Titus Groan (Gormenghast
Trilogy, Book 1)
Author: Mervyn Peake
Publisher: Weybright and Talley (rev January 1, 1967)
American release date: October 26, 1982
Format/Genre/Length: Hardback/Literary Fiction/543 pages
Overall Personal
Rating: ★★★★★
Gormenghast Castle is an ancient
edifice whose history goes back many years. There has always been an Earl of
Gormenghast, and the current holder of that title is the seventy-sixth in his
line. He has many people who live in the castle and both depend on it and him
to keep it running, but the Earl’s greatest love is for his vast library, which
is cared for by a man named Sourdust. However, joy has arrived in Gormenghast
with the birth of an heir, who is given the name of Titus.
Not everyone is excited about the
birth, however. Lady Fuchsia is fifteen and feels too old to not be an only
child. Petulant and moody, she rejects
the birth of her brother. She is an odd teenager, and has her secret places
within her room, which leads to the attic, where she can be alone. The person
she is closest to is the woman who has actually raised her. Not her mother, the
Countess, whose attention is all for her birds and her cats, but Nannie Slagg,
who has now become the nanny of the new young lord. Fuchsia is mightily
displeased, but no one seems to notice, not even Doctor Prunesquallor, whom she
is also rather close to. The good doctor lives with his sister, Irma, who
exists in a strange world of her own.
The present Earl has a long, lean
servant named Flay who has been with him for many years and sleeps on the floor
outside of his lordship’s bedroom door. He is a man of few words and creaking
bones. In the kitchen, a corpulent tyrant named Swelter holds sway, abusing the
young kitchen workers in his charge, keeping them in a state of fright. One
day, one of these abused creatures, a 17-year-old named Steerpike, simply runs
away. Caught by Flay, he manages to escape by climbing out of the window and
ends up on top of the castle, a perilous position to be in. But he manages to
find his way to a safe place – one that just happens to belong to Fuchsia.
The earl also has a pair of twin
sisters, Clarice and Cora. Identical in every way and quite self-absorbed. They
think and move alike and are generally both in harmony and in discord. They feel neglected by their brother and they
despise their sister-in-law. They also feel that Fuchsia should visit them far
more often as they are deserving of her attention – of everyone’s attention. In
fact, they are angry that Gertrude, the Countess, has the power which should be
theirs. The only people they have any communication with are Dr. Prunesquallor
and his sister. But that changes when they meet Steerpike, whom Fuchsia has
introduced to the doctor and who has become his assistant.
Gormenghast will never be the same
now that Steerpike has arrived…
Titus Groan is the first book in
the Gormenghast trilogy. It’s hard to actually define it. Is it gothic, is it
horror, is it fantasy…. What is it? It defies genre identification, in my own
opinion, being in a class of its own. What I will call it is fascinating. Peak
creates this incredible world and its inhabitants so vividly that you can feel
them. His prose is very descriptive. His characters are both believable and
fantastic. The action moves, not quickly and yet inexorably, from beginning to
end. There is a BBC series of the books, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyer as
Steerpike, Christopher Lee as Flay and two Harry Potter alumni – Richard
Griffiths (Uncle Vernon) as Swelter and Fiona Shaw (Aunt Petunia) as Irma
Prunesquallor. At four hours, it can’t possibly capture the depth of this
series, but it does cover the basics, and I found it worth watching. However, I
would read the books, whether before or after or simultaneously. This is an
amazing series and I am looking forward to the next book.