book review - The Boy in Darkness

This book is described as being a stand alone off shoot to the Gormenghast trilogy with Mervyn Peake writing in his introduction that after suggestions he decided to put it out as a volume in its own right.

The problem is of course that unless you are familiar with the strange world of Gormenghast and the character of Titus Groan a great deal of the beginning of this story will mean very little. Titus starts off struggling to suppress his desire to rebel against the responsibilities that come with his position as the heir to the House of Groan.

As a result of his yearning for change he decides to act on his impulse and escape and head beyond the boundaries of his former existence and discover something new and encounter a world where he is no longer Titus Groan with all that comes with that surname.

He escapes while the festivities for his 14th birthday continue and after walking and stumbling through the landscape comes to a wide river he has never seen before. A boat lies by the bank with an island on the other side the tempting destination. But no sooner has he gone near the boat than the Peake imagination fires up and a pack of wild dogs joins him in the water and pushed the boat to its destination.

Once on the other side Titus collapses under the dual strain of hunger and tiredness and then when he wakes the real adventure begins.

Using a very Spartan collection of characters - a goat, hyena and a lamb – Titus is guided slowly through to a point where it becomes a question of life and death. On his way to meet the lamb he learns from overhearing the goat and the hyena that they were once men and that the lamb had the ability to pull out of them some sort of animal nature that allowed them to become the creatures that resemble animals but with some lingering human traits.

The lamb has watched all of his creations die away as he sits in the centre of an underground network of mines and the thought of fresh blood is something that forces him to slightly lose control. Lose it enough to allow Titus to sow the seeds of doubt in the goat and the hyena and then critically delaying his attack against the boy long enough to let Titus cleave his skull with a sword.

This is all made rather stranger by the positioning of this story, which ends with the dogs taking Titus back leaving two old men on the other side of the bank, as a tale suitable for children.

This is dark, not just the sense of the title but dark in its imagination. If I read this to my children there would be a lot of questions afterwards and then nightmares. This doesn't sit comfortably with the usual Famous Five stories. That is not to say it doesn't have its merit but really this doesn't quite work as a stand alone book.

This does need a background knowledge of the Gormenghast trilogy to work and certainly a child would not have that along with a fair proportion of the readership. The imagination is rich but perhaps this episode should have been squeezed into the trilogy rather than left to be scrutinised on its own merits in the way that printing it as a single volume forces you to do.

Boy in Darkness - post II

Although this is a story that doesn’t really go anywhere, nor adds a great deal to Gormenghast it will live long in the memory. It is one of those stories that acts as a perfect companion piece to the Gormenghast trilogy because you need that prior knowledge for the story to really work. Titus Groan is never really explained or is the setting of his location.

But understanding from the trilogy just how determined the teenager is to change his life it is no surprise that he encounters and survives the meeting with the lamb. With just the goat and hyena left of the many that have been transformed from men to beasts at the hand of the lamb Titus is clearly a candidate to join them.

But he resists and with the sweep of a sword ends not just a reign of terror but an entire finish to the kingdom of the mines. Titus then returns back to the castle with his determination for escape clearly not broken.

At the end of the book there is a page advertising more Children’s books from the same publisher. I would be frightened to read this to my children let alone encourage them to pick it up for themselves.

A review will follow soon…

Boy in Darkness - post I

If there is one word that you have to associate with Mervyn Peake it is imagination and it is a feature of this story from the very outset.

Those who have read the Gormenghast Trilogy will be familiar with the figure of Titus Groan. The boy runs away from his inheritance and the castle his family rule over in those stories and heads into strange worlds. This story is apparently what happened to him in between deciding to run away and when he got to the wilderness.

What happens here involves a relatively small cast it appears but dark ideas that are described in such a way that they become even darker if that makes sense. The idea of a goat, hyena and lamb talking and living in relative seclusion is made much darker with the revelation that they were once men and have been destroyed by the lamb. He has encouraged them to resemble and grow to become beasts and presumably with the arrival in his lair of Titus will try to do so once again.

The way evil and fear are portrayed and inspired is through the description of colour, particularly of eyes, and of the eerie use of animals, with dogs being a feature, before Titus even comes across the goat and his friends.

More tomorrow…

book of books - Mr Pye

Adding this book to the Gormenghast trilogy the themes of good and evil and the battle within to choose which to be are echoed across Mervyn Peake’s work. Just as Titus Groan has to find his own way and discover freedom that ultimately means that he has to leave his family Mr Pye has to adapt his plans to remain free of the influence of evil or good.

Mr Pye is an odd central character because he is not difficult to feel close to and his behaviour and antics, mostly secretive, are always a bit strange. But the reader gets caught up in the question of what is the right equilibrium between good and evil. Does one good deed have to be cancelled out with a bad one?

Plot summary
An odd man arrives on the island of Sark and through his good will towards everyone and his determination to make the island a beacon of love for God he manages to shake up the islanders quite rapidly. None more so than the landlady of his guest house Miss Dredger who discovers that she is no longer mistress in her own house and this odd little man has taken over. She becomes his first and most loyal disciple and goes along with everything he asks including inviting her bitter enemy Miss George to stay in her house. Meanwhile Mr Pye is working his odd magic around the island building up for what he hopes will be a night of glorious conversion. But as he preaches to the population in a cove a rotting whale is washed up on the beach and the impact of his speech is lost. Shortly afterwards he complains of having been bitten on his back and starts to grow wings.

The doctors in Harley Street cannot help and by the time he returns to the island he has started on a course of action sinning at every opportunity to get rid of the wings. After a while it seems to have worked, no doubt helped by the nightly meetings with the goat of Mendes for a bout of Satan worshipping. Pye starts to grow horns and after a yo-yo between the two decides the only way to get rid of the horns is to endure some public humiliation. So he shows his horns to the islanders which causes the police to be called and for a chase to ensue which ends when Pye sails over a cliff, unfurls his wings and flies off into the night.

Is it well written?
The reader realises quicker than the narrative describes that the horns are coming and rather than repeat the emotions Pye felt when the wings were discovered the story quickly marches onto a conclusion. That is the sign of a good story teller because he knows that to leave it longer would cause impatience. The question of good and evil is dealt with in such a way that you are left asking some questions of yourself. Questions left going through your head include the most fundamental one (bearing in mind the transformation in the book of Miss Dredger): is life better if you are infused with love and prepared to share it?

Should it be read?
It shows a different side to Peake after Gormenghast but also just how able he is to develop characters that are unusual. Pye, Dredger, the painter and his girlfriend could all have existed in the Gormenghast world but are depicted living in this one. There are also sketches at the start of each chapter by the author that are also of interest showing how the vision of the artists mind works both graphically and in words. A final reason for picking it up (apart from the picture of Derek Jacobi with wings from the television version from a few years ago) is the humour of a story about a modern and quite unusual missionary.

Summary
Angle or devil? The choice is like walking as tightrope.

Mr Pye - post IV

The book ends with Mr Pye finally finding out which side of good and evil he is on and leaving Sark the poorer for his departure. A bit like the Poe things end here with your imagination still going and plenty of follow-up thoughts about what happened next there to entertain you after the book has finished.

Highlights from pages 214 - 254

* Mr Pye alarms Miss Dredger and the painter and his girlfriend by showing them his horns and decides that the only way to get rid of them is to do something humiliating and identifies the cattle fair happening the next day is the place he will venture out with his horns

* He fully expects to be caught by the police and hopes that he can somehow make his escape before the police arrive from Guernsey, at least forty minutes away, but the alarm is raised quickly and the islanders turn on him and it is only because of the painters girlfriend Tanty who suggests hide and seek and gives Mr Pye the key to the prison that he escapes

* When she catches up with him his horns are almost gone and he has grown wings and then with her help he jumps on a horse and carriage and heads off into the night chased by islanders who are witnesses as he rides to the edge of the cliff and hurtles over

* Unfurling his wings Pye flies off into the sky and leaves the island which returns to an insignificant rock with a small population

Review will follow later...

Mr Pye - post III

Poor old Mr Pye struggles to work out the impact on his person of good and evil hoping that by swinging the balance in the negative direction he will force his wings to disappear. Unlike the battle between Titus Groan and Steerpike this contest to stick to the right path is fought in the single man with the result of him appearing to frighten those who know him by his wild character changes.

Bullet points between pages 140 – 214

* Mr Pye consults a series of doctors on Harley Street but none of them know how to react to his wings, which continue to grow, so Pye tries to come up with the answer to the problem himself

* He decides that he has been given the wings because he was being so Godly so the way to get rid of them is to go to the other extreme and start being evil so he walks out of his hotel without paying the bill and do some minor vandalism

* Heading back to Sark his evil attempts continue and he turns up and disturbs Miss Dredger with his rudeness and then a series of events happen as a result of people witnessing his wings with Miss George having a heart attack and falling down the stairs winding up at the bottom dead and a local witnessing Pye’s shadow and getting carted off to the local asylum

* To get rid of the wings Mr Pye starts nightly sessions with the devil and soon enough it starts to work but as he walks along with Miss Dredger he complains of having been bitten again twice but this time on the forehead

* Peake doesn't take as long to describe the growing of the horns and all of a sudden Pye is faced with this difficulty balancing good and evil and realises that he never understoof his relationship with God at all properly

More tomorrow...

Mr Pye - post II

It is quite hard to describe but what you start to appreciate about Peake’s writing is his ability to build up an imaginary world that is then possessed by a central character that cranks up the tension in an already weird universe. Pye reminds you of Steerpike with his planning and scheming around the midnight feast, although unlike his other literary cousin his intentions are good.

Although this is set on Sark it could as easily be set on the moon because the plain that Peake is working on is not hindered by reality, and as a result is all the better for it.

Bullet points between pages 82 – 140

* Mr Pye draws everyone together at the chosen site of Drebble beach and starts to spread his love around those invited guests but all around the top of the bay are the rest of the inhabitants of the island watching

* Before getting Miss George to descend through The Chimney, a hollow rock that goes down from the cliff to the beach, he calls everyone together and starts to preach about the power of his Pal

* But then as he reaching a crescendo and blows the whistle for Miss George to be lowered a dead whale washes up on the beach and the stink forces retching people to head for the hills and a catatonic Miss George is dragged back to her room

* She remains in bed cursing the whole enterprise and Miss Dredger has to try to cheer up her friend Mr Pye who has two bites on his back on his shoulder blades and is worried about the symmetry of the bites

* After a few days he wakes without feeling pain and as he checks his back discovers tiny white wings have broken through the skin and he is completely thrown by it and the narrative skips quickly on to find him back in London seeking help from specialists to help deal with his full size wings

More tomorrow…

Mr Pye - post I

It must have been something about reading Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher that made me reach this morning as I left for work for a Mervyn Peake - thinking of the gloomy spires of Gormenghast.

but this is a different book in feel from the Gormenghast trilogy and although you sense some dark twist is looming it is so far enjoyable and pacey as Mr Pye weaves his magic on the island community of Sark.

Bullet points between pages 1 - 81

* Mr Pye gets a single ticket, which raises an eyebrow, for the boat to Sark and from the very start arouses curiosity from everyone who sees the rather portly smiling traveller who keeps himself strictly to himself

* On the island Mrs Dredger is waiting to put him up in her guesthouse and she is portrayed as a woman of strong reserve who doesn’t suffer fools at all and is known on the island as a formidable character

* Mr Pye starts changing the status quo almost from the off by offering the carriage he is meant to be picked up in by Mrs Dredger to Miss George her sworn enemy leaving the boarding house owner stomping up the hill

* At the crest of the hill Mr Pye orders Miss George out and heads off to calm down and take over the Dredger house swallowing on fruit drops all the time – which becomes his nickname on the island – and becalms the woman

* He explores the island from top to bottom in six weeks and then starts to unveil his master plan to infuse the entire population with love aided by his great pal God who he talks to about his plans all the time

* Having turned the world of Mrs Dredger upside down he turns his attention to the rest of the population and particularly Miss George who he invites to live with Mrs Dredger promising to change her life for the better

More merriment and mystery tomorrow…

Final thoughts on Gormenghast

One of the things about putting thoughts down in a review is that you miss the chance to make some other observations. So, despite the weeks that have passed since reading the trilogy, I wanted to get some final thoughts down about Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy.

The use of light and darkness
It would be too easy to say that characters are robed in black if they are evil – Steerpike being the most obvious example – but then you get characters that are more difficult to define like Flay who have the potential for murder but also for loyalty. Darkness is used to suggest potential problems and echoing the use with people it also cloaks parts of the castle with long dark passages both over and under ground being a feature of the disorientation.

The use of time
One of the hardest things to reconcile between the world’s described in Titus Groan and Gormenghast compared to Titus Alone is that they could co-exist with a world with aeroplanes, spying globes and telephones being in the same time as a castle run on completely medieval rules. Peake was ill by the time he wrote Titus Alone but it does make you question the security you felt in Gormenghast castle. It is as if reading the Fellowship and Two Towers all of a sudden as the final battle for the Ring is fought some tanks, medium range missiles and jet fighters turn up in The Return of the King.

The use of faces and eyes
One of the constant reference points in the books is the colour of eyes and the detailed descriptions of faces. So for instance you discover that Steerpike has red eyes that flash with anger or glint with malice and Titus has violet eyes that disturb his father. Throughout all three books it is usually the eyes, and Peake’s description of them that usually gives away a characters true intentions. Faces, particularly the descriptions of Swelter the cook’s

The use of animals
One link between the worlds of Gormenghast and the city in Titus Alone is the Muzzlehatch character that seems to love animals as much as Titus’s mother did. The relationship is one of master and servant but it is once his menagerie is lost that Muzzlehatch decides to blow up the factory. Likewise the Countess turns her anger on ‘The Thing’ because it is eating her birds and banishes faithful Flay from the castle when he dares to hurl one of her cats.

The use of the strange
The doctor’s hair, the Under-River world and even the scale of the flood that engulfs Gormenghast are all exaggerated to make an impact. The scale of the castle is a constant source of challenge to a reader and despite its gargantuan proportions there continue to be almost a handful of people living in it. None of the characters seem to be free of some sort of major character flaw with the Earl’s slide into madness an obvious one but even Titus is wrestling with his mind working out what to do with his future.


There are lots more things that could be said but writing this down has got the urge to comment off the brain for now…

book of books - Titus Alone

The plan was to post this earlier but anyway here is the review of the final part of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy.

The first two books - Titus Groan and Gormenghast - work together but the only thing this book has in common with those two is Titus. The slight problem with that is that Titus is not really fully formed as an adult character in either of the first two books or particularly worthy of a reader's emotional attachment. Having said that he is of course meant to be a physical embodiment of the world of Gormenghast and has to be seen more in that light in this book.

For those people who enjoyed the first two books Titus Alone comes as a disapointment and there is a constant hope that the world you enjoyed will reappear at some point but it never really does.

Plot summary
Titus has left his ancestral home and heads off into the wilderness and is spotted by some police buts makes his getaway but falls asleep in his boat and is finally washed ashore and rescued by a larger than life animal lover called Muzzlehatch. The man helps Titus but is repaid with the boy again walking off and stumbling across a factory complex where planes are being flown and there are numerous people, some of which start to chase him. Hiding up on a roof Titus observes a party and then falls through the roof and despite the efforts of Muzzlehatch and a former lover called Juno to save him Titus would prefer to stay and face the music. At his trial Juno asks that he be given over to her care. Again though after a few months Titus grows restless and leaves and on his way to Muzzlehatch's destroys a spy globe that the scientists in the factory have made. To protect him Muzzlehatch tells him of the under-river world where he can hide but once there Titus is caught up in a fight and only the reappearance of Muzzlehatch can save him. He again makes for freedom once back in the normal world but is picked up by the scientist's daughter Cheeta who plots his downfall after Titus rejects her. In a stage managed scene in a remote ruin she tries to make Titus go mad but Muzzlehatch reappears and saves him for the last time blowing up the factory, reducing the scientist to a babbling wreck and Cheeta runs off madly into the forest. Titus then wanders for months finally finding Gormenghast castle, proving to himself he is not mad, but turns his back on it and keeps wandering.

Is it well written?
On the positive side the depth of characterisation is phenomenal and the ability to keep coming up with fully formed worlds like the City inhabited by Juno and Muzzlehatch as well as the Under-River world is imagination working overtime. There is a sense of rhythm and the plot climaxes not so much with the rediscovery of Gormenghast but the scene in the Black House before that because the consequences for the world Titus has entered will be dramatic with the scientist and his daughter mentally damaged and Muzzlehatch killed by the police. The negative is the constant restlessness of Titus, which forces you to constantly be on your guard against investing too much effort picturing a location. One of the best scenes of the book is when ironically Titus is cornered and not allowed to move at the Black House. There is also a problem going from the medieval world of Gormenghast into something scientific with cars, planes and spying globes. It is a step too far to believe that Titus would just adapt without more disruption and although there is a constant theme of madness it is based around his memories not his reaction to the modern city, which would be more understandable.

Should it be read?
Unlike other trilogy's it would be quite easy to read the first two books and skip this one. That statement alone shows how much out of kilter this is with the first two volumes. The completeness of the world described in the first two volumes is not as complete here and while there is still depth there are also parts where it feels sketched out and as a result hard to relate to. Finally the lead character is not someone that inspires emotional investment, as he cannot do that himself. It is not my nature to tell people not to read a book but you could easily get through life without reading this one.

Plot summary
Wandering earl discovers his past is in himself as he wanders through a city dominated by a scientist and his creations

Version read - Vintage paperback

book of books - Gormenghast

This is the second book in the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake and it ties up all of the loose ends of the first book and the first half of the second volume bar one, the restless nature of Titus, which is dealt with in the final volume.

There is a pace about the book that starts to grip you as firstly Steerpike is exposed and then as the chase for him intensifies. The castle has to fight evil not just in the form of the usurper but also in the shape of nature, as the castle is flooded. Titus goes from being a boy in the first book and becomes a man through experience of death and bravery. Against the backdrop of the struggle against Steerpike, tradition and nature the castle looms large and the descriptive powers of Peake are what makes this a great novel rather than a bargain bucket fantasy wannabe.

Plot summary
It is easier to say what happens based on character rather than trying to weave some concise narrative:
Steerpike - Having wormed his way into a position where he can advise on traditional and castle procedure Steerpike starts to plan his next move, which includes overcoming his superior Barquentine. Meanwhile the twins outlive their usefulness and are allowed to die of starvation after they try to kill him.
Doctor and Irma - The Doctor’s sister gets the academic staff round for a party and ends up falling for the headmaster Bellgrove and is finally off her brother’s hands but just when the doctor should be there for Fuchsia and Titus he has to deal with the flood and its victims
Fuchsia – having been courted by Steerpike who turns out to be a disappointment the unloved girl considers suicide and accidentally fall into the waters of the flood and drowns
Barquentine – the son of Sourdust carries on the traditions of Gormenghast and is a stronger opponent than Steerpike thought and the two fight and in fire and then water the younger man wins but is scarred physically and mentally
Flay – the old servant is the one who along with Titus and the doctor discovers Steerpike has killed the twins and in return for his hard work Steerpike kills him as he escapes
The Countess – always looking for the source of evil in the castle she comes into her own not just in the hunt for Steerpike but also marshalling the castle in the flood
The thing – Keda’s daughter lives in the woods and fascinates Titus who grapples with her and then watches her dies as a result of a lightning strike
Titus – growing up he wants to escape and his restlessness breed’s contempt of tradition and in the end he grows up watching the thing die and then kills Steerpike and becomes the man that leaves the castle

Steerpike is at the heart of the story; both in terms of whether or not he will be caught, and then once discovered whether or not he will be captured. He is found out and then killed by Titus but his death is not enough of a reason for the Earl to stay in the castle.

Is it well written?
The description is rich and so well done that in the long section when Steerpike is trying to evade his hunters in a flooded room you can see clearly the situation with the swell of the water and the reflected lights. The characters that were half formed in the first book are completed here with Fuchsia, the doctor and the countess all becoming rounder. Equally there is slightly more humour with the academic world of Gormenghast providing plenty of amusing characters and incidents. But just as with the first book it is the castle and the environment that holds the story together. The weird feeling you get is that as things reach a climax you are wondering just what is left for the third volume and having read that the best thing might be to look at this book and Titus Groan as a complete piece with Titus Alone as a book that echoes characters and location but not much more.

Should it be read?
Just as the feeling you get with Return of the King after you have trawled through The Two Towers this is the pay-off for a total across both books of 700 odd pages. If you embark on the Gormenghast journey it is hard not to complete both books. But, and I’ll be the first to admit my experience of strong imaginative fantasy type novels is limited, this book shows just what can be achieved when a powerful imagination is let loose. But it would not be anywhere near as good without the strong description and brilliant characterisation. It shows just what is possible if you have the ability to paint a picture with words that not matter how fantastic in terms of environment still can be clearly envisaged by the reader.

Summary
Ruthless Steerpike makes two mistakes, allowing the twins to be found and giving Titus the chance to strike first, and pays the price while the castle rumbles on despite nature trying to do its best to destroy it

Version read – Vintage paperback

There is more to be said about Gormenghast particularly on the themes of nature and progress and about love and the absence of it but that will come in a separate post…

Titus Alone - post III

The book comes to an end with another Steerpike type figure trying to destroy Titus not physically but mentally but the tables are turned and in a great climatic scene the weapons of madness and loss are used against the very people who wanted to deploy them.

But this has not be an easy book to read moving away from the medieval world of Gormenghast to a modern world of helicopters, cars and science. The battle is mainly inside Titus, with him being accused and half believing that he is mad and has made up Gormenghast, as much as it is outside him. What you appreciate though is again the strong characters that include a failed author who is pushed around in a wheelchair with 60 copies of his book in a bag.

Bullet points between pages 131 – 199

* Titus shows the scientists daughter Cheeta that he can live without loving her and that turns her against him so she starts to plan an elaborate revenge that will reduce him to nothing publicly

* Her great surprise involves finding a venue for a party, which is meant to be his leaving party that resembles the world of Gormenghast enough to create an atmosphere that will help her disorientate Titus

* Meanwhile three characters from the under-river world set out to find Titus and once they have discovered him they promise to protect him but Titus tells them to find Muzzlehatch and they disappear on their mission

* The showdown at the party begins with people dressed as members of Titus’s family coming out one by one and he seems to be frightened and concerned until Muzzlehatch and the Under-River dwellers appear and that forces Cheeta to lose her cool

* Muzzlehatch has taken his revenge against the scientist and is on the brink of killing him when in the distance the factory explodes and then the small domed headed scientist runs off into the night crying after his life’s work

* Cheeta attempts to hurt Titus and claws his face but Jun0 who has appeared fights her off and she in turn runs screaming into the woods leaving the crowd of party goers getting angry and they call on the guards to kill Muzzlehatch

* Juno, her friend Anchor and Titus escape in a plane and after flying for many miles Titus parachutes out and then after walking for many months rediscovers Gormenghast but having satisfied himself he has not gone mad turns his back on his home and strides off into the wilderness

A review will be posted on Wednesday…

Titus Alone - post II

You start to realise as the book goes on that what is missing compared to Titus Groan and Gormenghast is the character of the castle itself. Without the looming colossus that is the castle it becomes clear that it acted as a great backdrop against the weirdness of the various characters that lived and worked within it. Take those out and then change the setting from something almost medieval to something more modern and the crux of the story falls on Titus’s shoulders.

The slight problem there is that Titus is a character with a reasonably simple motive – having run away from home to wander and fight the homesickness – and therefore he is loathe to pin himself down to long relationships. It makes it a slight struggle because the other characters that pick up the dialogue when Titus is absent are not as deep as someone like the doctor or Steerpike.

But having said that the under river world shows that when it comes to imagination Peake really doesn’t have any borders and he can create numerous characters. None of his characters are run of the mill and each has been invested with effort right down to those who seem to have just one word to contribute to the dialogue.

Bullet points between pages 57 – 131

* Having been captured Titus is sent to court and although the judge thinks he is mad Juno, the woman who has been attracted to him since he fell onto her at the party, asks for him to be given into her care

* She dotes on him and looks after him for several months and they become lovers but Titus grows weary of her and tells her he must go and so leaves and heads for Muzzlehatch’s menagerie

* On the way a globe in the air follows him and Titus uses his flint stone from home to smash it but that brings a group of scientists chasing after him and so following Muzzlehatch’s advice he goes into the under river world where dark and damp surrounds home an odd collection of people

* One of the inhabitants is a spidery man who is interrupted beating up his female companion by Titus and they have a fight that would probably have ended in death for the Earl of Gormenghast if Muzzlehatch had not turned up

* They take the girl and escape and on the way to Juno’s home, a safe refuge, Titus again announces his plan to leave and departs from his protector but doesn’t seem to get too far because next he is being looked after in the shadow of the factory by the chief scientists daughter

* Having had all of his animals killed by the scientists and all sort of hope gone Muzzlehatch resolves to find Gormenghast and Titus and heads off looking for them both

More possibly over the weekend…

Titus Alone - post I

This might appear to be going off at a tangent but stick with me and hopefully you’ll see where I am coming from. In Franz Kafka’s book America the size and scale of normal things like hotels, factories and roads are used to great effect to unsettle both the reader and Karl the main character.

There is something quite similar going on here but it not using scale but just the difference between a world where it is all stones, ancient traditions and bright carver ceremonies into something existing in parallel with cars, glass buildings, lifts and aeroplanes. It feels odd, unsettling and incredibly hard to mentally put Titus groan seventy-seventh Earl of Gormenghast into that situation.

“Though his eyes shone with the thrill of his discovery, he suffered at the same time a pang of resentment – a resentment that this alien realm should be able to exist in a world that appeared to have no reference to his home and which seemed, in fact, supremely self-sufficient. A region that had never heard of Fuchsia and her death, nor of her father, the melancholy earl, nor of his mother the countess with her strange liquid whistle that brought wild birds to her from distant spinneys.
Were they coeval; were they simultaneous? These worlds; these realms – could they both be true? Were there no bridges? Was there no common land? Did the same sun shine upon them? Had they the constellations of the night in common?”

Bullet points between pages 1 – 57

* Titus has turned his back on Gormenghast but the first surprise is that as he rode out of the castle at the end of the last book he is now using a boat and drifting down a river evading capture from men wearing helmets

* But he succumbs to fatigue and is washed up and picked up by a man who doesn’t know what to do with him but then a larger than life character Muzzlehatch picks him up and puts him in the car and evades the police

* But Titus wants to get away from Muzzlehatch who is odd with his tendency to talk to animals and keep large numbers of them in cages so he heads off into the city and finds an aerodrome and then hides inside a glass building

* He observes a party and makes a dramatic entrance after falling through the glass roof and again Muzzlehatch is there to save him but this time they argue and Titus refuses his help and is captured and put into prison

More strangeness tomorrow…

Gormenghast - post VI

The payoff for reading through 700 pages of the first and second volume combined is that as things reach a conclusion it gets to a can’t put down stage. Steerpike is such a great character because it is for the reasons of finding out what he will do next that you keep reading so avidly and get through the parts that might not appeal so much. In the end the quest to hunt him down consumes the castle and its main characters, although there is still time for a few nasty surprises.

Bullet points between pages

* As the flood waters rise the castle has to move to the upper floors and the Countess becomes the centre of activity ordering staff around but also constantly looking out for Steerpike hoping to use the flood waters as a net to catch him

* The bright carvers, trapped in one wind of the castle for their own protection, start to make boats and one of these is given to Titus who uses the canoe to go off and explore a part of the castle that he has not seen before

* As he climbs onto a balcony and enters a room Steerpike steals his canoe and believes he has got away without being seen but Titus saw his path of escape and heads back to the Countess to tell her where he is

* He not only tells her where he is but gives her a demonstration of independent thought, which reaches a higher stage when a messenger arrives to report that Fuchsia is dead as a result of drowning

* It’s a shame that the loveless girl thinks of suicide, sits on her window sill, and then just as she starts to think that it might not be a good idea someone knocks at the door and she slips, knocks herself out and falls into the water below

* In a rage Titus joins with the Countess to find Steerpike and they manage to surprise him trapped in a flooded room with no escape but the slippery character manages to kill the man sent into get him and then when discovered dives into the water and swims out of the room

* But watching from a room above Titus realises that Steerpike is hiding in the ivy thickly carpeting the castle wall and he climbs out to get to him and once they meet Steerpike can't resist crowing like a cock as he imagines he can kill the Earl but that moment of pride costs him his life

* With Steerpike dead and the flood waters receeding normality returns to the castle but Titus still yearns for his freedom and after visiting his sister's grave he tells his mother that he is leaving and rides off into the unknown

A full review will follow in a couple of days but it's fair to sat that this was worth waiting for and the description, particularly of the final moments of Steerpike, is excellently done...

Gormenghast – post IV

As the pages start to mount the ever so clever Steerpike starts to slip and the material is there for those that have the time and moment to put it together, namely the doctor and Flay. The Countess, who you initially suspected as being the person who might sniff Steerpike out is focusing on The Thing, which is rivalling her for attention of the birds.

Bullet points between pages 167 – 247

* The headmaster and Irma declare their feelings for each other in a dark arbour in the garden without either revealing their physical faults and as they head back to the house a laugh out loud moment happens concerning one of the old professors who rushes past them naked and jumps the garden wall to disappear forever

* Steerpike decides it is time to rid the world of his master but he underestimates the stubborn strength of Barquentine and as he tries to burn the old retainer they wrestle and although they fall into the moat and the old man dies Steerpike is not only burnt and scarred but his confidence is undermined

* Meanwhile Titus and Fuchsia head out to meet Flay and tell the old servant what has happened with Barquentine dying and Steerpike taking over but the most important news for Flay is the existence of a tunnel into the castle

* Flay starts coming into the castle, particularly when the castle is snowed in for a month, and he is the last to hear the starving and insane twins lose their fight with life, and he sets out to sniff out the evil in the castle

* Back at the doctor’s house Irma is infatuated with Bellgrove the headmaster while her brother muses on what his patient Steerpike said when he was in a delirium recovering from his burns

“He had been thinking of Steerpike’s accession to the key position that he now occupied. He had also been reflecting upon the way he had behaved as a patient. His fortitude had been matchless and his will to live quite savage. But for the most part, the Doctor was turning over in his mind something that was quite different. It was a phrase, which, at the height of Steerpike’s delirium, had broken loose from the chaos of his ravings – ‘And the Twins will make it five.’ The young man had shouted – ‘and the Twins will make it five.’"

* Titus celebrates his 10th birthday and in the moments when he should be enjoying himself he declares his desire to be free of the constraints if his office being Earl and escape from the castle forever

More tomorrow…

Gormenghast - post III

The vast majority of the day’s reading is spent sharing the build-up and then the reality of the party that the doctor and his sister hold in an attempt to find her a husband out of the professors.

Bullet points between pages 127 – 167

* Apart from the party there is a moment when Steerpike and Fuchsia end up arm in arm and kiss but she is horrified that this person, who by the by keeps stealing poison, is near her and she pushes him away and runs off

* The rest of the focus is on the professors who all react publicly with a mixture of indifference and amusement to the party but underneath are quite excited about it none so more than Bellgrove the headmaster who believes the rumours the staff tell him about Irma’s love for him

* They troop into the doctors house and one by one try to put themselves forward as suitable candidates, without of course indicating to their rivals that the care, but last to enter the room is the headmaster

* Bellgrove has quite an impact on Irma, who is using a cold hot water bottle as padding to convince suitors she had breasts to, but she can barely see him with out her glasses on so she has a vision of white and runs from the room struck by the love thunderbolt

Is it true love for Irma and Bellgrove? Or for Steerpike and Fuchsia for that matter? More on Monday…

book of books - Titus Groan

The reason for picking up a thick trilogy volume that had laid on the bookshelf ever since it was purchased in 2000 was because of such a passionate review of the book by Stephen Lang on his blog. This book was a tie-in with a televison show that cost millions and had a reasonably impressive cast but failed to inspire and in some cases, mine included, actually put you off wanting to read the books. But making the effort is well worth it.

Characters
It is impossible to talk about Titus Groan without dwelling on the characters that can be broadly split into two camps – the groan family and the servants. Plus of course the castle and the surrounding geography.
In the Groan family the book starts with Titus being born, an heir to the earldom of the world of Gormenghast. His father the Earl and mother the Countess already have a daughter Fuchsia, a dreamer and incredibly immature. The father is a depressed book lover and the mother is obsessed with the odd combination of white cats and birds. There are also two twin sisters of the Earl but they are isolated and jealous of the Countess and their lack of power.
In terms of servants the most important are the keeper of traditions Sourdust, Flay the Earl’s servant and the doctor and his sister. Nannie Slagg is in charge of Titus’s upbringing and introduces Keda as a wet nurse into the castle. There is also Swelter the head cook and with him comes an escapee from the kitchen Steerpike who is hungry for power and is the catalyst for the changes that start to plague the Groan family.
On top of that there is the incredible world of the castle of Gormenghast, a massive castle that has numerous rooms and places that are also accompanied by the surrounding landscape containing woods and the land occupied by the bright carvers who seem to be some sort of tribal people carving wooden statutes in the shadow of the castle.

Plot summary
Titus is born and the castle is thrown into disarray, which is heightened by Steerpike’s craven lust for power that takes him from working for the doctor to becoming master of the twin sisters. He convinces the sisters that the best way for them to get power is to burn down the library. During the fire Sourdust dies, the books are burnt and as a result the Earl of Groan loses his mind. Against this background Flay and Swelter fight out a deadly duel that leaves the fat cook dead but Flay banished from the castle. Throughout the book the characters are explored and what is established is that in various different ways they are all prisoners of tradition and the castle itself. The book ends with Titus being made Earl after his father’s disappearance, to go and live with the owls, and Steerpike positioned to gain more influence.

Is it well written?
This is a piece of imaginative wordsmithing on a level with the likes of Lord of the Rings and Narnia for being able to construct a complete world. It might not have the ambition of those two books but as a location the castle is constantly unfolding there is a depth of vision that is impressive. It is easy to access and there are moments of both humour, usually based around the doctor, action with the fight between Flay and Swelter and occurrences of evil scheming involving Steerpike. The challenge for a writer of a book in this style is not just getting the reader to engage with the characters, which is hard enough, but also getting them to believe in a completely different world.

Should it be read?
It deserves to be because it is something that has real beauty to it. There are moments when you are almost breathless with the way he paints a picture of the environment of Gormenghast. Although it is fantasy the characters do transcend the situation and anyone who has worked in an office will recognise their own Steerpike, depressed leader figure and the comedy character that is the doctor. The only problem that some readers might find is that because this is a trilogy it is not the sort of book you set out to read in isolation and you have to make a commitment to reading the next couple of books because obviously there will not be answers provided at the end of this volume.

Summary
Ambition and cruelty against a backdrop of the fantastic and strange with murder, love and plenty of doses of oddness.

Version read – Vintage paperback

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)…

Gormenghast - post I

Gormenghast starts setting o0ut the story five years on from the events of Titus Groan with the character of Titus becoming much more developed. As a result of his age there is an opportunity to introduce some fresh characters with the professors being the first major example and some fresh locations that Titus discovers on his travels.

Steerpike, the evil presence of the first book, seems to have settled down working with Barquentine but could be in trouble if the Countess catches him

Bullet points between pages 1 – 67

* Things start with the castle being described with a boy Titus and apart from the leap forward in time not a great deal seems to have happened and Steerpike is up to his old tricks spying on everyone to try to get useful information

* But it is not until the Countess visits the doctor that you realise that along with all the other foul deeds he committed in Titus Groan Steerpike has also hidden the twins away and convinced everyone else they committed suicide because of the grief they felt for their brother

* Steerpike has convinced the twins that the castle has been struck by weasel plague and they are locked in for their own protection but as he orders them under the carpet the first signs of rebellion stir with them contemplating killing him

* The Countess asks the doctor to watch for evil and she vows to stamp it out if it is discovered not just for the sake of the integrity of the castle but also to protect Titus who is a boy discovering parts of the castle and being forced to attend school

* The professors are painted out as a weird bunch all more interested in doing no teaching than actually getting involved with the boys but they are told to treat Titus like any other pupil and as you get introduced to the strange world of the teaching staff

* What is even more bizarre is that from amongst the number of toothache sufferers and smoke piping mortarboard wearers the doctor’s sister hopes to find a husband and announces her plans to throw a party to find a mate

More tomorrow…