Gormenghast () is a fantasy series by British author Mervyn Peake, about the inhabitants of Castle Gormenghast, a sprawling, decaying, Gothic structure. Originally conceived as a single on-going novel, the series was ended by Peake's death and comprises three novels: Titus Groan (1946), Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959); and a novella, Boy in Darkness (1956). Peake was writing a fourth novel, Titus Awakes, at the time of his death in 1968. The book was completed by Peake's widow Maeve Gilmore in the 1970s, but was not published until 2011 after it was discovered by their family.
Although the first two books do not contain any overtly fantastical elements, Gormenghast is almost unanimously categorised as fantasy because of the atmosphere and pseudo-medieval setting. The series has received widespread acclaim from the speculative fiction community and mainstream literary critics.
The series has been included in Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels and 100 Must Read Fantasy Novels as one of the greatest fantasy works of the twentieth century. In his book The Western Canon, literary critic Harold Bloom included the series among the 20th century works he predicted to be canonised. Elsewhere, he called it the "marvelous Gormenghast trilogy" and indicated a preference for it over the fantasy writings of the Inklings, namely J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams. Gormenghast is often credited as the first fantasy of manners novel. The books have been translated into over twenty languages.
Works The series comprises three books: Titus Groan (1946), Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959). A short book, Boy in Darkness (1956), tells the story of a brief adventure by the young Titus away from Gormenghast, although it does not name the castle.
Peake had intended to write a series of books following Titus Groan through his life, as well as detailing his relationship with Gormenghast. At least two other books, tentatively titled Titus Awakes and Gormenghast Revisited, were planned but Parkinson's disease and Peake's ensuing death at the age of 57 prevented him from writing more than a few hundred words and ideas for further volumes. Only three pages of Titus Awakes were coherently written and can be found in the Overlook Press edition of Titus Alone () and in the omnibus volume ().
In the 1970s, Peake's widow Maeve Gilmore wrote her version of Titus Awakes, which she called Search Without End. The Peake family announced the discovery of this book in 2010, and it was published by The Overlook Press as Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast in 2011 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Peake's birth.
Setting Gormenghast is a remote and reclusive earldom dominated by the huge Castle Gormenghast at its centre, and ruled by the noble family of Groan since time immemorial. The earldom derives its name from Gormenghast Mountain, and is isolated from the outside world by inhospitable regions on each side of it. To the North are marshy wastelands, to the South are grey salt marshes (and presumably then the ocean), to the East are quicksands and the tideless sea, and to the West are knuckles of endless rock.Titus Groan, Chapter: "The Burning"
To the West also lies the claw-like Gormenghast Mountain, with the Twisted Woods and Gormenghast River at its foot. East of them are escarpments described as "an irregular tableland of greeny-black rock, broken and scarred and empty", then desolate swamp before the vicinity of the castle is reached.Titus Groan, Chapter: "The Grotto" Gormenghast Mountain is said to be so large that from the castle it looks at most a few miles distant, whereas in fact it is a day's ride away on horseback. However, this is contradicted by events within the story, when various characters are able to travel on foot to the castle and back within a single day. Given that it is surrounded on three sides by watery regions, it is not implausible that the entire region can be flooded, as described in the second book, Gormenghast.
At the centre of the earldom is the vast, largely deserted castle, whose remaining inhabitants centre their lives on the ritual surrounding the ruling family of Groan. The castle is described as being like an immense island of stone, its every outline familiar to the inhabitants, who know "every bay, inlet and headland of the great stone island of the Groans, of its sheer cliffs, of its crumbling outcrops, the broken line of the towers".Titus Groan, Chapter: "In Preparation for Violence" Dominating the ivy-covered, crumbling castle is the highest tower, the Tower of Flints, which is inhabited by great numbers of owls. The castle is so huge that most of the inhabitants do not venture outside except for ceremonies. Outside the castle, clustered under the northern walls, is a hodge-podge of mud dwellings inhabited by the "Bright Carvers", villagers whose only contact with the aristocrats is their annual ritual of carving elaborate objects out of wood and presenting them to the Earl for his judging of the winning carving. They are in awe of the "Castles", as they call Gormenghast's elite inhabitants.
Some contact with the outside world is implied; Dr Prunesquallor at one point sketches an ostrich skeleton, while Steerpike procures a monkey from somewhere. Otherwise, the impression given is that Gormenghast is stagnant, insular and introspective. A recurring theme is the time-consuming, complex and pointless rituals that the inhabitants submit to regularly, the origin and purpose of which is long forgotten. Gormenghast makes a stark contrast with the industrious and technologically advanced city that is the setting of Titus Alone.
Story Titus Groan
The story begins with the birth of the eponymous Titus, as the heir to the throne of the House of Groan, and finishes just over a year later with his "Earling" or formal investiture as the seventy-seventh Earl of Groan, after the untimely death of his father Sepulchrave. As Titus is only an infant in this novel, he plays a minor role. The main plot therefore follows the somewhat bizarre inhabitants of Gormenghast Castle, and in particular chronicles the rise to power of Steerpike, a scheming kitchen boy. Steerpike successfully destroys the existing order of the castle by inciting the power-hungry and shunned twin sisters of Sepulchrave, Cora and Clarice, to burn Sepulchrave's beloved library. This event drives Sepulchrave into madness and eventually into taking his own life. Although Cora and Clarice are not exposed as the perpetrators of the fire, they are now under Steerpike's power. A subplot involves the feud between Sepulchrave's loyal servant Flay and the chef Swelter, which ends in a fight to the death.
Gormenghast
The second book follows Titus from the age of seven to seventeen. As the 77th earl and lord of Gormenghast, he dreads the life of pre-ordained ritual that stretches before him. His desire for freedom is awakened by the sight of his foster sister, known only as "The Thing", a feral child who lives in the woods of Gormenghast (due to her mother being banished as an outcast) and who terrorizes the Bright Carvers, the inhabitants of the mud dwellings outside the castle walls. Her life of wild freedom makes him realise that an existence is possible other than the rigid formalities and ritual of the castle. Meanwhile, Steerpike continues his rise to power by killing Barquentine, the Master of Ritual, and taking his place, but he is eventually unmasked as a traitor and murderer. The castle is flooded by a rainstorm, and in a watery duel with Titus, Steerpike is killed, leaving the way clear for Titus to reign. However, his desire to leave Gormenghast is now overwhelming, Titus flees the castle for the wider world beyond Gormenghast Mountain.
Titus Alone
The story follows Titus as he travels far from Gormenghast and finds a futuristic city dominated by scientists and advanced technology. He then travels to a region where a huge modern factory stands by a lake, filled with identical-looking workers. There is a smell of death from the factory and it is hinted that sinister experiments are taking place there. Titus is increasingly haunted by his memories of Gormenghast and begins to realise its importance to his identity. At the same time, the world he encounters is so different from his old home that he begins to doubt that Gormenghast ever really existed.
Titus is helped by mysterious inhabitants he meets, such as Muzzlehatch, the owner of a zoo, who drives a shark-shaped car and becomes a friend and mentor. He is also helped by Muzzlehatch's former lover, Juno, who in turn becomes Titus's lover for a brief period. However, Titus also becomes involved with Cheeta, the daughter of the scientist who runs the factory, and who grows to hate Titus and sets out to destroy him. A heavily edited first edition was published in 1959; a fuller version compiled by Langdon Jones from Peake's early drafts was issued in 1970 and forms the basis for all subsequent editions.
Characters Peake populated his imaginary world with a large cast of characters. These include:
Ruling family Titus Groan: The main character of the series, and heir to the Earldom of Gormenghast. He succeeds to the title of 77th Earl while still a child, but as he grows older, he develops ambivalent feelings toward his home. He is torn between pride in his lineage and the desire to escape from the castle and its traditions. Titus is born at the beginning of the first book of the series, the son of Sepulchrave and Gertrude, and is an infant throughout the whole of Titus Groan. He grows up and reaches young adulthood in the second book Gormenghast, which ends with him leaving Gormenghast after defeating Steerpike in battle. In the third book, Titus Alone, Titus discovers a world outside of Gormenghast where the castle and its inhabitants are unknown. Titus also features in another book called Boy in Darkness, which appears to take place during his youth in Gormenghast, but which is unconnected to the main story. Titus's character is one of yearning for freedom and the romance of being an ordinary person without the restrictions and responsibilities of the Earldom and the tradition that comes with it.
Lord Sepulchrave: 76th Earl and Titus's father. He is a melancholy man who feels shackled by his duties as Earl, although he never questions them. His only escape is reading. However, when the castle's Library is burnt down, he is driven insane and comes to believe that he is one of the death-owls that live in the abandoned Tower of Flints.
The Countess Gertrude: 76th Countess and Titus's mother. An immense, statuesque woman with coils of dark red hair, she pays little attention to her family or the rest of Gormenghast. Instead, she spends her time locked away in her bedroom, in the company of a legion of cats and birds, the only beings toward which she shows affection. However, when required to use her intelligence she turns out to be one of the cleverest people in the castle, when (along with Flay and the doctor) she recognizes and investigates the worrying changes transpiring in Gormenghast. She demonstrates unexpected leadership qualities during the flooding of the castle and hunt for Steerpike, but once those threats have passed she retreats back into her isolated world. According to Sepulchrave's sisters, the Ladies Cora and Clarice, Gertrude is of common blood and not of the noble bloodline of the Groans.Titus Groan, Chapter: "The Room of Roots"