Titus Groan

by Mervyn Peake

438 pages

English language

Published July 10, 1991

ISBN:: 978-0-87951-425-9
OCLC Number:: 2951128

(33 reviews)

As the first novel opens, Titus, heir to Lord Sepulchrave, has just been born: he stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that stand for Gormenghast Castle. Inside, all events are predetermined by a complex ritual, lost in history, understood only by Sourdust, Lord of the Library. There are tears and strange laughter; fierce births and deaths beneath umbrageous ceilings; dreams and violence and disenchantment contained within a labyrinth of stone.

4 editions

Mysteriarch 📖 reviewed Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast, #1)

Review of 'Titus Groan'

3 stars

Low fantasy novel full of descriptive scenes set in a sprawling, dripping, ancient castle complex, Gormenghast. Full of idiosyncratic characters, with their own patterns of speech, mannerisms and roles to play in the complex ritual existence of the castle and the Groan lineage, the story is a labourous study in pure conservatism in its strictest meaning. While the concept is sound, the whole exercise in describing the minute changes cascading through the book didn't do that much for me. There's no real conclusion to the book (although it's the first in a trilogy) and I get that it's part of the ideas about stand-still, but this makes it of limited interest to a wider audience.

At the back of their personal troubles, hopes and fears, this less immediate trepidation grew, this intangible suggestion of change, that most unforgivable of all heresies.

bondolo reviewed Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast, #1)

Review of 'Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1)' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

The descriptions that this book would be unlike any fantasy book I had read were true. A compelling askew world with characters just as odd living surreal lives. So much seems normal but it all fits together in the weirdest way. There is fantasy here, just not what you are probably used to reading.

Sean Bala reviewed Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast, #1)

Review of 'Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1)' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

"Titus Groan" by Mervyn Peake is unlike any book I have read. Its prose is unique, its story and characters are compelling, and it is a truly sui generis creation that does not quite fit neatly into any particular genre.

Peake was an illustrator and the prose is the closest something I read has come to painting or drawing. His command of vocabulary is unmatched and used with great affect. And it is not just the words but the sounds. In fact, the prose almost feels like notes in a symphony. I would definitely recommend while reading to take interesting passages and read them aloud for an additional experience.

What a world he creates in this first novel. It concerns the comings and goings of the denizens of a crumbling castle called Gormenghast, the seat of the Earl of Groan. But calling Gormenghast a castle is not accurate. Peake was raised in China during the 1910s and 1920s and his Gormenghast owes more to the Forbidden City then any European fortress. The castle itself is a personality and looms large over the inhabitants and their actions. Each character is utterly unique and (to keep with the illustrating metaphor) quite finely drawn.

There are numerous themes in the novel and like most of the great works of speculative fiction, one can read it twice and not come to the same conclusions. The two big themes for me were the tension between change and tradition and an underlying conflict between the Enlightenment (embodied by Lord Sepulchrave) and the Romantic Movement (embodied by Lady Gertrude).

I have seen the novel called "Gothic Fantasy," even though it is not "fantasy" as most people conceive it. A recent Barnes and Noble Review argued that it is one of three types of modern commercial Fantasy. The first are the derivative works of J.R.R. Tolkien - epic battles of good versus evil that draw heavily from folklore and myth traditions. The second "features strange, mind-bending venues, odd, idiosyncratic characters, problematical morality, enigmatical actions, open-endedness, interstitial hybridization, and a more elaborate and elegant prose style." [The article argues that the third type is embodied by works like George R.R. Martin, that combines the epic scale of the first type and the grittiness of the second).

I would highly recommend that you give this novel a try. Peake had intended to write a long series of novels about the life of the title character. Unfortunate, he died of dementia at the age of fifty-seven. But if this book is any indication, he would have been remembered well for this particular work.

If you would like to read the Barnes and Nobel Review article, please go here - bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/The-Speculator/Seeds-of-Ice-and-Fire/ba-p/12756

outofrange reviewed Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast, #1)

Review of 'Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1)' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Original, without a doubt. I felt the pull and the strength of the spell, but never managed to become fully immersed somehow. I may continue the series just to see what else emerged from Peake's deep imagination, even though it's on a slightly different wavelength than mine.

okenwillow reviewed Titus d'Enfer by Mervyn Peake

Review of "Titus d'Enfer" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Je suis consternée. Je ne sais pas quoi dire de ce livre qu’Isil m’a donné envie de lire avec son billet. J’ai acheté les 2 autres volumes et je compte les lire. Pourtant, je ne me suis pas pâmée à la lecture de ce délicieux délire. Je suis d’accord avec tout ce que dit Isil, et tout est pour me plaire dans ce roman.

Les personnages fabuleusement décrits, décortiqués, les relations entre eux, complexes, sont savamment étudiées. L’ambiance est glauquissime malgré l’humour omniprésent, humour très british, décalé et absurde. Que l’auteur ait aussi été illustrateur et caricaturiste explique l’aspect très visuel de son écriture, il en dit beaucoup en peu de mots, forçant le trait mais sans jamais en faire trop non plus. Le château de Gormenghast est le sujet le plus travaillé, personnage central de l’histoire, il abrite les protagonistes, plus ou moins en phase avec cet univers cadré, réglée par des rituels ridicules et absurdes. Chacun se débrouille pour survivre dans ce morne et grandiloquent château, exagérément gothique, aux dimensions extravagantes. L’histoire se met en place à un rythme que j’ai trouvé assez particulier, j’ai été captivée par intermittence, intéressée souvent, et je me suis ennuyée, souvent aussi, mais jamais longtemps. En gros, j’ai aimé, toutefois, j’avoue que sur la fin, j’avais hâte de passer à autre chose !

Bizarre, donc, pour ne pas dire carrément flippant, car je le redis, tous les aspects du livre m’interpellent, surtout sa profondeur qui ne paie pas de mine. J’ai tout de même mis 3 semaines pour en venir à bout, ce qui en dit long sur mon état d’esprit et mon humeur actuels. Je choisirai un moment plus propice pour lire la suite, car ce premier volume, malgré sa grande fantaisie est chargée d’un certain réalisme et d’une profondeur propres à me saper un peu plus le moral, et ce, fort insidieusement qui plus est !
L’affrontement final entre Craclosse et Lenflure m’a empêchée de zapper plus de lignes, j’ai adoré tous les personnages mais ces deux-là, si on en rit beaucoup, sont carrément sauvages sur la fin et leur relation prend une tournure des plus tragiques. Si la forme est souvent drôle, le fond est des plus dramatiques. Et je pense avoir été trop réceptive à ce fond-là pour ne prendre que du plaisir à la lecture.