The Gormenghast Trilogy (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Mervyn Peake
- First Published: 1946
- Type of Work: Fantasy
- Time of Work: A mythical present
- Setting: The castle of Gormenghast and the surrounding countries
- Principal Characters: Titus Groan, Lord Sepulchrave, Countess Gertrude, Lady Fuchsia, Dr. Prunesquallor, Steerpike, Bellgrove, Juno
- Genres: Long fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: Freedom, Family or family life, Self-discovery, Tradition, Politics, Crime or criminals, Murder or homicide, Other worlds, Brothers and sisters, Inheritance or succession, Castles, Aristocracy or aristocrats, Adventure, Fire, Twins or multiple-birth siblings, Zoos, Arson, Parallel universes or alternate dimensions
- Locales: Gormenghast (mythic)
The Novels
Titus Groan, the first book of The Gormenghast Trilogy, may well be the only work in English literature whose most striking character is a building—the building being Gormenghast Castle, the immensely old and inconceivably huge ancestral home of the Groans. The story of Titus, the Seventy-Seventh Earl of Groan, is one that takes an extraordinarily long time to get under way. Titus Groan starts with Dr. Prunesquallor delivering Countess Gertrude’s baby, Titus, and by the end of the book, Titus is only one year old. The hundreds of pages...
[The entire page is 3413 words long]
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