Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

When I finished this novel I had to take a deep breath and blink several times before I could readjust myself and realize I was alone in a small house on an ordinary street, and not in an immense crumbling castle under the shadow of a darkly looming mountain, surrounded by characters both grotesque and (sometimes) quite mad. Marvyn Peake took me away to an alternate reality through a veritable deluge of words, but it was an oppressive and surreal world, and often not a comfortable place to inhabit.

Titus Groan is often compared to The Lord of the Rings, most probably because it is also part of a long trilogy (The Gormenghast Novels)which takes place in an alternate universe, and because the comparison and the labeling of it as a fantasy would attract readership. But the two are very dissimilar. We have no elves or wizards or orcs in Gormenghast Castle. No Ring Wraiths or Dark Lord to defeat. Rather, we have a cast of people with exaggerated eccentricities and names, much like those in Dickens. We have echoes of Poe, in the descriptions of sounds and in the images of darkness to create a sense of dread. Most of all, we have the very sounds of the words used, which I can only compare to the writing of Lovecraft in his horror novels. It is Gothic in the extreme, and could even be compared to the Southern Gothic of Faulkner.

The story begins with the birth of Titus and ends less than two years later, with his "Earling" as the new head of the Groan kingdom. This first volume of the trilogy is not really about Titus at all, but rather about his surroundings, his relatives, and some of the servants who inhabit the castle. Most of all, its plot concerns the Machiavellian and ambitious Steerpike, whose schemes lead directly to the "Earling" of Titus.

Despite expectations, Titus Groan is also very darkly humorous, primarily because of the characters, most of whom display unique and ludicrous speech patterns and habits.

But in the end, it is the writing itself which takes center stage. Through words alone Peake has created a mood, an image, a ponderous reality. For example, this is the closing of the book:

"There would be tears and there would be strange laughter. Fierce births and deaths beneath umbrageous ceilings. And dreams, and violence, and disenchantment.

"And there shall be a flame-green daybreak soon. And love itself will cry for insurrection! For tomorrow is also a day--and Titus has entered his stronghold."

I don't doubt that many would hate this novel; it is certainly unusual reading, even for fans of fantasy literature, to whom it is marketed. It is long; it is grotesque; it contains pages-long descriptions. But those who love it will really love it. I did.