Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$14.87 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
Fulfilled by Amazon

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $2.75 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The Gormenghast Novels (Titus Groan / Gormenghast / Titus Alone)
 
See larger image 
See all product images
See all 2 customer images
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Gormenghast Novels (Titus Groan / Gormenghast / Titus Alone) [Paperback]

Mervyn Peake (Author), Anthony Burgess (Introduction), Quentin Crisp (Introduction)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (130 customer reviews) |
List Price: $29.95
Price: $19.77 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $10.18 (34%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Wednesday, May 30? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Leather Bound --   -- --
Paperback $19.77   -- --

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1995
A doomed lord, an emergent hero, and a dazzling array of bizarre creatures inhabit the magical world of the Gormenghast novels which, along with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, reign as one of the undisputed fantasy classics of all time. At the center of it all is the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, who stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle and its kingdom, unless the conniving Steerpike, who is determined to rise above his menial position and control the House of Groan, has his way.

In these extraordinary novels, Peake has created a world where all is like a dream--lush, fantastical, and vivid. Accompanying the text are Peake's own drawings, illustrating the whole assembly of strange and marvelous creatures that inhabit Gormenghast.
Introductory Essays by Anthony Burgess and Quentin Crisp
Twelve critical essays
Fragment of the unpublished novel, Titus Awakes

"Mervyn Peake is a finer poet than Edgar Allan Poe, and he is therefore able to maintain his world of fantasy brilliantly through three novels. It is a very, very great work . . . a classic of our age."-- Robertson Davies

"[Peake's books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience."-- C. S. Lewis

"This extravagant epic about a labyrinthine castle populated with conniving Dickensian grotesques is the true fantasy classic of our time."-- The Washington Post Book World

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Gormenghast ~ Jonathan Rhys Meyers DVD $23.20

The Gormenghast Novels (Titus Groan / Gormenghast / Titus Alone) + Gormenghast
Price For Both: $42.97

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: The Gormenghast Novels (Titus Groan / Gormenghast / Titus Alone) by Mervyn Peake Paperback

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Gormenghast ~ Jonathan Rhys Meyers DVD

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mervyn Peake's gothic masterpiece, the Gormenghast trilogy, begins with the superlative Titus Groan, a darkly humorous, stunningly complex tale of the first two years in the life of the heir to an ancient, rambling castle. The trilogy continues with the novels Gormenghast and Titus Alone, and all three books are bound together in this single-volume edition.

The Gormenghast royal family, the castle's decidedly eccentric staff, and the peasant artisans living around the dreary, crumbling structure make up the cast of characters in these engrossing stories. Peake's command of language and unique style set the tone and shape of an intricate, slow-moving world of ritual and stasis:

"The walls of the vast room which were streaming with calid moisture, were built with gray slabs of stone and were the personal concern of a company of eighteen men known as the 'Grey Scrubbers'.... On every day of the year from three hours before daybreak until about eleven o'clock, when the scaffolding and ladders became a hindrance to the cooks, the Grey Scrubbers fulfilled their hereditary calling."

Peake has been compared to Dickens, Tolkien, and Peacock, but the Gormenghast trilogy is truly unique. Unforgettable characters with names like Steerpike and Prunesquallor make their way through an architecturally stifling world, with lots of dark corners around to dampen any whimsy that might arise. This true classic is a feast of words unlike anything else in the world of fantasy. Those who explore Gormenghast castle will be richly rewarded. --Therese Littleton

Review

This is the first complete, single-volume paperback edition of the restored novels and includes twelve critical essays and an unfinished fourth novel. As the divided paperbacks of previous years are proving increasingly hard to come by, this will prove a far superior edition for many newcomers, presenting the poetic fantasy trilogy in a single-cover format which makes the entire sequence easier to digest. -- Midwest Book Review
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  • Paperback: 1168 pages
  • Publisher: Overlook Press; First Printing edition (December 1, 1995)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0879516283
  • ISBN-13: 978-0879516284
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 2.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (130 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Mervyn Laurence Peake Page
Mervyn Laurence Peake
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
171 of 180 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The first two Gormenghast novels are unlike any other books I've ever read. They seem to be fantasy, set in a huge crumbling castle and involving a huge, crumbling aristocratic family. But unlike most fantasy, there's no quest -- no saving the princess, no strange journey, not much of a plot to speak of.

It's less reading than pure immersion -- you sink into this castle and its characters, follow them about their daily lives, get to know them and the castle. Peake's prose is intensely visual; he's an eloquent tour guide, pointing out the strange sights and marvels around every corner.

There is a plot, of course, but it moves slowly across the two books, detailing a scheming kitchen boy's rise to power in the decaying monarchy. As I said before, the plot's not the point -- the characters, the atmosphere, the *experience* are what will keep you reading. I've never lived in a book like I did with these.

Unfortunately, the last (and shortest) of the trilogy takes a different tack with much less success. "Titus Alone" follows the heir to the Gormenghast throne as he leaves the castle and ventures into the world. Peake makes two major mistakes: he leaves behind the castle, which is the main character in the previous books, and he focuses on the picaresque plot instead of Titus' character. A little science fiction also creeps in, and seems wildly out of place. "Titus Alone" is just a series of sometimes amusing scenes. They don't develop Titus' character or introduce us to any memorable people -- a stark contrast to the first two novels, which are full of strange and wondrous folk.

The notes in the edition I have say that Peak hadn't finished Titus Alone when he died, and that his estate edited it for publication, so that may explain its inferiority.

My disapointment in the last book, however, doesn't affect my love for the first two. Definitely pick up these books and dive into Peake's strange world -- but mind the shallow water at the end.

Was this review helpful to you?
92 of 96 people found the following review helpful
The Lure of Gormenghast January 14, 2000
Format:Paperback
"Titus Groan" by Mervyn Peake is among the greatest works rendered in the English language. It is a work of fantasy, yet resembles nothing that came before it or since. Although this masterpiece is acknowledged by critics and a coterie of obsessed readers (such as myself), it is, sadly, almost unknown in the United States. It is,perhaps, too British or too eccentric. Gormenghast is an ancient castle, about the size of a city, which, as far as we know, is the only thing on the planet. Having no known point of reference to the world we know gives the novel its characteristic unreality-- its surreal atmosphere. The characters are uniformly grotesque: the taciturn, cadaver-like Mr. Flay, the vulgar and grossly obese Swelter, the slightly deformed yet brilliant villain Steerpike. Titus is the heir to Gormenghast-- the seventy-seventh earl of Groan-- and this is his story (although the first book of three ends with the hero only two years old). The focus is on the visual descriptions, and the world of Gormenghast is vividly shown through Peake's breathtaking command of the language. Peake was a graphic artist by profession and his skill with paint and pencil somehow translates into images that resonate in the reader's mind long after he or she has finished reading. Ultimately, it is impossible to shake the experience of visiting Peake's imaginary world. I read this book for the first time at age 17 (I'm now 42) and have been haunted by it since. Gormenghast is like a nightmare world and no sane person would ever want to live there; yet, how strangely beautiful and compelling it is! Gormenghast draws one back to it time and time again. It is what I call "the lure of Gormenghast." "Titus Groan" and its sequels "Gormenghast" and "Titus Alone" comprise the Gormenghast Trilogy. These books will most likely have to be ordered through Amazon.com or some other service, but the trouble is well worth it. For anyone who loves the English language and its endless possibilities, the Gormenghast Trilogy is exquisitely essential.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
The Best Book Ever Written? January 7, 1997
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
For sheer, sustained, imaginative power; an unfailing attention to character detail (Dickens' caricatures had none of this realism); a brooding, dark humour that goes deeper
than any other work I can think of against a backdrop of unimaginably stifling rigidity and routine, Gormenghast has not been bettered by anyone in any genre. Full-stop.
Titus Groan acts almost as an appetizer for the grandeur of the second in the trilogy. The immensity of the crumbling castle, it's labyrinthine corridors, rooms and even roofs is conveyed by Mervyn Peake with such believability that it's image never leaves you,
even years after it's read. Yet it is the goings-on within it's grey walls that leave the greatest impression. I can still see the scheming Steerpike, the sour Fuschia, Swelter the cook, the Prunesquallors and Titus 77th Earl of Groan as clearly as if I'd just met them.
One can almost feel the stifling grip the castle holds over Titus as he struggles to break free of the asphyxiating tradition of his home. To even try to convey what this trilogy is about would be
trite and pointless. The odd world of Gormenghast has to be experienced. Read them and be changed.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great Masterpiece and a Literary Treasure
The Gormenghast Novels are getting better with age, which is remarkable, considering they were brilliant when first published, or rather written. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Steven B. Sikes
The Worst Fantasy Book Ever Written
This is easily the worst fantasy book ever written. Peake's grandiosely verbose and nonsensical writing style make this book
most painful to read. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Garrett M. Silen
Two out of Three were Excellent
In a crumbling castle in the middle of the wilderness, a dysfunctional family rules. Sepulchrave, seventy-sixth earl of the castle, loses himself in books and melancholy. Read more
Published 11 months ago by A. Luciano
Wow, there goes several hours of my life.
I have been an avid fantasy reader for 30+ years. I enjoy some off-beat and contemporary works as well as the tolkien, jordan, eddings, hobb, rr martin, etc. Read more
Published 15 months ago by smushandrocky
Gothic Novel at a New Level
As always, I have been scanning other reviews before I post my own, and most are literate and cogent, so for the most part I have to agree with them. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Andrew Charig
Intoxicating
The Gormenghast novels are literature with a capital L. Part dark fantasy, part comedy of manners. The prose is challenging, but also progressively rewarding. Read more
Published 15 months ago by K. Nelson
"Groan" is right
I was recommended this book by someone with whom I share a common interest in fantasy literature. I bought the book and tried to read it three times, putting it down before 100... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Stonky
Flight from the Traditional
Having been a fan of Gene Wolfe, I was suggested to try Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series. Classified as a fantasy, it offers very little in terms of magic or fantastical creatures... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Peter
Peake is not Tolkien, completely different
I love an author's writing style, and he has "got it". I continue to be surprised that he is compared to Tolkien, whom I love, but, Peake's trilogy/story is completely... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Sherry O'Connell
There are no words that begin to relate this book!
There are no words that begin to relate this book! Read the book! Its literally... out of this world! Its a parrell universe to the nth degree! Read the book!
Published on May 12, 2010 by Robbie
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(20)
(15)
(14)
(12)
(7)
(6)
(5)
(4)
(2)
(1)
Agree with these tags?
See all 40 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:













i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...