Description

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“A gorgeous, volcanic eruption . . . a work of extraordinary imagination” (The New Yorker), The Gormenghast Novels collects Mervyn Peake’s classic fantasy trilogy.
 
“The true fantasy classic of our time.” —Washington Post
 
A doomed lord, an emergent hero, an array of bizarre creatures, and an ancient royal family plagued by madness and intrigue—these are the denizens of ancient, sprawling, tumbledown Gormenghast Castle.
 
Within its vast halls and serpentine corridors, the members of the Groan dynasty and their master, Lord Sepulchrave, grow increasingly out of touch with a changing world as they pass their days in unending devotion to meaningless rituals and arcane traditions. Meanwhile, an ambitious kitchen boy named Steerpike rises by devious means to the post of Master of the Ritual while he maneuvers to bring down the Groans.
 
In these extraordinary novels, Peake has created a world where all is like a dream: lush, fantastical, vivid; a symbol of dark struggle. Accompanying the text are Peake’s own drawings, illustrating the whole assembly of strange creatures that inhabit Gormenghast.
 
Breathtaking in its power and drenched in dark atmosphere, humor, and intrigue, The Gormenghast Novels is a classic, one of the great works of 20th-century British literature. This edition includes introductory essays by Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange, and famed humorist Quentin Crisp.
 
The Gormenghat Novels (which includes Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone) has been included in Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels, and 100 Must Read Fantasy Novels as one of the greatest fantasy works of the 20th century. Literary critic Harold Bloom has praised the series as the best fantasy novels of the 20th century and it is often compared to J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings.
 
“His inventiveness, his ingenuity, and his humor are astonishing.” —San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

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Mervyn Peake (1911–1968) was a playwright, painter, poet, illustrator, short story writer, and designer of theatrical costumes, as well as a novelist. Among his many books are the celebrated Gormenghast novels, Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone, and the posthumously published Titus Awakes, the lost book of Gormenghast finished by Peake’s wife Maeve Gilmore after his death. The Gormenghast novels, as well as Peake’s other writings, Mr. Pye and Peake’s Progress, are all available from The Overlook Press.