Awards

• Runner-up for The BBC Big Read Top 100 2003
• Runner-up for The BBC Big Read Top 100 2003.
• Short-listed for BBC Big Read Top 100 2003
• Shortlisted for BBC Big Read Top 100 2003.

Overview

One of the greatest imaginative feats of the twentieth century. ENTER THE CRUMBLING WORLD OF GORMENGHAST... 'A modern classic' Anthony Burgess 'A gorgeous volcanic eruption... A work of extraordinary imagination' New Yorker Gormenghast is the vast, crumbling castle to which the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, is lord and heir. Titus is expected to rule this gothic labyrinth of turrets and dungeons (and his eccentric and wayward subjects) according to strict age-old rituals, but things are changing in the castle. Titus must contend with treachery, manipulation and murder as well as his own longing for a life beyond the castle walls. 'Peake's books are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before' C. S. Lewis

Full Product Details

9780099288893

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Reviews

A master of the macabre and a traveller through the deeper and darker chasms of the imagination * The Times * Mervyn Peake is a finer poet than Edgar Allan Poe, and he is therefore able to maintain his world of fantasy brilliantly through three novels. It [The Gormenghast Trilogy] is a very, very great work...a classic of our age -- Robertson Davies [Peake's books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience -- C. S. Lewis The Gormenghast Trilogy is one of the most important works to come out of the age that produced The Four Quartets, The Unquiet Grave, Brideshead Revisited, The Loved One, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four -- Anthony Burgess * Spectator *

This epic trilogy centring on Titus, 77th Earl of Groan and heir to the delapidated castle of Gormenghast, is an imaginative tour de force. The novels are peopled with a host of memorable characters such as Titus's sister Fuchsia and the crafty Steerpike, while the shadowy, monstrous castle itself surrounded by the mud huts of the 'outer dwellings' are brilliantly created. These gothic fantasy novels were written between 1946 and 1959, and British author Peake also provided the evocative illustrations. (Kirkus UK)

A master of the macabre and a traveller through the deeper and darker chasms of the imagination The Times Mervyn Peake is a finer poet than Edgar Allan Poe, and he is therefore able to maintain his world of fantasy brilliantly through three novels. It [The Gormenghast Trilogy] is a very, very great work...a classic of our age -- Robertson Davies [Peake's books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience -- C. S. Lewis The Gormenghast Trilogy is one of the most important works to come out of the age that produced The Four Quartets, The Unquiet Grave, Brideshead Revisited, The Loved One, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four -- Anthony Burgess Spectator

Vanessa writes: Mervyn Peake's gothic masterpiece, The Gormenghast Trilogy, is dark, strange, hilarious, and unlike anything you have every read. The first two books in the trilogy (Titus Groan and Gormenghast) follow the growth of Titus, the heir to an ancient, rambling castle and the antics of Steerpike, a conniving kitchen boy and Titus' arch nemesis, and his ploy to infiltrate the castle's hierarchy. While the plot is not very complex, Peake's eloquent prose immediately draws you into the lives of these colourful characters and the castle they inhabit. From the sinister Steerpike, to the sleazy Swelter, from the melancholy Lord Sepulchrave to the ludicrous Prunesquallors, Peake has arguably created some of the most memorable and unique characters in literary history. Sadly, Peake died before he could complete the third book in the series, Titus Groan, so it is a little patchy. The castle in the first two books is a character in itself, so when Titus leaves his insulated world to explore unknown territory, a little bit of the brilliance of the first two novels is lost. But this in no way detracts from what a sublime, absurd and wonderful work of fiction this is.

Author Information

Mervyn Peake was born in 1911. He is perhaps most famous for the 'Gormenghast' trilogy which were published between 1946 and 1959 - Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone. He has also written a book for children, Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor and several volumes of poetry. He was also a gifted book illustrator. He died in 1968.

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