Shoebox Reviews: The Gormenghast Trilogy
Writing by williamfbuckley on Monday, 3 of March , 2008 at 6:05 pm
If you’re into fantasy or gothic novels, and don’t mind books that run to 1020 pages, then you might like this odd “cult classic” by the British author (and painter) Mervyn Peake.
It’s usually considered, alongside Lord of the Rings, one of the great fantasy epics, but it is actually completely unlike LOTR, as its fantasy elements are subtle; rather than orcs, elves, hobbits or wraiths and/or bouts of rabid magic and mass killing, the world described here is fringed with a mystical glow — lots of centuries-old ritual, snotty aristocrats sparring off with “primitive” peoples, descriptions of castles and animals that seem to know what you’re saying, etc. It’s also quite funny, and might, in the end, be closer to Alice in Wonderland or Harry Potter than LOTR (though, again, with no magic).
The basic story concerns the Seventy-Seventh Earl of Gormenghast, Titus Groan, and the timeless world that he has been born into. We meet his incredibly depressed father, Sepulchrave, his flighty and also melancholic sister, Fuchsia, a very strange doctor named Prunesquallor and his annoying sister with the pointy nose, Irma, and Flay (played by Christopher Lee in the BBC version), the loyal but cantankerous servant to Sepulchrave.
The most dynamic character, though, is Steerpike, a former kitchen servant (or slave, actually) who escapes and slowly makes his way into the heart of castle life, becoming quite prominent in the social hierarchy, all of which he accompishes by a lot of cunning and a series of brilliantly described murders. After Steerpike, in fact, the best character might be the castle itself — I’ve never wanted to crawl around on all fours through musty tunnels filled with rats and moss as I have reading this book (or playing Half-Life 2).
Well, I could tell you more — about the mystical creature known as “The Thing” who has skin the color of robin’s eggs, of the flood that nearly submerges the entire castle, of the gruesome death of the two absurdly unintelligent sisters by starvation whose howls resonate throughout the castle – etc. but why give it away?
I should mention that the first two books in the series were written when Peake was quite healthy; by the time he started the third one, he was in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s. The final book had to be edited by his wife, and is half as long as the previous ones, but it has its surprises as well. Think: Buck Rogers meets Kafka meets, I don’t know, the strangest episode of Lost you can think of — sex and violence and the whole nine yards.
So the first two books are like a dream, the last a bit of a nightmare, and if not as amazingly well written, still full of surprises. What I’ve seen of the BBC production pales in comparison — this is a book that either needs the Peter Jackson (LOTR) treatment, or, conversely, the David Lynch (Dune) treatment, since the description of the world is so rich, you’d need no one less than a visionary to bring it to the screen.
Category: Shoebox Reviews, Columns, Writing
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Comment by Alice
Made Tuesday, 11 of March , 2008 at 8:51 am
Its wonderful to see this great work of art remains alive and vital!! Its weird, disconcerting and surreal and I totally agree that this is one work that would be difficult to capture on the big screen - although I was impressed with Peter Jackson’s LOTR. It’d be like trying to describe the flavor of moroccan food!!
