Gormenghast (series)

Gormenghast

AuthorMervyn Peake
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre
PublisherEyre & Spottiswoode
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)

Gormenghast (/ˈɡɔːrmənɡɑːst/) 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 installments do not contain any overtly fantastical elements, Gormenghast is almost unanimously categorised as fantasy because of the atmosphere and pseudo-medieval setting.[1][2] The series has received widespread acclaim from the speculative fiction community and mainstream literary critics.[3]

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. Literary critic Harold Bloom has praised the series as the best fantasy novels of the 20th century and one of the greatest sequences in modern world literature.[citation needed] Gormenghast is often credited as the first fantasy of manners novel.[4][5] The books have been translated into over twenty languages.[6]

  1. ^ Irwin, Robert (1996). The St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers. p. 470.
  2. ^ Franklin, Michael; Meacham, Beth; Searles, Baird (1982). A Reader's Guide To Fantasy. p. 123.
  3. ^ "Part G". Peake in Print: Assessments of Peake in Books – via peakestudies.com.
  4. ^ Temple, Emily (8 August 2013). "50 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels That Everyone Should Read". flavorwire.com. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  5. ^ "Fantasy of Manners". bestfantasybooks.com. Best Fantasy Books. Archived from the original on 30 August 2016.
  6. ^ "Mervyn Peake". The English Literary Canon. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2021.