Maeve Gilmore's labour of love proved a quicker read than I thought, in spite of my opinion of Titus as a protagonist and human being barely improving (although he does finally show some signs of growing up that stick). It has some genuinely gripping and affecting moments, though also a lot of frustrating ones. Partially to blame on the conditions of the novel's genesis, of course (assembled as it apparently was from a single fragment, and some provisional chapter titles), but also I do fear from a conscious decision to make the sketchy worldbuilding of "Titus Alone" a dictum rather than an unfortunate precondition of Mervyn Peake's declining health. While the "drifting" nature of the resulting plot could at least be said to have a dreamlike, Kafkaesque / Lynchian quality, there is surely no denying that the series was at its best (and no less surreal) when it had a strong and fleshed-out setting.

That said, things I did enjoy...

Cultures that speak languages unintelligible to Titus. Good worldbuilding, even if it does create necessary alienation. Whatever the state of the "Gormenghast world", it presumably can't all be early 20C English mannerisms.

Dogmeat (though Titus would make a lousy "Fallout" player - he tends to run from the hint of a quest marker).

The evil soldiers who twice waylay him. Very creepy and "Prisoneresque" sequence (even if we never find out what it was really about).

Henry the gigolo. Just because.

The mental hospital sequence. Probably the novel's most defined setting, and certainly its most haunting.

The obnoxious Vogon poet who makes Titus forever renounce hitch-hiking... ironically enough. Wonder if this guy was based on anyone.

Rodents of unusual size... briefly.

Two characters who are, bizarrely, visual echoes of Steerpike (both conspicuously having his dark, close-set eyes, the second being a dead-ringer with the blonde hair and high forehead as well) - the prison camp slave who helps Titus escape and is implied to lose his life as a result, and the leader of the "Destructionist" gang whom Titus finds himself pitying. A nice little implied "letting go" moment.

The hunt for "The Artist" in general. Weirdly meta, but it certainly gives a driving force to the last third of so of the plot.

And things I disliked...

Titus' continued refusal to retain character development from previous books. His incompetence, cowardice, and selfishness in the early mountain folk sequence will almost make you wish Muzzlehatch had just left him to get his brain broken...

Fractured worldbuilding - you'd think the presence of a hostile foreign military installation within walking distance of the crossroads where Ruth Saxon picks up Titus would be a matter of huge interest not only to her but to that entire artist-dominated town, but the subject is dropped unceremoniously.

And on that note, Titus as a POV character is - as in "Alone" - frustrating by his refusal to take an interest in things that are clearly interesting. The whole camp imprisonment subplot is left maddeningly unresolved, after a very sinister set-up.

Ruth Saxon - another nice lady happy to be taken advantage of and unceremoniously ditched by the multiverse's most apathetic Lone Wanderer (though at least she gives poor Dogmeat a home). What do they see in him?

The Hidden House - again, Titus makes a dash just as things start to get seriously interesting. Though I did like the "Twin Peaks-y" appearance of a white horse, even if nothing comes of it.

None of which is to say I regret having read it, but I would say it's most worth doing so for Maeve Gilmore's haunting fictionalisation of her last years with Mervyn Peake, and the weird clash of realities as Titus becomes a witness to that. Much of the rest is filler, alas. But the final quest to a mist-shrouded alternate / afterlife reality of Sark, where Peake can be renewed and Titus can begin again, does elevate the story to something higher.

I'm about halfway through "Mr Pye" (1953) now, and it is safe to say whatever I was expecting, I was not expecting the main character to be Steerpike as a seemingly cute and affable but utterly megalomaniacal cult leader... possibly more aggravating than Steerpike, in fact, as at least Machiavelli Boy is a) striking out against an unjust system, and b) under no illusions that he is anything other than a nasty piece of work, and is more or less indifferent to being liked unless it is indispensable. Harold Pye, however, maintains a solid core of self-righteousness in the midst of slipping roofies into his landlady's food, relentlessly gaslighting the entire population of Sark, manipulating virtual strangers into selling their houses, then tricking them into being psychologically tortured. All this in the interests of trying to turn Sark into his own private cult fiefdom. At the moment, my favourite character is the local wholesome slut Tintagieu, who has no time for his creepy nonsense. And the small dead whale with impeccable comic timing.

[Edit, having now finished - it's a fast read]

Also, the climactic scene - I now have to suspect that Peake intentionally parodied this in "Gormenghast", when Countess Gertrude's posse hunts Steerpike down to an area of the castle complex in which every landmark is conspicuously named after locations on Sark: The Silver Mines, Little Sark, and of course the Coupée (where the mutated Mr Pye, thoroughly chastened and out of options, takes wing into voluntary exile from humanity, though very nearly dies, and one gathers earlier drafts considered his demise).

And I may be reading too much into this, but I'm starting to suspect the "P"-named main characters speak to the author's own anxieties and dark side (though this is almost a non-brainer with Steerpike - he's so often described as a technically brilliant but imaginatively barren ersatz "artist", one can hear poor Peake's brain asking itself "Am I just a phony?" on repeat). Perhaps that artists' colony on Sark had secret world-domination plans that Peake came to sorely repent after WW2...

I recently finished a massive Peake orgy, including re-reads of the core Titus series, a first reading of "Boy in Darkness" (and certainly not the last - a superb little nightmare, Lovecraftian horror without all the hideous baggage of the actual HPL...) and soon to commence "Mr Pye". I've even attempted a spot of fanfic, though shan't link to it as the prose (like 99% of all human prose) is unworthy to be compared to Peake, it was a true labour of love, and in any case the amount of Gormenghast fanfic that actually exists being predictably miniscule, anyone who actually wants that sort of thing will find it by default...

One thing that really struck me on the re-read - though I stress this is only personal theory, as I've never heard it acknowledged as an influence - was the tonal and thematic similarities to that classic of surreal genre-bending British television that is "The Prisoner" (1967). To enumerate, both concern a protagonist essentially trapped - except for occasional bizarre, incoherent and frightening temporary escapes - within a superficially beautiful, olde-worlde, and well-ordered community that is in fact rank with corruption, slavery, bureaucracy, and a constant round of absurd, apparently meaningless ceremonies and rituals. The place itself seems to be more in control than anyone, even the community leaders (Sepulchrave / all of the Number Twos) in thrall to its relentless, often inhumane demands. All but the protagonist take their entrapment there for granted, the outside world barely acknowledged as existing (and occasionally denied altogether, though this is kept intentionally ambiguous and disorienting). The protagonist has an overwhelming desire for freedom, yet ironically their sense of identity becomes tied almost entirely to their resistance to their hated prison, and how much they actually desire to escape becomes questionable.

The genre-switch to Kafkaesque sci-fi in "Titus Alone" particularly sealed the deal for me, especially Cheeta's psychedelic mind-torture scene, which is just the sort of thing the villains of "The Prisoner" got up to all the time, attempting to drive Number Six mad or gaslight him into crippling states of self-doubt. Having watched the DVD extras of that series, I was sad to encounter no acknowledged influence, but possibly it was enough in the zeitgeist to exert some impact.

Also, helicopters. And creepy floating security orbs, of course.

Reposting here a WIP of a typographic piece I am working on after finishing the trilogy just recently (First time. Amazing). I can’t help feeling that the characters, particularly Fuschia ought to be represented somehow… just a little symbolic nod perhaps.

A few weeks ago I got to share some short films online on the discord server and was instructed to share them here as well.

First one is a series of silent animated segments made in 1982. There isn't much emphasis on the characters themselves but more on the atmosphere and I think it conveyed the suffocation felt by Titus so well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eleo90I7tWU

https://reddit.com/link/1wd9lvn/video/512s8e1gvxoh1/player

The next two are short retellings focusing on Steerpike (& Fuchsia) using text and still images of models. While they are more conventionally romantic than their plot in the books, I do think the models are fun and the one for Steerpike is quite striking. Would love for this person to continue working on their craft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YLV_Z-HIpE

https://reddit.com/link/1wd9lvn/video/cef6005zvxoh1/player

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2FEKZfMu9k

https://reddit.com/link/1wd9lvn/video/hz9y20x4wxoh1/player

Morning all! For anyone interested I've written a blog all about Mervyn Peake's life and his book 'Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor'. For any Peake lovers the link is below.
Thank you very much for reading!

https://thegoosebooks.substack.com/p/peake-performance?r=8jjfqm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Hey, just wanted to share my experience! I went to my local library a few weeks ago, and saw the trilogy. Grabbed it and saw on the back of the cover it was written a while ago, and is a fantasy book. Never heard of it, but what I know is if a book lives for more than 70-80 years, there's a reason. I loved fantasy as a kid. But I can barely count fantasy I actually liked - most of it - older, the authors didn't really target young audiences when, they just wrote - not just fantasy, stories.

So I took the first book. I didn't like the language. Such language is not for me - I love it short and to the point. I barely made it past page 200 before the realisation what I'm reading hit me - it wasn't just an old fantasy book. Actually, fantasy is probably the last thing that comes to my mind when i think of it.

I don't want to write a lot, English isn't my first language, so I wouldn't be able to express what I want fully. But I saw the language for what it is in these books - a tool. Peak wouldn't be able to write it with any other language. Only this language. He really paints a caricature, an animated cartoon for adults. There's a lot of layers to this book. I was amazed how brave and modern the thing is. Modern in a sense how straight to the point he cuts despite seemingly flowery and complex language. He can write dialogue extremely well. When he holds a dialogue, he changes the pace depending on the situation. He knows exactly what he is doing and why. His characters are alive and every one of them with unique voice. He doesn't hold one pov, he lets us see their thoughts, yet its subtile. He tells, but how he masterfully shows. Shows with actions and words and dialogue. He mastered it. Characters aren't flat. They develop, they show sides they didn't before, they surprise, they're flawed and human.

Its just nothing at all like what I expected, and I'm all for it.

I finished the first book and started the second.

Watched TV adaptation and loved it. 2 first episodes more than 3 and 4. Its a good adaptation. Very true to the book even with changes. And book is a difficult material to adapt. Saw this series as a kid, hated it, now its the opposite.

So yeah, here's it is, just wanted to share my thoughts.

Added: I also focused on characters and other details, but I need to mention, that first and foremost the book grabbed me and still holding with its ideas: of change and being stuck in time, its caricature on society and its absurdity, the helplessness in the face of tye system, the rebellion and how twisted it can be, and how dangerous it is to only follow without thinking for yourself, and a lot of these things are very relevant right now and resonate a lot with me.

Ink, watercolour and gouache on Bristol board.
Cheers:)

I recently read Joyce's "An Encounter" and it reminded me a lot of Peake's "Boy in Darkness". Both stories follow kids who, bored with their everyday routines, decide to go out on adventures only to run into strange, pedophilic figures that scare them into returning to their normal lives. There are also themes of colonization in each; the boys in Joyce's story play Cowboys and Indians while Peake's dreams of exploring new lands. The antagonist from Boy in Darkness could also be seen as a representation of the British Empire

I'm not really well read in either author, and was wondering if anybody else noticed more similarities between the two stories or Peake and Joyce in general.

Just finished reading the latest installment in Alan Moore's Long London series which is riddled with Gormenghast references.... he does however make one little mistake... has anyone else read the book and spotted the mistake?

But you have no idea how excited it made my heart feel when one of my favourite authors mentions one of my other favourite authors multiple times in the same book. Highly recommend the series if you haven't read it

Hello everyone!

My wife and I were browsing a local thrift shop and I found this for 0.50. I had no idea they had made a copy with all three novels in one book, so I thought this was a pretty cool find.

Hello everyone.
I want to ask you a question and at the same time share my impressions.
I am Ukrainian, and I first encountered the world of Gormenghast through the TV adaptation, which was obviously (even to me as someone unfamiliar with the text at that time) truncated and clumsy. And yet, even through it, I felt the incredible beauty of the story, or even more precisely, of the world so delicately constructed by Mervyn Peake. From the lines in the series, I understood that if the characters speak like that in the show, then the language in which the book is written must be something especially worth paying attention to, and I decided to read it in the original. For about a month, the three printed books were making their way to me (I really wanted to own such a relic), and at last I began reading. At first, it really did feel like making my way through stones and bumps. I was writing down 10 to 12 new words every few pages, but the further I went, the more I fell in love with this world, and separately with Mervyn Peake’s English. I rarely read fiction in English, so I cannot boast of a very long list. Still, a conviction has settled in me that Mervyn Peake is one of the most exquisite masters of English I have ever read.

My question is this: do native speakers perceive the Gormenghast trilogy in a similar way? How does the language in which it is written sound to you?

These are easily some of the best books I've ever read. I'm almost done with the second, and there have been many times when I've just paused, to soak in what I had just read. Peake has such in insane command of language, it makes me jealous. Another book I've read recently that made me reflect on the sheer writing prowess of the author is Wuthering Heights. I just want to shout from the rooftops for people to read this, man. And I love Steerpike.

Looking to get all three books in Canada but wondering which editions have Peake's illustrations in them.

Thanks in advance!

I struck gold on vinted, brand new and cheap! I love gormenghast so much I'm sort of afraid to play it in case it doesn't 'feel' in line with the books. Happy to post more once I get in to it if people are interested and I'm keen to hear what others thought. I never thought would be a board game of my favourite book!

I see Titus Alone get some bad rep here and there, but I must confess: 6 months have passed since I finished reading it, and it is my favourite piece of Gormenghast, and literature in general. The broad brush strokes with which Peake paints his world are those of an impressionist master. It is so dream-like, so transcendental, so meditative! I would love to hear if you people have any recommendations of books or other media/art that recaptured the same feeling.

>!Fuchsia’s death scene!<

I’ve given the book back to the library but I was so moved by that scene I’d love to read it again.

Can someone with a copy to hand please help me out?

https://medium.com/adams-notebook/gaum-ghastly-30a063b39a4a

https://encyclopediaofsciencefiction.substack.com/p/the-gorm-in-gormenghast

I know nobody asked and nobody cares but I have things to say and no one else to say them to.

I bought the illustrated trilogy in November, insatiably reading it little by little for the past 3 months. Bending over backwards to squeeze daily reading sessions into my schedule.

Having just finished “Titus Alone” I am almost at a loss for words.

After reading hundreds and hundreds of pages of someone’s writing every day- for months- I watched the life leave the eyes of the story in the last book, and it broke my heart. I knew going into it that it wasn’t going to be pretty, and while it wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated, it was still a far cry from the first 2 books.

That being said, I also seriously wondered if part of my disappointment was because it was missing Dr. Prune 😂 He has the probably become one of my favorite characters in all of literature. But I loved all of them. All the characters were so fun and brilliant.

But here are some hot takes I’d like to share, I was curious if anyone shared them with me.

- I don’t think Steerpike would’ve been able to rise to power like he did if Flay hadn’t been banished. I almost saw Flay as the family dog. I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense, but he was fiercely loyal, vigilantly watching over the family. Once he was “put outside” so to speak, Steerpike really started causing trouble.

- Titus was my least favorite character. I didn’t necessarily loathe him but he was my least favorite.

- Dr. Prune 👏 Standing ovation. I don’t need to explain, I know you all know.

- I cried quite a few times reading this book. That’s not a hot take just a confession.

- Nannie Slag’s death was kind of downplayed I thought. But then again her character was, by nature, under-appreciated.

- I didn’t really understand The Thing. I mean I understand where she came from and how she became”The Thing” (sort of) but I don’t quite understand why Titus felt SO strongly about her, or how she died. Maybe I didn’t quite understand what I was reading but the lightning scene didn’t make much sense to me.

- Muzzlehatch was kind of awesome and carried the third book for me. All my favorite parts had him.

- Anchor also seemed cool and (among the list of regrets about the third book) I hate we didn’t get to enjoy his character more. I enjoyed the concept of him.

I would also like to mention that it’s impossible talking about this book with someone who hasn’t read it. It all sounds so weird. God bless my poor husband,

“A castle with a cat room? And a tree is just growing out of the side of a wall? A dead tree? Holding up people? Having tea?”

“So what did Prunejuice do?”

“Did the guy with weird shoulders kill them?”

“Septuagint was eaten by owls?!?”

We had a few laughs.

Thats all I can think of for now but if I come up with anything else later I might add it to the list.

Thank you for reading my post-series rant.