Book description
As the first novel opens, Titus, heir to Lord Sepulchrave, has just
been born: he stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar
that stand for Gormenghast Castle. Inside, all events are predetermined
by a complex ritual, lost in history, understood only by Sourdust, Lord
of the Library. There are tears and strange laughter; fierce births and
deaths beneath umbrageous ceilings; dreams and violence and
disenchantment contained within a labyrinth of stone. Mervyn Peake was
born in 1911 in Kuling, Central Southern China, where his father was a
medical missionary. His education began in China and then continued at
Eltham College in South East London, followed by the Croydon School of
Art and the Royal Academy Schools. Subsequently he became an artist,
married the painter Maeve Gilmore in 1937 and had three children. During
the Second World War he established a reputation as a gifted book
illustrator for Ride a Cock Horse (1940), The Hunting of the Snark
(1941), and The Rime of The Ancient Mariner (1943). Other books include
Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland and Grimm's Household Tales (both
1946) and Treasure Island (1949). Titus Groan was published in 1946,
followed in 1950 by Gormenghast. Among his other works are Shapes and
Sounds (1941), Rhymes Without Reason (1944), Letters from a Lost Uncle
(1948) and Mr Pye (1953). He also wrote a number of plays including The
Wit to Woo (1957), which was met by critical failure. Titus Alone was
published in 1959. Mervyn Peake died in 1968.
