Accompanying the text are Peake's own drawings, illustrating the whole assembly of strange creatures that inhibit Gormenghast.īreathtaking in its power and drenched in dark atmosphere, humor and intrigue, The Gormenghast Trilogy is a classic, one of the great works of 20th century British literature. In these extraordinary novels, Peake has created a world where all is like a dream: lush, fantastical, vivid a symbol of dark struggle. Meanwhile, an ambitious kitchen boy named Steerpike rises by devious means to the post of Master of the Ritual while he maneuvers to bring down the Groans. Within its vast halls and serpentine corridors, the members of the Groan dynasty and their master Lord Sepulchrave grow increasingly out of touch with a changing world as they pass their days in unending devotion to meaningless rituals and arcane traditions. Introductory Essays by Anthony Burgess and Quentin Crisp ReviewĪ doomed lord, an emergent hero, an array of bizarre creatures, and an ancient royal family plagued by madness and intrigue-these are the denizens of ancient, sprawling, tumbledown Gormenghast Castle. Accompanying the text are Peake's own drawings, illustrating the whole assembly of strange and marvelous creatures that inhabit Gormenghast.

In these extraordinary novels, Peake has created a world where all is like a dream lush, fantastical, and vivid.

At the center of it all is the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, who stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle and its kingdom, unless the conniving Steerpike, who is determined to rise above his menial position and control the House of Groan, has his way.

The first complete paperback edition of the restored Gormenghast Novels, including twelve critical essays and Mervyn Peake's unfinished fourth novel, Titus Awakes.Ī doomed lord, an emergent hero, and a dazzling array of bizarre creatures inhabit the magical world of the Gormenghast novels which, along with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, reigns as one of the undisputed fantasy classics of all time.

The Gormenghast Novels by Mervyn Peake