A Family that Groans Together: “Titus Groan” Review

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.

This gothic fantasy gets off to a slow and inauspicious start, detailing a ceremony of the bright carvers, inhabitants that live in hovels outside the castle and carve statues to honor Lord Sepulchrave the 76th Earl of Groan. Taking place in the shadow of Gormenghast, the whole scene offers an excellent glimpse into the Castle’s immensity and immutability. Even if the plot meanders, the verve of Peake’s descriptions are a pleasure.

Neil Gaiman to Adapt New 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.

Gaiman made the announcement on his Twitter feed.

The Gormenghast Trilogy has long been a favorite of many authors, including C.S. Lewis, Michael Moorcock, and Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange). Titus Groan, the first novel in the series, was published in 1950, the same year as Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and four years before The Lord of the Rings.