Titus Awakes
Encyclopedia
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
. Titus Awakes remains unfinished
, as the author succumbed to illness before the work could be completed.
In the mid-1970s Peake's widow, Maeve Gilmore
, wrote a version of Titus Awakes which she named Search Without End. Complete, it runs to 65000 words (counted on the typescript that she asked Peter Winnington to comment on; Watney told a slightly different tale).
In 1992, Overlook Press (the American publishers of the Gormenghast series) printed at the end of Titus Alone the extant coherent portions of Mervyn Peake's Titus Awakes, with a brief introduction by John Watney. They consist of three pages from which it is clear that, although Titus has left Gormenghast, the castle would remain active in his memory and important in the story. Although Peake wrote further passages, the editors were unable to decipher them.
, where the Peake family lived from 1946 to 1949, and sees Titus himself become Mervyn Peake. The book was published by Overlook Press as Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast in June 2011 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Mervyn Peake's birth.
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...
at the time he became too ill to write, about 1960. It was to have been the fourth novel in the Gormenghast
Gormenghast (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:...
series, after 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...
, 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...
, 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...
. Titus Awakes remains unfinished
Unfinished work
An unfinished work is creative work that has not been finished. Its creator may have chosen never to finish it or may have been prevented from doing so by circumstances outside of their control such as death. Such pieces are often the subject of speculation as to what the finished piece would have...
, as the author succumbed to illness before the work could be completed.
In the mid-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 a version of Titus Awakes which she named Search Without End. Complete, it runs to 65000 words (counted on the typescript that she asked Peter Winnington to comment on; Watney told a slightly different tale).
In 1992, Overlook Press (the American publishers of the Gormenghast series) printed at the end of Titus Alone the extant coherent portions of Mervyn Peake's Titus Awakes, with a brief introduction by John Watney. They consist of three pages from which it is clear that, although Titus has left Gormenghast, the castle would remain active in his memory and important in the story. Although Peake wrote further passages, the editors were unable to decipher them.
Critical reception
This unfinished work is not well known, even amongst Peake readers, having been published only in the Overlook editions (albeit in both single volume and omnibus). Mills (2005) comments on the irony of the narrator's comment that Titus would never again see Gormenghast Castle, for "even in the first proposed chapter, Titus returns in a dream to Gormenghast and the fight between Swelter and Flay." The textual repetition in the preadventure was commented upon by Chris Sandow, who stated that "[t]he fragments are clearly no more than early drafts". However, it is not clear that the repetition is an error.Continued manuscript
Early in 2010 Sebastian Peake announced that his daughter had found Maeve Gilmore's notebook MS of Titus Awakes in the family's attic. It follows Titus's journeyings in the wider world, finally reaching an island that Peake identifies as SarkSark
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...
, where the Peake family lived from 1946 to 1949, and sees Titus himself become Mervyn Peake. The book was published by Overlook Press as Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast in June 2011 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Mervyn Peake's birth.