This week, I finished the the first of three novels which are supposedly said to rival Tolkien for originality and depth of immersion. Written between 1940 and 1959, the unfinished series by Mervyn Peake captured the imagination of the public, and are widely known as the “Gormenghast” books. Good name for a Warcraft horde character by the way. Gormenghast is the name of the Fortress, and Titus Groan is its Earl. He was 1 year old at the end of the first book.
As you might expect, compared to a modern book, it’s fairly slow moving and wordy, and there are chapters containing the most frustrating of exchanges between grunting and gesturing individuals. It’s all very peculiar stuff, and unpredictable enough to keep up my interest. Having said that, I place it in the same boat as Don Quixote and Jonathan Swift; once you’ve read their first book, the rest is much the same and so I don’t think I’ll continue with the the other two. I’ll watch the BBC DVD if I can get a hold of it. My reading life is too short now.
I bookmarked some particularly ethereal paragraphs for quoting here as I wanted to demonstrate what a struggle some sections were. Here’s an example, though it’s not typical of the rest of the book.
“Through her, in microcosm, the wide earth sobbed. The starglobe sank in her; the colours faded. The death-dew rose and the wild birds in her breast climbed to her throat and gathered songless, hovering, all tumult, wing to wing, so ardent for those climes where all things end.”
Traumatised by his World War Two experiences, Peake later contracted Parkinson’s disease and died in 1968 whilst working on the early parts of the 4th in the series. I give him 3 stars for this one. Very original. What will become of that devious Steerpike character?