Featured Lists
Authors
Mervyn Peake - Titus Alone
Price £50.50
New From £50.50
- Author: Mervyn Peake
- Type: Hardcover
- ISBN: 0753143925
- Publisher: ISIS Audio Books
Reviews
The history of the Titus Books
Mervyn Peake's series of works was published in the following order: Titus Groan (1946), Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959). In 1970, Penguin Classics published a handsome boxed set of the three illustrated paperback volumes - which is where I came in... For the last four decades I have been delighted to walk the stony corridors of Gormenghast.
Penguin published the novels again in 1983 but this time in one volume with some of Mervyn's own illustrations and with over 1,000 pages to savour. In 1984, BBC Radio 4 broadcast two 90-minute plays based on Titus Groan and Gormenghast, adapted by Brian Sibley and starring Sting and Freddie Jones. In early 2000, the BBC produced and broadcast a four-episode serial, entitled Gormenghast which was based on the first two books of the series. The glittering cast included Christopher Lee, Celia Imrie, Ian Richardson, Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw, Stephen Fry, Warren Mitchell, John Sessions and Zoë Wanamaker.
The trilogy, which has also been published by Folio, by Mandarin and by Methuen, has been described as a celebrated modernist fantasy and although Mervyn Peake was a talented and visionary artist, the story works better on the printed page. The imagination of the reader is much bolder than the limitations of the screen. The first books are a brilliant sojourn in the suffocating castle, trapped within the stone walls like dust motes, in the established ritual which governs the lives of the Groan family and their retainers. The characters which populate the Castle are unlike anyone else you will ever meet - from the highest Lord to the menial kitchen boys, all beautifully drawn.
In April 2003, the Gormenghast books were voted number 84 in BBC Big Read - not very high on the list but it's placed higher than Frankenstein, Dracula and Moby Dick!
I expect that shortly there will be a resurgence of interest in the works of Mervyn Peake when the long-lost sequel to the trilogy is published. Titus Awakes will be published next year, to mark the centenary of Peake's birth. 2011 will also see the release of a new illustrated edition of the Gormenghast trilogy, complete with 60 never-before-seen drawings by Peake which his son, Sebastian, is placing within the novel. So if you have not yet read the Titus books or need to read them again, get ahead of the crowd and be ready for the sequel. Mervyn Peake deserves to be recognised as the genius which he was.
Rosie Gamgee
'Titus Alone', whilst it may not have the narrative density of the previous two books in the trilogy, is still a fascinating and poignant read. For first-time readers there is quite a jolt in terms of setting, as Titus explores a world which seems to be completely different to his home, Gormenghast. However, the characters are just as well drawn as Flay, Prunesquallor et al.
Kieran Moore
I strongly disagree with the other reviews here that it is the weaker book. It has to be taken in context with what was happening with Peake at this time (he was very ill) and many things which were part of his life come into play in the book such as his experiences on entering Belsen. For me it is my favorite book out of the trilogy because it is more personal.
Although I will admit that Titus Alone is the weakest of the Titus trilogy, I cannot describe it as a disappointment, as have previous reviewers. Although while writing the book, Peake's powers were somewhat diminished by the onset of the Parkinson's disease that would tragically cut short his life, it is, nonetheless, still full of those characteristics that empower the earlier books: his humour and sarcastic wit, his portrayal of people as caricatures, yet with an intense realism and humanity, and his beautiful prose. His depiction of the mechanised world beyond Gormenghast Castle, ruled by a scientific-military elite who oppress the downtrodden masses, is as relevant now as when it was published in October 1959. It is probably this discontinuity between the world of Gormenghast and the world beyond that many people find dissatisfying, but which does still reward the reader who is prepared to follow Titus' path. Titus' almost-return to Gormenghast, his belief in which has led the people of the World to think him insane, is heart-achingly poignant, npt just for Titus but, by extension, for Peake himself.
Nimravus
Titus Groan, and Gormenghast are possibly two of the best written books I've ever read. Titus Alone is quite a different story. Firstly the tone has changed, Peake's descriptive and often surreal writing style seems to have let him down this time. most of the text seems inane and extremely confusing and I must admit more than once I found my mind wondering from the page in front of me. A very dissapointing end to the trilogy, it would probably be best to miss it out all together.
