Gormenghast - post II

If you work in an office then no doubt there are Steerpike’s trying to climb the greasy pole at any cost, Fuchsia’s and Titus types that dream of escaping it all and the old boys Barquentine style that are part of the institution and hold fast to the rules and traditions. So far the theme of authority has focused on the House of Groan but with the introduction of the teaching staff it is possible to watch another power struggle as the professors compete with each other and the headmaster.

I have always believed that it is possible to get the best out of people by being positive and supportive rather than go in for a Stalinist approach of creating a world of fear. It would have been great to have had my headmaster come and play marbles with me rather than keep putting me in those detentions but that’s the problem with the two authority models.

Bullet points between pages 67 – 127

* Titus escapes into the countryside and his disappearance causes a panic and all of the professors are asked to go through their classrooms looking for him and turning the remaining boys into a search party

* The boys in one classroom are playing a game that involves lifting a couple of floorboards and in the rush to replace them one is put back upside down and the headmaster slips on it and lands on his dead stone dead and in response his assistant the Fly jumps out of the window

* The professors are then left searching for a new head but the oldest Bellgrove steps forward and takes on the role and starts to try to act out the part which is made slightly more complicated by the excitement caused by the invitations to the doctor’s house

* Meanwhile Titus has met up with Flay and made a connection that could be important in the future but after being sent back to the castle he is locked up with only his loving sister to pass him food through a crack in his prison wall

* Bellgrove comes to play marbles with him and then after his release the castle gears up for the next ceremony in the calendar with Titus again expected to take centre stage as the poet makes his bi-annual reading

More tomorrow (tonight)…