# Gormenghast? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962 "2007-07-24T14:52:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ea\_calendula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Ea\_calendula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ea_calendula)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962/21 "2007-07-24T20:00:37Z")
[QUOTE=ITR champion] … [Here’s an essay](http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/MervynPeake.php) that discusses the novels at greater length. [/QUOTE] Thanks for this. I’ve seen the BBC adaptation, which I liked a lot, and been thinking about reading the books. From the excerpts I can see it’s the kind of prose that you need to read slowly to really get - but when you do, it appears to be extraordinarily rich and interesting prose. I really like that. Am still feeling a bit daunted by the length of two, or even three, novels to ‘get through’, though, even if I can persuade myself to read slower 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962/22 "2007-07-24T20:24:48Z")
His poetry is wonderful, as well (excerpted from _Titus Groan_): > [@](#): > > **The Frivolous Cake** by Mervyn Peake > > A freckled and frivolous cake there was > That sailed upon a pointless sea, > Or any lugubrious lake there was > In a manner emphatic and free. > How jointlessly, and how jointlessly > The frivolous cake sailed by > On the waves of the ocean that pointlessly > Threw fish to the lilac sky. > > Oh, plenty and plenty of hake there was > Of a glory beyond compare, > And every conceivable make there was > Was tossed through the lilac air. > > Up the smooth billows and over the crests > Of the cumbersome combers flew > The frivolous cake with a knife in the wake > Of herself and her curranty crew. > Like a swordfish grim it would bounce and skim > This dinner knife fierce and blue, > And the frivolous cake was filled to the brim > With the fun of her curranty crew. > > [snip] It’s playful and quirky but with ominous undertones. Perfectly in keeping with the pitch-black sensibilities of the novel as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962/23 "2007-07-24T20:31:38Z")
I have them around here somewhere and have been meaning to re-read them. I prefer the first two books, especially the character’s speeches; it’s all so wonderfully over-the-top. This is also what I enjoyed most about the TV series–the sight of so many fine British actors gleefully gnawing scenery as they say their lines (that, and it was my introduction to Jon Rhys Myers, whom I have been a fan of since). ---
**Author:** ![Ea\_calendula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Ea\_calendula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ea_calendula)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962/24 "2007-07-24T20:38:46Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Mapp] I have them around here somewhere and have been meaning to re-read them. I prefer the first two books, especially the character’s speeches; it’s all so wonderfully over-the-top. This is also what I enjoyed most about the TV series–the sight of so many fine British actors gleefully gnawing scenery as they say their lines (that, and it was my introduction to Jon Rhys Myers, whom I have been a fan of since). [/QUOTE] British actors really seem to excel at that kind of almost-but-not-quite over-the-top character acting - it’s always so enjoyable to watch. And John Rhys-Meyers was born for that role. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962/25 "2007-07-24T22:25:34Z")
[QUOTE=Hodge] His poetry is wonderful, as well (excerpted from _Titus Groan_): It’s playful and quirky but with ominous undertones. Perfectly in keeping with the pitch-black sensibilities of the novel as a whole. [/QUOTE] My favorite lines are at the end, where the knife pierces the cake and the sea “vibrates to the drone of a cake in the throes of love”. What a wonderfully grotesque image. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962/26 "2007-07-24T22:46:29Z")
I generally like wordy writing styles, but my one attempt to read the trilogy didn’t work. I never got totally grabbed, but I still think if I force myself to read more, I would be carried through to the end. I got distracted by other things and found the book easy to put down at the spot I was at. I think I was probably into chapter 8 or so, and Titus was still only a couple of hours old. Still, I will try again sometime, and I think I’ll enjoy them. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962/27 "2007-07-26T05:14:55Z")
I’m coming into this thread really late, so I’ll just echo the other folks who said that the first two books are utter classics but the third is skippable. You have to read them on their own terms–Clark Ashton Smith did prose poems; Mervyn Peake did prose art. BTW, if you liked the Gormenghast books and want to experience a different side of Peake, you might want to check out the book _Mr. Pye_. It’s a charming little story about a fellow who’s a little too good for his own good. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962/28 "2007-07-26T05:25:34Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] I peeked at the first paragraph, and to me it seems a little wordy [/QUOTE] HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962/29 "2007-07-26T06:43:21Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] A few examples of Peake’s writing: [/QUOTE] Do I detect Peake’s influence in the writings of Prachett? I believe I do. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962/30 "2007-07-28T15:38:39Z")
I’d honestly recommend reading _Titus Groan_ and _Gormenghast_, and then just losing your copy of _Titus Alone_. The books are worth it just for the character names (my favorite is probably Swelter, the evil cook.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962/31 "2007-07-28T17:42:53Z")
Peake is a brilliant poet and one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. Imagine Dickens writing high fantasy. (In fact, the Gormenghast books can be read as parodies of Dickens.) However he’s not a page-turning story teller. The story is slow, a tale of arcane castle politics. There is little actual magic, if any. Most of the pleasures come from the bizarre characters, lovingly described, and Peake’s luxurious decadent prose. I haven’t read any Rowling but, other than both being fantasists, I doubt the two have anything in common. Peake is easily the equal, if not the better, of any of the writers in **whole bean’s** list. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gormenghast/412962.md?page=1)