Titus Groan
by Mervyn Peake
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mervyn PeakeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-06-26
ISBN: 1585679070
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Overlook TP
Book Reviews of Titus Groan
Book Review: "My Cold Grave Calls Me Back, But Shall I Answer It? No!
Summary: 4 Stars
I completed the first installment of Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast" series with a sense of exhaustion. It is a colossal book, written with such dense language that reading through it is like gorging on words. It was the book equivalent of eating a very rich, very large chocolate cake. Behind all the intricacies and techniques of the language is an equally strange story, one that does not easily fit into any particular genre. In my local bookstore at least, it is shelved in the "fantasy" section, seemingly because no one knows where else to put it.
These days (after the publication of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings) the word "fantasy" is used to classify books that are concerned with magical creatures, the fight between good and evil, and vast sub-created worlds. Mervyn Peake has none of this, unless you count the stronghold of Gormenghast, filled with its sense of social and political machinations, its detailed descriptions of claustrophobic rooms and passageways, and its vast history of culture and ritual as a "created world" - which you easily could. But I'm more tempted to call it a Gothic novel - there's plenty of intrigue, dark romance, and murder most foul. Yet, as the line between Gothic and fantasy fiction is often blurred - we're right back where we started. Suffice to say, "Titus Groan" (and its two sequels Gormenghast (Gormenghast Trilogy, 2) and Titus Alone) is one of a kind.
The story is set at Gormenghast Castle, the immense stronghold of the Groan family. Ruled over by ritual and tradition, life at Gormenghast can best be described as stagnant. Nothing ever changes. Even if someone dies - whether it be a member of the Groan family, or a lowly servant - they are immediately replaced thanks to the strict guidelines of hereditary inheritance. Life grinds on, ruled by complex and obscure ritual, with only minor hobbies providing any sort of relief against the monotony of existence for the residents of Gormenghast - hobbies that include reading (for the melancholy Earl Sepulchrave), devotion to pets (for the Countess Gertrude, who cares more for her birds and cats than her own daughter Fuchsia), pointless scheming (for the Earl's twin sisters Cora and Clarice) and petty feuds (for the manservant Flay and the grotesque cook Swelter).
But two agents of change are about to be introduced to this stifling atmosphere. One is the newborn Titus, the future Earl of Gormenghast who - despite being the title character - has little to do with the action of the story (it's hard to be a properly developed character when you're an infant!) The other is the much more intriguing figure of seventeen-year old Steerpike, a lowly kitchen boy with high ambitions. Taking every opportunity he can to spy on the Groan family and make himself indispensable to various members of the household, the Machiavellian youth begins his climb to power and control - and the only way I can describe him is to combine Macbeth's overwhelming ambition with Scarlett O'Hara's disregard for morality when it gets in the way of personal gain. Naturally, he makes for a fascinating character, just a *tad* too unsympathetic to be called an "anti-hero," yet compelling nonetheless.
Although Steerpike's manipulations are main storyline of the novel, there are plenty of subplots, predominantly the story of a young "Dweller" (a member of the peasantry) who is brought in as wet-nurse to the infant Titus, but eventually leaves to return to her feuding lovers. Likewise, there are the characters of Doctor Prunesqualler, Nannie Slagg and Sourdust (much like Charles Dickens, Peake must have had a great time assigning appropriate names to his characters) who each have their part to play in the vast tapestry of familial and class relations throughout the novel.
However, it does seem as though much of this particular story is set-up. I have yet to read "Gormenghast," but several of the characters and situations introduced in this novel (and the lack of resolution assigned to them) give the impression that they are being "saved" for later books - as Peake certainly planned out these works in advance, having always intended them to be part of a multi-book series. Sadly, this plan never reached fruition due to Peake's untimely death that cut Titus's life-story short - but there is still plenty here to intoxicate a patient and discerning reader. Admittedly, it's a bit of a chore to struggle through the density of the language, some of which appears needlessly self-indulgent. But when Peake has something profound to say, he says it in a way that will stay with you forever: "There is a love that equals in its power the love of a man for woman and reaches inwards as deeply. It is the love of a man or of a woman for their world. For the world of their centre where their lives burn genuinely and with a free flame."
So basically: the pace is slow, the characters range from irritating to loathsome, and the language is sometimes nigh incomprehensible. Yet something drew me in and made me keep reading: this fascinating world of Gormenghast (which could easily be set in the past, the future, or another planet entirely), the extraordinarily dreamy and even psychedelic prose, and an alternative way of classifying "fantasy fiction" that is void of dragons, elves and magic-filled quests. Who knows? Had Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings not been so popular (all but creating the term "fantasy genre" as we know it today), Mervyn Peake's incomplete cycle may very well have been the template for popular fantasy authors everywhere.
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