Present Books Toward Titus Groan (Gormenghast #1)
| Original Title: | Titus Groan |
| ISBN: | 0879514256 (ISBN13: 9780879514259) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Gormenghast #1 |
| Characters: | Titus Groan, Steerpike, Dr. Alfred Prunesquallor, Lord Sepulchrave, Mr. Flay, Abiatha Swelter, Gertrude Groan, Fuchsia Groan, Nannie Slagg, Cora Groan, Clarice Groan |
| Setting: | Gormenghast |
Mervyn Peake
Paperback | Pages: 396 pages Rating: 3.91 | 15035 Users | 1273 Reviews
Particularize Based On Books Titus Groan (Gormenghast #1)
| Title | : | Titus Groan (Gormenghast #1) |
| Author | : | Mervyn Peake |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 396 pages |
| Published | : | November 1st 1991 by Overlook Press (first published 1946) |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Fiction. Classics. Gothic |
Explanation In Favor Of Books Titus Groan (Gormenghast #1)
What an odd fantasy! No swords, no sorcery, no elves, no thieves, no imaginary beasts, no multiple planes of existence . . . nothing but a cavernous castle peopled by eccentrics with Dickensian names (Sepulchrave, Prunesquallor, Swelter, Flay) whose lives are determined by centuries--perhaps millenia--of complex rituals. Although the people themselves seem to be British, the enormous burden of tradition under which they labor seems Asiatic in its detailed intensity, and it is instructive to learn that Peake spent his formative years in China, not far from the Imperial City.
This is superior fantasy, but like The Worm Ouroboros it is not immediately accessible. Peak was a painter, and as a writer he exercises his painterly imagination by creating scenes--particularly his major ones, like the death-duel of Flay and Swelter--as if each moment were a tableau, part of a series of individual canvases. The reader is then faced with the duty of internalizing each of these stationary images, combining them into a progression, and then animating them--sort of like ruffling the pages of a cartoonist's flip book--in order to release the cinematic power of the scene. For someone like myself who possesses a third-rate visual imagination, this requires re-reading certain passages more than a couple of times.
I must admit, though, that Peake's approach has a certain cumulative power. It serves to preserve these odd, angular characters of his like flies in amber, trapped forever in their traditions like individual frames in an epic film, circumscribed by the labyrinthine spaces of the monstrous castle that is Gormenghast.
Rating Based On Books Titus Groan (Gormenghast #1)
Ratings: 3.91 From 15035 Users | 1273 ReviewsJudge Based On Books Titus Groan (Gormenghast #1)
Terrific start to this epic fantasy series. I had a bit of a hard time getting started with it but once I got into it the pages flew by. I loved the castle and the Victorian feel to it. The character development is first rate. I loved the whimsical aspect to it. I was horrified at the prospect of burning books. I read this with some friends and I almost skipped it because I wasn't sure it was really going to work for me but I'm so glad I didn't as it ended up being 5 very enthusiastic stars. ILooking for a drive on the dark side? Something grotesque and dripping with unwarranted behavior? How about some characters that are so repulsive, you can't help but be drawn into their world? A world of such descriptive horror that you're both terrified to watch, yet oddly hypnotized? Well, then step right in, into the world of Titus Groan, the next Earl of Groan, the heir of Gormenghast Castle, the castle which is pretty much our main character in and of itself. It's a place where time seems
Titus Groan is a novel that defies classification yet it is one hundred percent powerfully written and one hundred percent a classic. It is however not for those who don't like to patiently sit through a long, description driven narrative. But for those who appreciate those elements in a work of fiction or perhaps those who found the unique ideas of The Trial interesting I strongly recommend this novel.The best genre that I could possibly associate this with is fantasy. However it is also a
Titus Groan is Peake's magnificent addition to the oeuvre of 20th century gothic. Peake takes the genre and rather than subvert it, he embellishes it on every level. The dense descriptive language; the isolation that exists within this intricate castle; the macabre and gothic array of exquisite characters; all combine to create a cold, greying atmosphere, but with the most exquisitely colourful characters you'll find in literature. Titus Groan is the finest of the Gormenghast Trilogy - possibly
Mervyn Peake was a poet, a word-slinger extraordinaire, who, despite his untimely demise due to dementia at the age of 57, managed to leave behind the deservedly famous Gormenghast trilogy, a cyclopean masterpiece of "Fantasy-flavored albeit genreless literature" the likes of which had never been seen before or since. The first installment, Titus Groan, was published in 1946 to rapturous reviews. And rapture is indeed the state you will find yourself in if you only allow Peake to take you by the
Titus Groan is another one of my favorite books and it, along with The Worm Ouroboros, had a big influence on me while writing the Inheritance Cycle. The prose is incredibleits the ultimate gothic fantasy. And its so rich, its actually a little bit hard to read in one sitting; its better taken in small chunks. Mervyn Peake, like so many authors who survived and endured the World WarsWorld War One particularlyhad a sense of the grotesque and the grotesquely beautiful that is hard to find. For
Well...sorry. I'm sure many will be a bit shocked and saddened by my rating. It only goes to show that as I've said before when it comes to novels it's a bit of "to each their own".This is a wonderfully well written novel and has been around since 1946. There are different types of fantasy. To simply say this is epic fantasy doesn't really tell you anything as it simply tells you the "tale" is of epic scale. I'd say that in a way (as they are in some sense contemporaries)This book and The Lord
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