clapper@nadc (09/24/85)
From: clapper@NADC >From: Dave Godwin <godwin@uci-icse> > > Have any of you folks read the Gormenghast trilogy, or parts >there of ? I'll reserve further discussion until I hear more. I read the Titus Groan saga about three years ago. I never could decide whether the author, Mervyn Peake, intended the trilogy to be satire, art, or just depressing. I thought Peake did a marvelous job of portraying a "royal" establishment rotting from within. The environment he described was in such a state of decay that I could almost smell the odor. To me, the books were a study in the futility of the characters' lives. The characters themselves were rather flat, as though Peake intended each one to personify a certain idea, almost to the exclusion of any other character trait. For example, Steerpike was the ultimate conniver and misogynist. Titus' sister, Fuschia (what a name!), was the caricature of a girl lost in her daydreams and romances. On the whole, the atmosphere of Gormenghast, particularly the castle, made more of an impact on me than the plot. I found the tone of the three books to be relentlessly despairing. I also never quite got over the feeling that Mervyn Peake was somehow pulling my leg. Brian M. Clapper