Group Read: Gormenghast Trilogy - Titus Groan, Gormenghast, Titus Alone

Welcome to the group read of The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake

July: Titus Groan
August: Gormenghast
September: Titus Alone

I've put all three books into the one thread as I'm not sure how much discussion the books will generate and for most of us the pace of reading will differ.....and feel free to post about anything you'd like, but if you plan to reveal any plot spoilers, please include a warning to that effect.

Mervyn Peake
artist, illustrator, novelist, poet
1911 - 1968

Mervyn Peake, a man of many talents, a creative virtuoso, and an eccentric genius, had a profound and singular interior idea. His work has frequently been compared to that of Dickens, albeit an off-center Dickens with a fantasy element.
Before he wrote "the Titus books," as he called them, Mervyn Peake was a noted illustrator of classic children's books including Treasure Island and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. His in-depth study of renowned illustrators (including William Hogarth, George Cruikshank, Albrecht Dürer, William Blake, Gustave Doré, and Francisco de Goya) served as the foundation for his own work. His illustrations are now highly sought after.
In 1945, as a war artist, Peake was one of the first civilians to enter the German concentration camp at Belsen. He was intensely affected by the event and was left with deep impressions of the victims of the war. Startling and disturbing paintings and poems resulted from that traumatic experience. Biographer John Watney wrote, "For years he had drawn strange worlds. Now he was seeing, in its reality, a monstrous world more terrible than any he could have imagined...." from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/gormenghast/novels/peake.html

There is an official Gormenghast website - http://www.mervynpeake.org/gormenghast/

Examples of Mervyn Peake's art:

__

...and a link to an article about his war art: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/22/mervyn-peake-paintings-national-archive...

Pinterest Boards featuring his art:
http://pinterest.com/sue820/mervyn-peake/
http://pinterest.com/tygertale/mervyn-peake/
http://pinterest.com/steerforth/mervyn-peake/

Please post the covers of the edition you are reading as there are so many out there:

I'll be reading the 1985 Methuen edition of Titus Groan. The cover art is by Peter Harding and the book has an introduction by Anthony Burgess. I've started the book before and got about 100 pages into it but got distracted so am keen to get through the whole trilogy this time.

I've ordered the trilogy, just waiting for it to arrive.

I have heard that some editions are not very good! (page errors and bad copy editing) I have previously read the first book, a long time ago - all I really remember about it is the evocative character names and the fact it was very very chewy. I'm hoping that this time I'll be able to read the whole trilogy. I'm currently mid Deathless and have plans to read some more women this month but will get to this soon...

That's interesting, I'm presuming my edition will be ok, though I have an old Penguin edition as well somewhere if need be.

I started last night. I'm reading the 1992 Overlook Press edition with an introduction by Anthony Burgess.

Oh, you are all in for a treat! A labyrinthine and gothic treat. I read the trilogy last year and, while it took me three months, I tremendously enjoyed the journey.

I adore Steerpike. I can't wait to see what you think of him.

I will be starting this book in August, but will be following this thread until I start the book. Can't wait to finish my other reading so I can start it.

I've come to the chapter titled "Fuschia". Peake has quite a cast of grotesque characters, especially Flay with his long, spidery legs.

Started this morning

I got overwhelmed by all the books I've got lined up to read this month so started listening to an audio version of Titus Groan, so am up to chapter 13 or 14 but the audio file seems to stop there so I'll have to crack the book version open once I finish Time and Chance the April GR I still have on the go.

There is a mini-series based on the first two books, which is fantastic. I would recommend waiting until you've read the first two books to watch it, however. There are differences, but I think it remains faithful to the oddness of the world Peake created. It's amazing, isn't it?

I didn't know about the mini-series until I visited Belfast a few years ago. In fact, I didn't know about the books either until that visit. We were walking around the grounds of Queens University and a friend of mine mentioned that the main quad looks like it came out of Gormenghast. I was curious so asked what she was talking about. She told me about the books, and ever since I have wanted to read them.

Here is a link to the picture of the buildings we saw that day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:QUB.jpg

I never saw the series so don't know if they really do look like the castle as depicted in the series. But they are rather Gothic looking to me.

I started the book last night and so far Im only in the 3rd chapter or so. So still trying to get all the characters in line.

I'm a third of the way through the first book - so far it's not as "dusty" as I remember it being from a previous attempt to read it about 20 years ago

#15 Hi, benitastrnad.

I worked in that building. My office was at the top of one of the towers at the end of a wing. I had a view over all the roof tops and I can relate to your comments.

Subsequently I worked in the George's Street Arcade building in Dublin. It takes up a complete block and it is even more Gormenghast like when one gets to the roof tops and the attics. I was always finding new passages and stairways that led to abandoned rooms and roof spaces.

I keep thinking I will try to Netflix the series but just don't get around to it. I would like to be able to compare for myself. Of course, it has been five years since I was in Belfast, so by this time I am not sure if my memories are accurate.

Abandoned rooms and roof spaces along with new passages and stairways - How cool is that?

While the mini-series differs in many ways from the book it is still a good entertainment and worth watching. It is one of the dramatizations that taught me to stop trying to compare a dramatization with the original book/story. The dramatization is in a different medium than the original work and I try to enjoy the two entities as entities in their own rights. I find it very liberating not to be always comparing one work against another.

The miniseries is good but I was happy to have read the books first. For me, the miniseries served as a sort of animated illustration of the book: far too much left out, unavoidably so. Prunesquallor was not my favourite when reading, but in the miniseries I think he steals the show.

Strange how an actor can make a character something he might not be in the book. It might be indicative of how much of our communication is non-verbal. The way something is said, the expression on a face, all of that is interpreted and can change perceptions. A good actor can do that and change the way we see a character.

#23 The way something is said, the expression on a face,

I have just finished watching the BBC miniseries of John Le Carré's Smiley's People, and Alec Guinness was such a brilliant actor he portrayed character and emotions just as you describe it. His character also communicated instructions and the answers to questions without a word. It is a wonderful dramatization of a wonderful book.

#21 elenchus I was happy to have read the books first.

I feel this way about all dramatizations of novels or stories. I like to get my own impression of the original story untethered by the constraints of an on screen, or on stage, performance.

I'm really excited about this read and glad to see so many have jumped on the bandwagon. I've only just started and am still on the first chapter but so far I'm intrigued and looking forward to the rest.

#21, #25.

This is why I am currently living in a bit of a mini-hell, trying to keep myself from watching even trailers of A Game of Thrones. I've sworn to read the (currently published) novels before I watch the TV series but it's really difficult to stay away.

#27 PawsforThought - I think that counts as a First World problem. :-)

I'm so happy to see there's a Gormanghast thread - - I'm starting the first book tonight!

The only movie that I liked better than the text was The Man Who Would Be King. That was partly because Kipling wrote the dialog in a Cockney-like idiom, which I didn't much care for.

I will be starting Gormenghast shortly.

Just finished titus groan and going to read gormenghast in August and titus alone in September

pondering my review - will post something probably tomorrow

Got to say I enjoyed it a lot more than I did when I read it 20+ years ago, appreciated the writing a lot more and the evocative setting but still not a huge fan of some of the characters (although guess you're not supposed to be) or some of the "action"

Am I the only one that is finding "The Twins" kinda creepy. Well most of the characters are creppy but they are alittle more so.

>32 ALWINN: - I doubt your the only one!

My god, there's a pair of them.

I'm at the halfway point and really enjoying this read. The descriptions of the buildings and the gardens make it all sound so fantastical. Not sure I'd want to meet the cook up a dark alley.

I finished this last week and will post some thoughts once I finish my other group read The Long Ships. I'm assuming everyone is happy to continue using this thread to discuss Gormenghast in August.

I've added the Gormanghast to my Autumn Gothic Immersion challenge:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/157141

Anyone else out there whose mood turns spooky with the smells of Autumn, feel free to join me :-)

So who do you like so far in the story? By the end of this first book, I adored Steerpike; sure he made some wrong choices, but I admired his determination and his ability to grab whatever small opportunities that arose. And how about Fuchsia? Or the Doctor?

My favourite has to be Doctor Prunesquallor. Steerpike is well drawn as it the chef.

I don't think any of the characters are likable. Interesting, bizarre, intriguing sure but not likable.

Loved the Chef's speech before he fell over. I was thinking of memorithing some of it fer my own uthe.

I think mine is Fuchsia... Just something that draws me to her she wants to be free so bad but just cant break away. I know how she feels.

Am I the only one who is keeping a dictionary nearby? So many delicious new words!

started the second book

>43 HRHTish: New words! "Malkin" is the only one I remember offhand.

Lots of foreshadowing at the end of this volume. I'll be picking up the second one mid-month.

about 100 pages into 2nd volume and enjoying it as much as I did the first volume. Peake has a highly individual style though!

I love the characterisation of the teachers.

I'm puttering away at a slower pace but really enjoying my second immersion into this world. I loved the description of the forgotten landing in chapter 9.

I've not made much headway so far this month so will be continuing with Gormenghast into September.

There's a lot of Gormenghast and it can be quite baroque at times. Take your time and enjoy it, but don't give up.

These books are meant to be savored slowly, I think. Already I've started over from the beginning, after letting too much time pass between readings. I love thewhite cat room.

Reading the Gormenghast trilogy made me realise that story was not everything. The characterisation and unexpected similes are the two specific things I remember enjoying about the book, that and the world I was transported to when I first read these works. I am reading Gormenghast very slowly just to savour the atmosphere and the language.

I particularly like the descriptions and behaviours of the teachers in the second book.

> unexpected similes

A specific characteristic of the language I quite agree with, nice observation. Peake has a cluster of language usages that work very well for me, such as archaic terms, a poetic sense of description including those unexpected similes, the Byzantine world, Dickensian names, and that odd mixture of moldering tradition and an insistent modernity.

Glad to have found this thread! I've finished the first two books;Gormenghast, very recently. The books definitely are, as someone else stated, "very, very chewy." I'm going to wait a bit to start Titus Alone, but I definitely will read it soon, to find out what happens next.

Karen O.

finished titus groan last night, liked it the least of the 3 books, are we going to discuss (with spoilers) towards end of the month? It's unlike anything I've read before except for perhaps Dickens (I'm thinly read in Dickens) and Whittemore

I am half way through Gormenghast, not as engaged as I was with the machinations of Steerpike in the first book. A bit overblown for me, I'm not a Dickens fan and I think the same things are annoying me with both. I'm in the middle of the romance bit and it is not really grabbing me.

Soffitta1, I found Gormenghast got a lot better later on, at least with more action and character development. Hang in there!

Has anyone read or attempted Titus Alone yet? I need to finish some other things first, but I'm thinking I might get started so that I don't lose the continuity.

Karen O.

Titus Alone is the weakest of the books. Peake was suffering from his illness when that was written. In my opinion Gormenghast is the best of the three with Titus Groan being the next.

pgmcc, that was what I was thinking; I know I preferred the second (Gormenghast) over the Titus Groan, and I'd read that Gormenghast was considered the apex of the trilogy. How sad that Peake was cut down so early in life!

Karen O.

Ah my post at 55 should read finished titus alone not titus groan - got to say I didn't really like the 3rd book, the 2nd book was the strongest for me, the version I read of titus alone had had some additional material added since first publication - haven't got my copy to hand to say what it is though...

#60 psutto - I was thinking that was the case. :-)

I picked up a copy of Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast last month. According to the blurb/introduction it was put together from notes Peake had made. Apparently he had intended a several book series. Family members put Titus Awakes together to give some idea of how the series was supposed to go.

I do not hold up much hope of it's being very good, so I am set up for a pleasant surprise. My fear is that it will be like Titus Alone.

Titus Alone is the oddest book in the trilogy -- and that's saying something! But Peake loses steam outside of the crumbling towers of Gormenghast. It's a worthwhile read for completists, but if you stop after the second book, you've read the best and most important parts.

I concur with what Ridgeway Girl said. I would not have been happy if I had not read Titus Alone, but it is the weakest of the novels.

I must admit that it was a help reading Titus Alone knowing that Peake had been ill when writing it. It meant I was not expecting too much from it and was not therefore thrown badly by the comparison with the previous two books.

These comments are so helpful to me; it is such a pleasure to talk with people who have actually read the books, let alone heard of them in the first place. (Up until a few years ago, I'd never heard of them, so I shouldn't get too cocky about it!)

I finished Titus Groan in July, Gormenghast just last month. The characters and the, what?, atmosphere of the books are staying strong with me.

Karen O.

Look what I found while I was looking for something else!

http://www.sfsite.com/columns/over269.htm

Nice review of the trilogy.

That review has persuaded me, once again, to take up these novels, but now I wonder what edition I have?

Huff puff, bringing up the rear...I just finished up Titus Alone this afternoon. I need to reflect on all three books and will then post my final thoughts here.

edit: changed book title from Titus Groan to Titus Alone - always getting these two mixed up in the posts.

I finished Titus Alone a couple of days ago, what a departure from the first two books. Again I didn't like the off-plot characters, but you could see how this one was more personal. I will read Titus Awakes, more out of curiosity that anything else.

soff, it was a departure but I felt it well worth the read. I'll be interested in what you think of Titus Awakes but I don't think I could handle a fourth book right now.

I think there was a lot of potential, you could see where the plot could have been expanded. It was very modern, which was a surprise for me as a reader of the first 2 books. I actually had to read the first chunk a couple of times as I thought to myself that there couldn't be a car! I am glad that I persevered with Gormenghast (mainly due to the helpful comments above) as when Peake is on form, he is excellent.