The Gormenghast Trilogy (Vintage Classics)

I first read these over 50 years ago, they've stayed with me ever since and I finally thought it about time I re- read them.Sometimes this can be a mistake - books you thought wonderful in your early teens don't necessarily seem so in your 60's - but not here.Still magical, beautifully written and illustrated and I've now read other books that cast new light on them - Dickens, King, Clarke. etc..I envy you, if this is your first encounter with Peake.

One of those books that evokes an intangible but unique feeling.More gothic than the Sisters of Mercy on a winter holiday to Whitby.I love it.

This is an amazing trilogy, although it's much like Lord of the Rings in that the writing style isn't for everyone. It's quite heavy reading in places, but the story (particularly in Titus Groan, book 1) is worth it.This particular edition seems to have a lot of small printing errors in it - in many places phrases like "a long" or "a lot" are shortened into a single word. I don't remember my old copy having so many annoying mistakes, although it was a good while ago that I read it, but this one really grates on me so I'm assuming it's just this particular edition.Annoyance aside, the trilogy is well worth a read for anyone who likes a well-rounded world and characters.

The history of the Titus BooksMervyn Peake's series of works was published in the following order: Titus Groan (1946), Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959). In 1970, Penguin Classics published a handsome boxed set of the three illustrated paperback volumes - which is where I came in... For the last four decades I have been delighted to walk the stony corridors of Gormenghast.Penguin published the novels again in 1983 but this time in one volume with some of Mervyn's own illustrations and with over 1,000 pages to savour. In 1984, BBC Radio 4 broadcast two 90-minute plays based on Titus Groan and Gormenghast, adapted by Brian Sibley and starring Sting and Freddie Jones. In early 2000, the BBC produced and broadcast a four-episode serial, entitled Gormenghast which was based on the first two books of the series. The glittering cast included Christopher Lee, Celia Imrie, Ian Richardson, Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw, Stephen Fry, Warren Mitchell, John Sessions and Zoë Wanamaker.The trilogy, which has also been published by Folio, by Mandarin and by Methuen, has been described as a celebrated modernist fantasy and although Mervyn Peake was a talented and visionary artist, the story works better on the printed page. The imagination of the reader is much bolder than the limitations of the screen. The first books are a brilliant sojourn in the suffocating castle, trapped within the stone walls like dust motes, in the established ritual which governs the lives of the Groan family and their retainers. The characters which populate the Castle are unlike anyone else you will ever meet - from the highest Lord to the menial kitchen boys, all beautifully drawn.In April 2003, the Gormenghast books were voted number 84 in BBC Big Read - not very high on the list but it's placed higher than Frankenstein, Dracula and Moby Dick!I expect that shortly there will be a resurgence of interest in the works of Mervyn Peake when the long-lost sequel to the trilogy is published. Titus Awakes will be published next year, to mark the centenary of Peake's birth. 2011 will also see the release of a new illustrated edition of the Gormenghast trilogy, complete with 60 never-before-seen drawings by Peake which his son, Sebastian, is placing within the novel. So if you have not yet read the Titus books or need to read them again, get ahead of the crowd and be ready for the sequel. Mervyn Peake deserves to be recognised as the genius which he was.--------------------------------------------------------If you want to join in discussions about Mervyn Peake's work, go to the Facebook group called The Grey Scrubbers - see you there!

My Line Manager at School put me onto the Gormenghast Trilogy and kindly lent me his paperback set - he never lends books out - he is like my son hates page folders etc., so I had to be careful with them. I loved the first two parts, the way it is written is fantastic and as for Steerpike - he is so misunderstood. Sadly the third part is terrible, and has the feel of being written by someone else. Maybe if I had read it first and then the second two, but I gave up half way through the third book.Gormenghast resulted in a great many discussions and being told how evil Steerpike was and how could I view him as misunderstood.My Line Manager had a big birthday earlier in the year, so I brought him this Trilogy in Hardback - his paperbacks were extremely old - it is a beautiful book, and he was delighted with it, and has re-read it.His copy has been inscribed "Steerpike was misunderstood" which brought a smile.Excellent story around the Gormenghast Castle, and the descriptions and the plots and twists are well written.Would recommend the first two parts to anyone.