Peake’s Gormenghst Trilogy follows many conventions of the Gothic novel. I thought it might be helpful to discuss some of the tropes common to this type of story.
M.H. Abrams’ A Glossary of Literary Terms is quite useful in this regard:
The locale was often a gloomy castle furnished with dungeons, subterranean passages, and sliding panels; the typical story focused on the sufferings imposed on an innocent heroine by a cruel and lustful villain, and made bountiful use of ghosts, mysterious disappearances, and other sensational and supernatural occurrences (which in a number of novels turned out to have natural explanations). The principal aim of such novels was to evoke chilling terror by exploiting mystery and a variety of horrors.
The term “Gothic” has also been extended to a type of fiction which lack the exotic setting of the earlier romances, but develops a brooding atmosphere of gloom and terror, represents events that are uncanny or macabre or melodramatically violent, and often deals with aberrant psychological states.
Gloomy castle? Check.
Cruel villain? Steerpike, check.
Macabre or melodramatic violence? The burning of the library, Swelter’s obsession with his cleaver and attempted murder of Mr.Flay. Check and check.
All these things help develop the brooding atmosphere and sense of terror afoot at Castle Groan. But maybe the most effective technique for evoking horror is the unique and grotesque characterization of the inhabitants of the castle. That is for another post!
Strange, somber, and unconventional, Peake’s first novel Titus Groan delights the senses with prose that challenges even the most cerebral reader and so begins the tragic chronicle of the Groans and Castle Gormenghast.
The gothic beauty of Mervyn Peake’s Castle Groan, one of the most vivid and detailed settings in the fantasy genre, may finally make it to the silver screen, with none other than fantasy heavyweight Neil Gaiman at the helm.
The Aberrant Rag 