ancient, something drier would emerge, something more in the nature of a splinter or a fragment of stone. Nevertheless, the harsh lips parted. "It's me," he said, and took a step forward, his joints cracking as he did so. His passage across a room -- in fact his passage through life -- was accomplished by these cracking sounds, one per step, which might be likened to the breaking of dry twigs.
Dr. Alfred Prunesquallor: The castle's resident physician. He is an eccentric individual with a high-pitched laugh and a grandiose wit which he uses on the castle's less intelligent inhabitants. Despite his acid tongue, he is an extremely kind and caring man who also is greatly fond of Fuchsia and Titus. (In a few places in the text, Dr. Prunesquallor is given the first name of Bernard, but this was an error by Peake.) Although he appears at first to be foppish and weak, the doctor later shows himself to be both intelligent and courageous, and he plays an important role in defeating Steerpike.
The doctor with his hyena laugh and his bizarre and elegant body, his celluloid face. His main defects? The insufferable pitch of his voice; his maddening laugh and his affected gestures. His cardinal virtue? An undamaged brain.
Irma Prunesquallor: Doctor Prunesquallor's sister. Though she is anything but pretty, she is considerably vain. She desperately desires to be admired and loved by men. She becomes romantically involved with Bellgrove.
Vain as a child, thin as a stork's leg, and, in her black glasses, blind as an owl in daylight. She misses her footing on the social ladder at least three times a week, only to start climbing again, wriggling her pelvis all the while, She clasps her dead, white hands beneath her chin in the high hope of hiding the flatness of her chest.
Abiatha Swelter: The fat, sadistic head chef of Gormenghast. His profound hatred for Flay leads him to attempt his murder; however, he is killed by his intended victim.
Abiatha Swelter, who wades in a slug-like illness of fat through the humid ground mists of the Great Kitchen. From bowls as big as baths, there rises and drifts like a miasmic tide the all but palpable odor of the day's bellytimber. The arrogance of this fat head exudes itself like an evil sweat.
Nannie Slagg: An ancient dwarf who serves as the nurse for infant Titus and Fuchsia before him. She is somewhat unintelligent and has an inferiority complex. Nevertheless she is kind and loving, and is the only figure who shows any real affection to the children when they are young.
... she is so minute, so frightened, so old, so querulous, she neither could, nor would, head any procession, even on paper. Her peevish cry goes out: "Oh, my weak heart! How could they?" and she hurries to Fuchsia either to smack the abstracted girl in order to ease herself, or to bury the wrinkled prune of her face in Fuchsia's side. Alone in her small room again, she lies upon her bed and bites her minute knuckles.
Sourdust: The Master of Ritual when the series begins. He is the one who coordinates the various arcane rituals that make up daily life in Gormenghast. After his death in the Library Fire, his position is taken up by his son Barquentine.
Barquentine
Barquentine (Gormenghast)
Barquentine is a character in the first two books in the Gormenghast series , . He is the son of Sourdust, the Master of Ritual of Gormenghast castle. At first he lives a hermitic existence in an obscure tract of the castle. When he appears in the book he is 74 years old. He is a one-legged,...
: Follows his father into the role of Master of Ritual. He is lame in one leg, hideous, and unbelievably dirty. He is a consummate misanthrope who abuses and insults everybody he meets, and who cares only for the rigid application of the laws and traditions of Gormenghast. He makes the grievous error of allowing Steerpike to become his assistant.
The lynch-pin son of the dead Sourdust, by name Barquentine, Master of Ritual, is a stunted, cantankerous pedant of seventy, who stepped into his father's shoes (or, to be exact, his shoe, for this Barquentine is a one-legged thing who smites his way through ill-lit corridors on grim and echoing crutch.)
Bellgrove: School Professor. One of Titus's teachers, who eventually ascends to Headmaster of Gormenghast. In many respects, he is the standard absent-minded professor who falls asleep during his own class and plays with marbles. However, deep inside him there is a certain element of dignity and nobility. At heart he is kindly, and if weak, at least has the humility to be aware of his faults. He begins a rather unusual romance with Irma Prunesquallor. He becomes something of a father figure to Titus.
He was a fine-looking man in his way. Big of head, his brow and the bridge of his nose descended in a single line of undeniable nobility. His jaw was as long as his brow and nose together and lay exactly parallel in profile to those features. With his leonine shock of snow-white hair there was something of the major prophet about him. But his eyes were disappointing. They made no effort to bear out the promise of the other features, which would have formed the ideal setting for the kind of eye that flashes with visionary fire. Mr. Bellgrove's eyes didn't flash at all.
Keda: A woman from the Bright Carvers' village just outside the walls of Gormenghast. She is chosen to be Titus's wet nurse, but eventually leaves this position. She has two lovers who fight a duel and both die for her, but not before one of them impregnates her. Eventually she kills herself by leaping off a crag, after giving birth to a daughter - The Thing. (In the film adaptation, she dies in childbirth.)
The Thing: The daughter of Keda, foster sister of Titus. Due to her illegitimacy she is an outcast who becomes a feral child
Feral child
A feral child is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has no experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and, crucially, of human language...
living in the wilderness surrounding Gormenghast. She is fierce and untameable, living only for herself, and takes her revenge on the Bright Carvers by mutilating their carvings. Believing that she is in every way the opposite of Gormenghast, Titus becomes infatuated with her. She is killed by a bolt of lightning.
Freedom versus Tradition
The eternal theme of personal freedom versus social duty and tradition is the main theme of the novel. This is played out chiefly through the central character of the book Titus Groan, who longs to be free and follow his own course in life, but is bound as the heir to the throne of the House of Groan, to the ancient laws and traditions of the castle. To a lesser extent his frustrations are shared by his sister Fuchsia; but most of the other characters in the book are either seemingly oblivious to anything other than the life of the castle, or else they are fierce upholders of its laws. Ironically it is only SteerpikeSteerpike
Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast.In 2000 Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers portrayed Steerpike in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast.-Character:...
, the power hungry, psychopathic and devious rebel, who shares Titus' contempt for the rules and traditions of Gormenghast. The conflict in Titus' soul is mirrored in the outer world of Gormenghast. The dark, oppressive castle, with its dry, dusty, lifeless halls and corridors of grey stone, is constantly contrasted with the landscape outside, which although wild and desolate, is raw, untamed, and elemental. The Outer Dwellers bear children of unearthly radiance, one of whom becomes Titus's foster sister; the child of Keda known only as The Thing. She becomes a feral child, caring nothing for others and living wild in the forests around Gormenghast mountain. She becomes a symbol to Titus of all the freedom that he longs for.
The contrast between Titus and Steerpike is at the heart of Gormenghast. Both are rebels, who hate the oppression and rigidity of the castle. Titus' rebellion is largely positive however, driven only by the urge to be free. Steerpike's rebellion is negative, as he desires to exercise control and power over others, seeking to overthrow the tyranny of Gormenghast with a tyranny of his own. Titus by contrast does not seek power over anyone else, only to control his own destiny. Though Steerpike manages to escape his life in the kitchens, he cannot see beyond the castle, while Titus wants to escape into the world outside. Titus's rage to be free, apparent throughout the first two novels, begins in earnest at the end of Titus Groan. He unwittingly blasphemes at his own baptism and again at his coronation, throwing the symbols of his office into the lake as his foster sister, the changeling
Changeling
A changeling is a creature found in Western European folklore and folk religion. It is typically described as being the offspring of a fairy, troll, elf or other legendary creature that has been secretly left in the place of a human child. Sometimes the term is also used to refer to the child who...
who seems more an elemental spirit than a human child, calls to him over the water. As he grows to manhood, his emergence into liberation is darkly shadowed by the progress of Steerpike
Steerpike
Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast.In 2000 Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers portrayed Steerpike in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast.-Character:...
, who has declared "Equality is everything" whilst pulling the legs off a beetle. Steerpike's rise to power is psychopathic, fuelled by some fundamental urge to destroy the castle. He is not a true anarchist; he seeks only to destroy what he hates, utilizing all his formidable powers to force his way into the castle's establishment, becoming eventually Master of Ritual; the symbol of the fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
that Titus most detests. With the death of his foster-sister by lightning, Titus loses his boyhood; with the death of Fuchsia by drowning, his heart is hardened, and he has the strength to kill Steerpike. In killing Steerpike, Titus is symbolically also killing his own shadowside. If he were to stay in the castle, his anger and resentment would turn inwards, leading him to abuse his power over others as Steerpike sought to do. With the eventual execution of Steerpike, the last bond of connection with his immemorial home is severed and "...turning his back...Titus rode out of his world."
The immense awareness of Tradition in the novel, manifest in the Ritual that dominates and suffocates all life within its walls is personified by Sepulchrave
Sepulchrave
Sepulchrave, Lord Groan is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan .- Character :Sepulchrave is the 76th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast, the gigantic, isolate citadel-state which forms the setting/otherworld for the Titus Groan novels of Mervyn Peake.He is father to Titus Groan and...
, the 76th Earl of Groan and Titus's father, whose days are almost wholly consumed adhering to the obscure and esoteric tenets of Gormenghast tradition. The line of Groan has therefore supposedly been in existence for over a thousand years, perhaps as much as three. Sepulchrave is petrified by melancholia
Melancholia
Melancholia , also lugubriousness, from the Latin lugere, to mourn; moroseness, from the Latin morosus, self-willed, fastidious habit; wistfulness, from old English wist: intent, or saturnine, , in contemporary usage, is a mood disorder of non-specific depression,...
and is a paradigm example of the fantasy archetype
Archetype
An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...
known as the Knight of the Doleful Visage or Fisher King
Fisher King
The Fisher King, or the Wounded King, figures in Arthurian legend as the latest in a line charged with keeping the Holy Grail. Versions of his story vary widely, but he is always wounded in the legs or groin, and incapable of moving on his own...
. The family is reduced to a few members whose mental and physical abnormalities are profound. Titus himself is frequently described as 'hideous'. Cora and Clarice are epileptic, delusional, feeble-minded mono-maniacs. Gertrude in some sense appears to typify a baleful Earth Mother; ponderous and heavy, loving and cruel by turns, impassive of her own child, tender to her bird and cats, she is "the Countess Gertrude of huge clay". Titus' dread and rebellion against the iron letter of Gormenghast Law (enforced and embodied in his lifetime by the stony and loathsome dwarf Barquentine
Barquentine
A barquentine is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.-Modern barquentine sailing rig:...
) becomes one of the main factors leading to his preoccupation with freedom.
Though the castle is oppressive and tyrannical, Peake's language continually flames and shimmers with the love of youth, beauty and impermanence. "Deep within the fist of stone, a doll's hand wriggles, warm and rebellious. And, with his tiny entrance, enters change." At all times, the possibility of escape and beauty stands alongside the reality of imprisonment and death. Keda's suicide, the deaths of Rantel and Braigon, Fuchsia's dreams and reveries, Titus's small transgressions are all rendered in pellucid language that counterpoints and undermines the deadly weight of the castle.
Gothicism
The immense, overwhelming presence of Gormenghast CastleGormenghast (castle)
Gormenghast is a fictional castle of titanic proportions that features prominently in a series of fantasy works penned by Mervyn Peake. It is the setting for the first two books in the Gormenghast series, Titus Groan and Gormenghast...
; its 'umbrageous ceilings', its 'empire of red rust' and the way in which it shapes and deforms the personalities of those who dwell in and under it, marks Gormenghast out as one of the great Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
edifices, as Hill House in Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson was an American author. A popular writer in her time, her work has received increasing attention from literary critics in recent years...
's The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House
For the Richard Matheson novel, see Hell House, made into a film titled The Legend of Hell House.The Haunting of Hill House is a 1959 novel by author Shirley Jackson. Finalist for the National Book Award and considered one of the best literary ghost stories published during the twentieth century,...
or Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto
The Castle of Otranto
The Castle of Otranto is a 1764 novel by Horace Walpole. It is generally regarded as the first gothic novel, initiating a literary genre which would become extremely popular in the later 18th century and early 19th century...
. Gormenghast is frequently referred to as a personality by its inhabitants and may be the only true example of Gothic Expressionism in English literature. Author Anthony Burgess
Anthony Burgess
John Burgess Wilson – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works...
argued for the Gormenghast novels' status as a major classic of the Twentieth century; resounding with horrible images drawn from a century of war; the Holocaust in Sepulchrave's library; the attaching of a calf's skull to Sourdust's skeleton; Flay and Swelter enacting their danse macabre
Danse Macabre
Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre , Danza de la Muerte , Dansa de la Mort , Danza Macabra , Dança da Morte , Totentanz , Dodendans , is an artistic genre of late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one's...
in the hall of Spiders.
The castle is the setting for the first two books in the series, Titus Groan
Titus Groan (novel)
Titus Groan is a novel by Mervyn Peake. It is the first novel in the Gormenghast series.-Plot introduction:The book is set in the huge castle of Gormenghast, a vast landscape of crumbling towers and ivy-filled quadrangles that has for centuries been the hereditary residence of the Groan family and...
and Gormenghast
Gormenghast (novel)
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake, is the second novel in his Gormenghast series. It is the story of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, from age 7 to 17. As the story opens, Titus dreads the pre-ordained life of ritual that stretches before him...
. It incorporates many of the elements of both mediæval castles and Regency
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
period stately homes, though in practice it operates like a small city-state. It has its own government, a Byzantine system of laws and rituals, a class system, and is seemingly self-sufficient. Vast areas of the castle are abandoned. It is possible that the blackened and jagged skyline of Gormenghast was suggested by the bombed ruins of London or Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
following World War II; Peake was an official war artist and had been present at the opening of some of the Nazi concentration camps, an experience that touched him deeply and haunted him throughout his life. It has also been posited that Gormenghast had its ancient roots in the Forbidden City
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
of Peking
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. Peake was born in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and lived there until he was eleven, a fact which might also have some bearing on the fantastical artworks of the Bright Carvers who dwell without the castle walls. The isolated Channel Island
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
of Sark
Sark
Sark is a small island in the Channel Islands in southwestern English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. It is a royal fief, geographically located in the Channel Islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population...
, with its then surviving feudal system of government may also be an influence, as Peake lived there for a time. In a chapter of Gormenghast (novel)
Gormenghast (novel)
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake, is the second novel in his Gormenghast series. It is the story of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, from age 7 to 17. As the story opens, Titus dreads the pre-ordained life of ritual that stretches before him...
, where Titus and his mother attempt to trace Steerpike's whereabouts, the placenames she reels off are all places on Sark
Sark
Sark is a small island in the Channel Islands in southwestern English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. It is a royal fief, geographically located in the Channel Islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population...
.
Other themes
An element of social comedy is introduced in the second book, which contains a romantic sub-plot concerning the vapid social-climber Irma Prunesquallor. Her preparations for a romantic soiree designed to net her a husband from amongst the ranks of the Professors and her subsequent wooing by the indolent old Headmaster Bellgrove, provides some light comedy almost in the manner of P.G. Wodehouse. The contrast drawn between their age and unattractiveness and the ardour of their perceived passion is a theme drawn from classical farceFarce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
. The encounter between Dr Prunesquallor and the Countess Gertrude when she demands goat's milk, and the subsequent attempts to procure it for her, also provide an element of comedy. These comic interludes are probably intended to provide the reader with some light relief from the otherwise dark and serious themes of the book.
It is impossible to ignore the significance of madness
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
as well as its relationship with genius and (thwarted) artistic expression as a theme in the Gormenghast novels. Though Peake was an artist and poet who knew many years of perfect health and happy productivity, his paralysis caused by the Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
that afflicted him during the last years of his life, is an undeniable influence on the novels. Several of the characters in the novel are passionate, sensitive and clever, but all have been subjugated by their environment. Fuchsia
Fuchsia Groan
Fuchsia Groan is a fictional character: The daughter of Sepulchrave, 76th Earl of Groan, in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast...
possesses a great and passionate love which, finding no outlet, wastes itself in frustration and is cruelly abused by Steerpike. Sepulchrave
Sepulchrave
Sepulchrave, Lord Groan is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan .- Character :Sepulchrave is the 76th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast, the gigantic, isolate citadel-state which forms the setting/otherworld for the Titus Groan novels of Mervyn Peake.He is father to Titus Groan and...
's great sensitivity to beauty and poetry and his prodigious mental powers are frozen in misery. Doctor Prunesquallor is likewise a man of elegance, wit and brains, deformed into an eccentric by his environment. The Poet, a cryptic figure in the novel, represents some hidden spirit of introverted aestheticism in the castle; he remains in the shadows. Conversely, the established professional academics, the schoolmasters of Gormenghast, are parodies of Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
learning; pedantic, futile, vulgar, lazy and grotesque.
Radio
The Australian Broadcasting CorporationAustralian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
produced a dramatization, adapted by Michael le Moignan and Lawrence Lucas and produced by David Chandler
David Chandler
David Chandler may refer to:* David Chandler , American physical chemist* David G. Chandler, British historian specializing in Napoleonic history* David P. Chandler, American historian specializing in Cambodian history...
, of all three Gormenghast novels. It was first broadcast in 1983 as eight one-hour episodes, and repeated in 1986 in four two-hour parts. This is the only major adaption that includes Titus Alone
Titus Alone
Titus Alone is a novel written by Mervyn Peake and first published in 1959. It is the fourth work in the Gormenghast series. The other works in the series are Titus Groan, Gormenghast, the novella Boy in Darkness, and the fragment Titus Awakes.-Plot summary:The story follows Titus' journey in the...
in addition to Titus Groan
Titus Groan (novel)
Titus Groan is a novel by Mervyn Peake. It is the first novel in the Gormenghast series.-Plot introduction:The book is set in the huge castle of Gormenghast, a vast landscape of crumbling towers and ivy-filled quadrangles that has for centuries been the hereditary residence of the Groan family and...
and Gormenghast
Gormenghast (novel)
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake, is the second novel in his Gormenghast series. It is the story of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, from age 7 to 17. As the story opens, Titus dreads the pre-ordained life of ritual that stretches before him...
.
In 1984, BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
broadcast two 90-minute plays based on Titus Groan
Titus Groan (novel)
Titus Groan is a novel by Mervyn Peake. It is the first novel in the Gormenghast series.-Plot introduction:The book is set in the huge castle of Gormenghast, a vast landscape of crumbling towers and ivy-filled quadrangles that has for centuries been the hereditary residence of the Groan family and...
and Gormenghast
Gormenghast (novel)
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake, is the second novel in his Gormenghast series. It is the story of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, from age 7 to 17. As the story opens, Titus dreads the pre-ordained life of ritual that stretches before him...
, adapted by Brian Sibley
Brian Sibley
Brian Sibley is an English writer. He is author of over 100 hours of radio drama and has written and presented hundreds of radio documentaries, features and weekly programmes.- Early life :...
and starring Sting as Steerpike
Steerpike
Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast.In 2000 Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers portrayed Steerpike in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast.-Character:...
and Freddie Jones
Freddie Jones
Frederick Charles "Freddie" Jones is an English character actor.Jones was born in the town of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the son of Ida Elizabeth and Charles Edward Jones. He became an actor after ten years of working as a laboratory assistant with a firm making ceramic products,...
as the Artist (narrator). A slightly abridged compilation of the two, running to 160 minutes, and entitled Titus Groan of Gormenghast, was broadcast on Christmas Day, 1992. BBC 7
BBC 7
BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...
repeated the original versions on 21 and 28 September 2003.
In 2011, Brian Sibley, who had previously adapted the book for radio in 1984, adapted the story again, this time as six one-hour episodes broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as the Classic Serial
Classic Serial
The Classic Serial is a strand on BBC Radio 4 in which classics of English literature are adapted into series of one-hour dramas. It is broadcast twice weekly on BBC Radio 4, first from 3:00-4:00pm on Sunday, then repeated on 9:00-10:00pm the next Saturday....
starting on 10 July 2011. The serial was titled The History of Titus Groan and adapted all three novels written by Peake and the recently discovered concluding volume, Titus Awakes
Titus Awakes
Titus Awakes is the editorial title applied to a novel being planned by Mervyn Peake at the time he became too ill to write, about 1960. It was to have been the fourth novel in the Gormenghast series, after Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone...
completed by his widow, Maeve Gilmore
Maeve Gilmore
Maeve Patricia Mary Theresa Gilmore, known professionally as Maeve Gilmore was a British painter, sculptor, and writer.- Personal background :...
. It starred Luke Treadaway
Luke Treadaway
Luke Antony N. Treadaway is an English actor, whose career includes roles in the films Brothers of the Head and Attack the Block.- Personal life :...
as Titus, David Warner
David Warner (actor)
David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
as the Artist and Carl Prekopp
Carl Prekopp
Carl Prekopp is a British actor. He played Richard III at the Riverside Studios and originated the part of Lawrence in Tim Firth's stage adaptation of Calendar Girls. He has appeared in BBC Radio 4 adaptations of Terry Pratchett's Mort , Small Gods and Night Watch...
as Steerpike. Also starring were Paul Rhys
Paul Rhys
Paul Rhys is a British television, film and theatre actor.Rhys was born in Wales and studied at RADA, leaving with the Bancroft Gold Medal in 1987. While there, he obtained his first major screen role, in Absolute Beginners . Since then he has seldom been off the stage and screen...
, Miranda Richardson
Miranda Richardson
Miranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....
, James Fleet
James Fleet
James Edward Fleet is an English actor. He is most famous for his roles as the bumbling and well-meaning Tom in the 1994 British romantic comedy film Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the dim-witted Hugo Horton in the BBC situation comedy television series The Vicar of Dibley.-Personal life:Fleet...
, Tamsin Greig
Tamsin Greig
Tamsin Greig is an English actress principally known for two Channel 4 television comedy parts: Fran Katzenjammer in Black Books and Dr. Caroline Todd in Green Wing...
, Fenella Woolgar
Fenella Woolgar
Fenella Woolgar is an English actress. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1999 and has since appeared in several film, television and theatre productions. She also works as an audio book narrator and voice over artist...
, Adrian Scarborough
Adrian Scarborough
Adrian Philip Scarborough is an English character actor and won an Olivier award for best actor in a supporting role in 2011.Scarborough was born in Melton Mowbray, and trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, winning the Chesterton Award for Best Actor.In 1993, he was nominated for the Ian...
and Mark Benton
Mark Benton
Mark Benton is an English actor, perhaps most famous for his roles as Eddie in Early Doors and Howard in Northern Lights.-Life and career:Benton was born in Guisborough, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England....
.
Television
In 2000, the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
station WGBH
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
produced a miniseries, titled Gormenghast, based on the first two books of the series. The cast included Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Steerpike
Steerpike
Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast.In 2000 Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers portrayed Steerpike in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast.-Character:...
and Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
as Mr. Flay.
Also made in 2000, the 30-minute TV short film A Boy In Darkness
Boy in Darkness
Boy in Darkness is a horror novella written by Mervyn Peake. It was first published in 1956 by Eyre & Spottiswoode as part of the anthology Sometime, Never: Three Tales of Imagination...
(adapted from Peake's novella Boy in Darkness) was the first production from the BBC Drama Lab. It was set in a 'virtual' computer-generated world created by young computer game designers, and starred Jack Ryder
Jack Ryder (actor)
Jack Seigfried Ryder is an English actor, best known for playing Jamie Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders from 1998 to 2002.-Biography:...
(from EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
) as "The Boy" (a teen-aged Titus Groan), with Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
(Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
) narrating.
Film
In 1987 an 18-minute long animated film called 'The Web' made by Joan Ashworth, currently Head of the Animation Department at the Royal College of ArtRoyal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
, London, was first shown publicly. The stop-frame
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
puppet animation, which depicts some of the events from Titus Groan
Titus Groan (novel)
Titus Groan is a novel by Mervyn Peake. It is the first novel in the Gormenghast series.-Plot introduction:The book is set in the huge castle of Gormenghast, a vast landscape of crumbling towers and ivy-filled quadrangles that has for centuries been the hereditary residence of the Groan family and...
and Gormenghast
Gormenghast (novel)
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake, is the second novel in his Gormenghast series. It is the story of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, from age 7 to 17. As the story opens, Titus dreads the pre-ordained life of ritual that stretches before him...
, was initially inspired when Joan found a tattered paperback copy of Titus Groan while she was staying at a youth hostel in Holland.
Theatre
A minimalist stage version of Gormenghast performed by the David Glass Ensemble was adapted by John ConstableJohn Constable
John Constable was an English Romantic painter. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home—now known as "Constable Country"—which he invested with an intensity of affection...
and directed by David Glass. The production features atmospheric music and lighting and relies heavily on mime
Mime
The word mime is used to refer to a mime artist who uses a theatrical medium or performance art involving the acting out of a story through body motions without use of speech.Mime may also refer to:* Mime, an alternative word for lip sync...
, all to convey the immense vastness of the Gormenghast castle on the small stage. It has toured theatres in the UK during 2006 and 2007.
A stage version of Titus Alone was produced at the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
in 2001, using sound and physical theatre to evoke the strange world beyond Gormenghast Castle. It focused on themes of madness and the nature of reality to question whether Titus' memories of the castle are real, or merely fantasies of a damaged mind. It was particularly inspired by Mervyn Peake's loss of his mental faculties due to Parkinson's-induced dementia.
Music
Irmin SchmidtIrmin Schmidt
Irmin Schmidt is a German keyboard player and composer, probably best known as a founding member of the band Can.-Biography:...
, founder of seminal German 'Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
' group Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
has written an opera called Gormenghast, based on the novels, and a number of songs including 'Stranger Than Fiction' and 'Titus' by New Zealand rock group Split Enz
Split Enz
Split Enz were a New Zealand band of the 1970s and early 1980s featuring Phil Judd and brothers Tim Finn and Neil Finn. They achieved chart success in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada during the early 1980s ‒ most notably with the single "I Got You", and built a cult following elsewhere...
and 'The Drowning Man' by The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
were inspired by Peake's work. The British progressive rock group Strawbs feature a Ford/Hudson
Richard Hudson (musician)
Richard Hudson is an English singer-songwriter and musician.-Career:Richard Hudson was a member of Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera, in which he played drums and sitar and sang. In 1970, he and band-mate John Ford joined Strawbs...
composition called 'Lady Fuschia' (sic) on their 1973 album Bursting at the Seams
Bursting at the Seams
Bursting at the Seams is a studio album by English band Strawbs. It contains their two most successful singles and reached number 2 in the UK Album Chart.-Side one:#"Flying" – 4:49#"Lady Fuchsia" – 3:59...
, about one of the main protagonists of this trilogy. Northern Irish progressive rock band Fruupp
Fruupp
Fruupp, who formed in early 1971, were an early 1970s progressive rock band, which originated in Northern Ireland, but developed a fan base in Britain. They released several albums, including Future Legends , Seven Secrets , The Prince of Heaven's Eyes , and Modern Masquerades...
included a song called Gormenghast, inspired by the novels, on their fourth and final album Modern Masquerades, released in 1975. The bands Fuchsia
Fuchsia (band)
Fuchsia was a British progressive folk rock band formed in 1970. Named after Fuchsia Groan they released one album before disbanding. Their self titled album was featured as one of Mojo's Forgotten Classics...
(late 1960s folk rock) and Titus Groan (late 1960s rock) are named after the novels.
In popular culture
In The DeadThe Dead (Higson novel)
The Dead is a post-apocalyptic young adult horror novel written by Charlie Higson. The book takes place a year before the events in The Enemy. It was published by Puffin Books in the UK on 16 September 2010...
, the second novel of The Enemy series by Charlie Higson
Charlie Higson
Charles Murray Higson , more commonly known as Charlie Higson - also Switch - is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer...
, a character named Chris Marker (cf. Chris Marker
Chris Marker
Chris Marker is a French writer, photographer, documentary film director, multimedia artist and film essayist. His best known films are La jetée , A Grin Without a Cat , Sans Soleil and AK , an essay film on the Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa...
) reads The Gormenghast Trilogy on a bus.
Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's Discworld novel Pyramids centres on Teppic, the heir to a vaguely Egyptian rule, whose father (still living as the book opens) bears striking resemblances to Sepulchrave; his deceased mother's love for her palace cats can be seen as a parallel to Gertrude.
External links
- Gormenghast: A Fantasy Opera, written by Irmin SchmidtIrmin SchmidtIrmin Schmidt is a German keyboard player and composer, probably best known as a founding member of the band Can.-Biography:...
- The Mervyn Peake FAQ clarifies the inconsistency in Prunesquallor's given name.
- The David Glass Ensemble, the minimalist stage production.
- "Gormenghast BBC mini series" Mini series fanpop