Maeve Gilmore
Encyclopedia
Maeve Patricia Mary Theresa Gilmore, known professionally as Maeve Gilmore (1917 – 3 August 1983) was a British
painter
, sculptor, and writer
.
, and later attended a finishing school in Switzerland where she learnt to speak German and French, and became a good pianist (she particularly enjoyed the music of Johann Sebastian Bach). She was the wife and biographer of the author Mervyn Peake
, whose father was likewise a doctor. They met at the Westminster School of Art
, where she was a student, in 1936 and married in 1937. They had three children named Sebastian, Fabian, and Clare.
An accomplished painter and sculptor, she also wrote several short stories. However, when Peake became ill, she put her career on hold in order to care for him. Her memoir A World Away (1970) was written in the years immediately following Peake’s death, and movingly depicts their life together.
books, following Titus Groan
(1946), and Gormenghast
1950, only with difficulty. When published in 1959 Titus Alone was less polished than he might have wished, but he was beyond correcting it. He had always planned a longer series, taking his hero up to his forties at least. On his death from Parkinson's disease in November 1968, Peake left a few pages of notes for a fourth book, of which less than a thousand words are legible.
During the 1970s, Gilmore worked on the fourth Titus book herself, inspired partly by the list of people and places that Peake had imagined might feature in it. By 1980, she had completed a narrative she called Search Without End. It told the story of Titus backwards – not returning to Gormenghast, but to Sark where his creator Peake had lived in the early 1930s and again between 1946 and '49, taking in along the way some of Peake's experiences (as a Parkinsonian patient in hospital, for example). In her final version, however, she avoided mentioning any name or event from the Titus books, with the exception of the name of the hero, so that her book could be read independently of her husband’s work. She showed it to a few people, who did not encourage her to seek publication.
Early in 2010, Gilmore’s children and grandchildren dusted down the manuscript and decided to publish it in time for the centenary of Mervyn Peake's birth in July 2011. Of the various versions, they preferred one that made direct reference to the Titus books, and arranged for the publisher, Vintage (in the UK; Overlook in the USA), to reprint Peake's notes as the first chapter. They called it by one of Peake’s titles for his own novel, "Titus Awakes", subtitling it The Lost Book of Gormenghast.
Reviewing Titus Awakes, Michael Moorcock
declared it "a fascinating, intensely personal homage", saying that Gilmore "successfully echoes the music of the originals, if not the eloquent precision of Peake's baroque style as she sends Titus on his adventure."
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, sculptor, and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
.
Personal background
Maeve was born in 1917 and was brought up in Brixton, South London, where her father practised as a doctor of medicine. She was educated at a convent boarding school in Sussex, now St Leonards-Mayfield SchoolSt Leonards-Mayfield School
St Leonards-Mayfield School is an independent Roman Catholic boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18. It is situated in the village of Mayfield in East Sussex. The current headmistress is Miss Antonia Beary...
, and later attended a finishing school in Switzerland where she learnt to speak German and French, and became a good pianist (she particularly enjoyed the music of Johann Sebastian Bach). She was the wife and biographer of the author Mervyn Peake
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...
, whose father was likewise a doctor. They met at the Westminster School of Art
Westminster School of Art
The Westminster School of Art was an art school in Westminster, London. It was located at 18 Tufton Street, Deans Yard, Westminster, and was part of the old Architectural Museum.H. M. Bateman described it in 1903 as...
, where she was a student, in 1936 and married in 1937. They had three children named Sebastian, Fabian, and Clare.
An accomplished painter and sculptor, she also wrote several short stories. However, when Peake became ill, she put her career on hold in order to care for him. Her memoir A World Away (1970) was written in the years immediately following Peake’s death, and movingly depicts their life together.
Titus Awakes
In the late 1950s, Peake's health began to decline and he finished Titus Alone, the third novel in his series of TitusGormenghast (series)
The Gormenghast series comprises three novels by Mervyn Peake, featuring Castle Gormenghast, and Titus Groan, the title character of the first book.-Works in the series:...
books, following 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...
(1946), 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...
1950, only with difficulty. When published in 1959 Titus Alone was less polished than he might have wished, but he was beyond correcting it. He had always planned a longer series, taking his hero up to his forties at least. On his death from Parkinson's disease in November 1968, Peake left a few pages of notes for a fourth book, of which less than a thousand words are legible.
During the 1970s, Gilmore worked on the fourth Titus book herself, inspired partly by the list of people and places that Peake had imagined might feature in it. By 1980, she had completed a narrative she called Search Without End. It told the story of Titus backwards – not returning to Gormenghast, but to Sark where his creator Peake had lived in the early 1930s and again between 1946 and '49, taking in along the way some of Peake's experiences (as a Parkinsonian patient in hospital, for example). In her final version, however, she avoided mentioning any name or event from the Titus books, with the exception of the name of the hero, so that her book could be read independently of her husband’s work. She showed it to a few people, who did not encourage her to seek publication.
Early in 2010, Gilmore’s children and grandchildren dusted down the manuscript and decided to publish it in time for the centenary of Mervyn Peake's birth in July 2011. Of the various versions, they preferred one that made direct reference to the Titus books, and arranged for the publisher, Vintage (in the UK; Overlook in the USA), to reprint Peake's notes as the first chapter. They called it by one of Peake’s titles for his own novel, "Titus Awakes", subtitling it The Lost Book of Gormenghast.
Reviewing Titus Awakes, Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
declared it "a fascinating, intensely personal homage", saying that Gilmore "successfully echoes the music of the originals, if not the eloquent precision of Peake's baroque style as she sends Titus on his adventure."
External links
- http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/58130.Maeve_Gilmore