Books written by: Mervyn Laurence Peake
Mervyn Laurence Peake: The Gormenghast Novels : Titus Groan, Gormenghast, Titus Alone
Why is this book not given the recognition it deserves? Those who have read it cannot fail to be impressed by its power; Anthony Burgess hailed it as one of the best books of the century, and deservedly so. Peake has a virtuosic imagination. He is one of those few, remarkable writers who write with such sensual clarity that the reader reads 'through' the words on the page into an eidetic experience of the depicted world: that phenomenon uniquely capable in great literature in which writing is magically transparent to experience. He is arguably the best descriptive writer in literature, which makes his achievement all the more remarkable for being a work of pure imagination. A trilogy placed in a gigantic, moldering, decaying castle, which is ALL its inhabitants know of the world---they know of no world beyond Gormenghast...this is the tale of Titus, heir to the throne and hater of authority, even though he is the very symbol of it...and his rebellion against the entire world he knows. This Kafkaesque setting is accentuated by the Dickensian grotesques who inhabit it....the insanely loyal Flay, the blasphenous Barquentine, and the greatest villain in all literature, the consummate schemer, Steerpike. Once read, never to be forgotten. The third book is much less than the first two, where Titus encounters the outside world...but I understand that Peake at that time was in the throes of an illness that later killed him so was not at his (forgive the inevitable pun) peak. But recommended in the strongest possible terms.
This is the first complete, single-volume paperback edition of the restored novels and includes twelve critical essays and an unfinished fourth novel. Get it at Amazon
Mervyn Laurence Peake Hot Links
THE PEAKE OF IMAGINATION
The periodical devoted to the life and work of
Mervyn Peake
Bibliography of Mervyn Peake’s work.
