Why You Should Read Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast Trilogy 

I have no business with this book. I'm a truck driver from Montana. I dropped out of high school. I usually listen to Stephen King, for lack of something more interesting. But having found this series, my interest in fiction has been sparked anew. I absolutely love the writing. So much going on in such simple scenes. I must've been a proper Victorian Englishman in my previous life

Being a voraciously avid reader I can't believe I had never come across this trilogy. I've started it, about 150 pages in, and wow I can't put it down. I'm fascinated by the entire premise and your video has solidified my feelings about it already! Thank you for this!

From Steerpike, to Prunesquallor, to Titus, to Flannelcat, to Squalor, to Muzzlehatch. Such genius. Would love to discuss it further. Excellent description.Thank you

I absolutely loved every page of 'The Gormenghast Trilogy' and am re-reading it because its such a fantastical journey into another world, beautifully written with so much attention to detail . As the book states 'deeper and darker chasms of the imagination'. My all time favorite read.

I think this tale, specifically the first book, really shaped by sensibilities when I was about 12 years old. I could've read The Hardy Boys, but for some reason it was Peake that rewired my brain. Watching 'Saltburn' recently, I recalled this series and it all came flooding back. It's almost like a half-remembered dream. I recalled Gormenghast, the second book, being less focussed but shot through with moments of brilliance, amazing prose, humour - and suspense! There's a scene outside the castle between Titus and a.. er... 'close relative' that is extraordinary. I tried the 3rd book during the pandemic and found it's tone and settings jarring, even though I was aware of its reputation. I will try it again.

I've recently read Titus Groan and Gormenghast, with Titus Alone lined up for sometime in the near future. You have summed up pretty much exactly how I feel about the fantasy world and agree that it should be more well-known and celebrated.

Great video. I agree that the ending of Titus Alone is powerful. I understand that Peake was suffering from Parkinson’s disease at the time of the novel’s submission to the publisher and I think it shows in the finished work. But that being said, I see it as a turning point and a significant inversion of theme in a larger unfinished story. While the first two books deal with the absurdities and rigidities of life within the castle, Titus Alone explores themes of disorientation and alienation in the face of modernity and change. Titus struggles to find his place in this new world, which is in stark contrast to the ordered, if oppressive, life he left behind. I like to think that if Peake had lived to finish his planned sequels: ‘Titus Awakes’ and ‘Gormenghast Revisited’ Titus’s quest would ultimately have led him to a new understanding of how to balance the preservation of valuable traditions with the necessity of progress and change.

One of my best book ever, i never read something like this, thanks for your sharing

I read the trilogy when I was 15 in the early 70’s and it became one of my favorites. I used to joke that Peake was bet he couldn’t write something using every word in the thesaurus, so he wrote Gormenghast.

Thank you for a sensitive and well done review.

A giant of a book, the writing is utterly superb. Any self respecting author should read this for its depth and beauty. Each page is a treat.

Groan was recommended to me on the gene Wolfe subreddit, I am an acolyte of the new sun as it were. I have been loving Titus Groan thus far. It’s gothic, it’s whimsical… it seems maybe apocalyptic. It is a decay riddled delight

I read this at 14 with a dictionary, I had to know why my father loved this book. The rest is history

Great discussion. One of my all-time favourite works of fantasy literature and literature in general. Peake's writing is just out of this world.

Alan Lee chose this as his desert island book. Excellent and succinct review👍

Read the first two in 2017 and was blown away but left the third due to mixed reviews and like you didn’t want to spoil the wonderful experience. Just re-read them including the third and like you, needn’t have worried. I loved it. It’s in some ways even more bizarre than the others. Maybe someday we’ll even try the forth?

Book 1: Style. Book 2: Plot. Book 3: Growth of character and of author... Incredible.

Although there are whimsical names and situations, the overall tone of this book is pitch black. It's bleaker and more depressing than any of the things Kafka wrote. And yes, it's beautiful.

In an era where reviews of fantasy books (I almost said 'literature') talk about the 'magic system' and portrayal of combat and use the word 'epic' as a term of automatic approval (and in which people speak of giving up reading Tolkien because of 'too many descriptions'), I fear that Peake's unique brilliance will continue to be underappreciated until the current fads pass.

Great video! I've read "Titus Groan" and at least some of "Gormenghast" (pretty sure I didn't finish it), and that many years ago. I must dig them out for a re-read and continue on with "Titus Alone". Peake's descriptive powers are top-notch, but then he was an artist first, so I imagine he saw the settings and people pretty vividly in his mind. The illustrated versions will be worth getting, I expect.

Thank you: a once a decade re-read for me. I'd like to recommend the 1984 BBC radio adaptations of the first two books by Brian Sibley, both of which can readily be found by typing "Titus Groan radio adaptation 1984" and "Gormenghast radio adaptation 1984" into the searchbar above. Memorable for a fine performance by Bernard Hepton as Prunesquallor, and a hammy one by Sting as Steerpike.

I very much appreciate your making this. It really gets at the sense of what makes special and unique works such as this so important. I have been wanting to get this trilogy since about a decade ago when I found it on a list of surreal works. I have just ordered it and cannot wait to begin. Wish you well!

One of my favourite novel series - thanks for the reminder! The fourth book exists - I have a copy here, it's Titus Awakes, as you say - it's by his wife Maeve Gilmore. The cover reads "based on a fragment by Mervyn Peake". I got about a third of the way through but it didn't feel quite worthy of the other three - I felt it was sullying my memory of the others so sad to say I put it down again.

I remember finding Titus Alone and Gormenghast in an old second hand bookstore in Norfolk because I loved the covers (1989). I read Titus Alone first, it took a few days to finish. It was just before I took a trip to Swansea and started Gormenghast the day I left. I felt like the Stranger in a Strange Land (great book) just like Titus did and it helped me overcome anxiety I was dealing with at the time. It's a special book. With Gormenghast I was always fascinated with Steerpike and actually felt some pity for him.

I just subscribed. I love your assessment and your speaking voice is so lovely and comforting.

it was Ghormenghast for me. I found it in a second hand bookshop. My favourite book ever since.

I travelled to Asia & India in '89 and took Titus Groan as my book. The sentence structure prose left me in awe ❤

Thank you for this! All three titles have been sitting on my bookshelf for a good part of nearly 20 years now… I’m 37 years old now. I’ve been putting off reading it this whole time, and now I feel like I’m at a stage of maturity where I can truly appreciate the book! 🙏🏽

An extraordinarily man. A very heartfelt reflection. I remember that same feeling, finishing it.

Read it. 3rd book was such a bummer I wrote the series off.

Fell in love with the first 2 books when I came across the BBC miniseries on PBS way back in like 2000. But it's the 3rd book that's always felt the most personal to me. Even though it was written by a man in mental decline and complete/edited by others after his death. But merely the idea of what it is; a coming-of-age tale about a medieval princeling who hitchhikes his way through a science fiction society that was always just out of sight from the world he and everyone he knew was aware of, and survives all his ordeals by almost nothing more than his own cynicism and indifference, and the fact that he's a living curiosity. It just feels very ahead of its time. Reminds me of 70s surrealist sci fi like Holy Mountain or Fantastic Planet. But I'm not sure I've ever seen such an enticing fish out of water story in my life. And on top of it all, some really cool futurism.

Currently getting over covid and listened to radio productions of the trilogy. Oh my, first read this when I was about 13, and I loved it all over again. Perfect to revisit in our current era. Directly speaks to our current hurling toward extinction.... Or returning to what is natural and beneficial for everyone, based on turning toward the self to take full responsibility for ourself through facing unbearable suffering.... So beautifully written, using the second world War as his reference point. It is one of the most stunning books. I suggest along with 1984, IQ84, brave new world and animal farm. Moves me beyond all description. 0

Melvyn peake is to art and literature what Orson Welles was to theatre and film..two unique artists that always walked their own walk..

Don't know if Peake lost the manuscript or not, but I do know that T.E. Lawrence lost the manuscript for The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, at Reading Station and had to rewrite it. The Gorenghast Trilogy is also one of my favorites, as well. Are you familiar with Boy in Darkness, though not officially part of the trilogy, the boy is without doubt Titus.

I hadn’t previously heard of these books, but it was mentioned in another video I stumbled across about a month ago. So I just got the trilogy, and now your video popped up. How funny! It must be a hidden treasure, I am excited to read it. Also I’ll check out your channel! 🙂

Great video! Now I want to read whole trilogy

I'm actually looking forward to reading these frind thanks gor the review

These masterful works of imagination are among my all-time favorite books. The third novel does tend to be undervalued relative to the preceding two, but I actually preferred it when I first explored Peake's magnum opus in my early adolescence. I think that extraordinary ending resonated with my young self, yearning for freedom and possibility, and this underrated artist captured that spirit so exquisitely and succinctly. I know of no other works quite like these (though my father, who read them before I did, has noted that the extravagant characters suggest Dickens on steroids), and Peake's beautiful lyric style and uncanny descriptive powers combine to make him a neglected master of English letters.

I came across this trilogy by chance as was in a book club in the 80s and got sent it by mistake. I tried it anyway and i would definitely say the 1st two are my favourite books ever. Will have to give the last on another chance as I've re read the others a few times. Great review by the way 👍

I bought the first American printing recently (Titus Groan). It is my favorite book, and have read all three volumes. I greatly enjoyed your video, thank you.

The best books ever written. I went to Leeds in the 90s, did zoology.

Book of the New Sun brought me here but I remember you from the Fighting-Fantasy top 10. "Peake wrote it during the war and actually lost the manuscript and had to rewrite the whole thing." Thank you so much for that detail, now Book of the new Sun is even cooler. Apparently Gene Wolfe read Gormenghast while writing it ;)

Thanks for your response...nice whilst I'm recovering in ma bed. Bit of company welcome. I shall give your suggestion as a go...never heard of it! Happy Sunday to you 😊

American here. Just a warning to all those in TL/DR land. Mervyn Peake was a painter and an illustrator. He wrote from that perspective. I.e., he used a lot of exposition to describe the scenes in his story in minute detail. He used writing as a form of painting. And since 'one picture is worth a thousand words,' he puts out thousands of words just to give you that one picture. And then onto the next scene. In our fast paced, media-drenched age, its a culture shock to read him. It like you have to go from 70 mph to 1 mph to read him. The other thing about Titus Groan is that none of the characters like each other very much. That's alluded to in the character names as mentioned: Rottcodd, Flay, Swelter, Slagg, Steerpike, Sourdust, Prunesquallor, Shrattle. All names signifying a malevolent view of the characters. Titus Groan's mother even has a noticeable absence of maternal instinct. And everything is covered with dust and falling partly to ruin. I found it so depressing that I stopped reading when Steerpike finally met The Twins. It was later able to see how the story worked out by watching the BBC presentation of the book. But that's me. I can tell you I did get all the way through Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow." I can do a slog. I just can't do a depressing slog. Reading only it on a deserted island is probably the only way most modern people will ever read it through.

There is the lost story, A Boy In Darkness and the lost novel Titus awakes.

just started it yesterday! loving it so far

now you have made me want to reread it

bought the entire trilogy a few months ago. gonna start it after i finish my current read!

The fourth book was completed by Mervyn's family and released twelve years ago.

One of those books that allows your imagination to soar. There was a TV adaptation that I was really looking forward to but it came across as irreverent and comical to my eyes and didn't portray the darkness I imagined when reading it. Then again, JG Ballard is my favourite author so maybe it's me.

Very nice summary!

Very information but the title should indicate that there are some plot spoilers.

Excellent video but good grief I don't want to hear what the ending is

btw your voice is very soothing!

I need to read these novels.

I'm happy you appreciated the 3rd book, but I didn't like it at all. The 3rd wasn't even written by him and is a total offshoot. Not even remotely related to the first two. I always tell people to skip it. The first two are a complete story on their own

Dark comedic tragedy. Read on!