I’ve always loved Gormenghast - even the Dot Cotton TV adaptation. It’s striking how politically legible it still feels. Brexit, in particular, feels very Peakean - the rejection of a complex, functioning system in favour of symbolic gestures of sovereignty, followed by years of paralysis. Power still being performed, but not quite exercised. The late Tory party has something of the Groans about it – exhausted, inward-looking, clinging to inherited authority – while Labour risks the Steerpike temptation: mistaking competence for moral renewal. And the rise of Reform, like Steerpike himself, thrives on institutional decay without offering much beyond grievance and spectacle. Even Trump’s America feels relevant here: Britain watching a louder, faster version of political nihilism whilst occasionally importing some of its habits.
Yes! It was a real revelation to see the political resonances in this re-reading - the Brexit parallel did occur to me, but I think you've nailed it better.
I did rewatch some of the adaptation for research but I found too much of the acting too arch. And Jonathan Rhys Myers is far too pretty to be Steerpike. The production design was magnificent, though.
Thank you for this, beautifully observed. I was a teenage female fan - Fuchsia is a remarkably well-drawn and relatable character. "She stood in about as awkward a manner as could be concieved. Utterly un-feminine – no man could have invented it." I loved the poems too.
Thank you! As a teenage boy fan I suspect I was more than a little in love with Fuchsia, frankly, but I don't think I realised then how central she also is to the thematic business of the book. I also spent far too much of my adolescence trying to write poetry like Peake, much to the consternation of the poetry society at University.
Thank you so much for this post. It did bring me back to life, the awkward teenager, considering myself somewhat of an outsider, the collector of world objects and strange things. Didn't manage to persuade many friends of the superiority of Gormenghast compared to LotR, but then that only reinforced my"uniqueness"
I absolutely love Titus Groan and Gormenghast for all the reasons you give. I’ve never got my head around Titus Alone, but he was really ill when he wrote it, with the MS that eventually killed him. Maeve Gilmore’s memoir of their marriage is lovely. I think you can see influences of Peake on Susannah Clarke’s Piranesi, which is one of the few C21st novels I’ve read that continues to haunt me long after I finished it.
Here's where I have to admit I haven't read Piranesi yet - it's in my tsundoku pile - but I was going to reference 'Jonathan Strange' here as it feels like its a definite influence there, too - not least in the determination to resist fantasy cliches.
Female fan here! First read it at 19 on the recommendation of an older boyfriend. Felt very much aligned with Fuchsia - the girl who doesn’t understand why she doesn’t quite fit in this strange world. The impact of Steerpike’s ‘fool’ said to her at a key moment absolutely sliced me up at the time. Now a sixtysomething and read it in quite a different way. The crumbling, decaying world, stubbornly clung on to by its inhabitants has been increasingly pertinent over the years.
It’s always struck me as a very cinematic work, although, ironically, unfilmable in many ways. Thought the BBC version was good in parts but catastrophically wrong in others - I often wonder what David Lynch would have made of it.
One of my favourite books, though I only read it once, and that many years ago. Few books are as familiar and evocative when I see it on the shelf. It amuses me that one rainy day someone will pick it up and wonder, what an odd title…
I’ve always loved Gormenghast - even the Dot Cotton TV adaptation. It’s striking how politically legible it still feels. Brexit, in particular, feels very Peakean - the rejection of a complex, functioning system in favour of symbolic gestures of sovereignty, followed by years of paralysis. Power still being performed, but not quite exercised. The late Tory party has something of the Groans about it – exhausted, inward-looking, clinging to inherited authority – while Labour risks the Steerpike temptation: mistaking competence for moral renewal. And the rise of Reform, like Steerpike himself, thrives on institutional decay without offering much beyond grievance and spectacle. Even Trump’s America feels relevant here: Britain watching a louder, faster version of political nihilism whilst occasionally importing some of its habits.
Yes! It was a real revelation to see the political resonances in this re-reading - the Brexit parallel did occur to me, but I think you've nailed it better.
I did rewatch some of the adaptation for research but I found too much of the acting too arch. And Jonathan Rhys Myers is far too pretty to be Steerpike. The production design was magnificent, though.
And it’s the gardener who saves the day
Thank you for this, beautifully observed. I was a teenage female fan - Fuchsia is a remarkably well-drawn and relatable character. "She stood in about as awkward a manner as could be concieved. Utterly un-feminine – no man could have invented it." I loved the poems too.
Thank you! As a teenage boy fan I suspect I was more than a little in love with Fuchsia, frankly, but I don't think I realised then how central she also is to the thematic business of the book. I also spent far too much of my adolescence trying to write poetry like Peake, much to the consternation of the poetry society at University.
Thank you so much for this post. It did bring me back to life, the awkward teenager, considering myself somewhat of an outsider, the collector of world objects and strange things. Didn't manage to persuade many friends of the superiority of Gormenghast compared to LotR, but then that only reinforced my"uniqueness"
Thank you! Happily, I had friends who also loved it, but we were only a very little gang of awkward teenagers.
I absolutely love Titus Groan and Gormenghast for all the reasons you give. I’ve never got my head around Titus Alone, but he was really ill when he wrote it, with the MS that eventually killed him. Maeve Gilmore’s memoir of their marriage is lovely. I think you can see influences of Peake on Susannah Clarke’s Piranesi, which is one of the few C21st novels I’ve read that continues to haunt me long after I finished it.
Here's where I have to admit I haven't read Piranesi yet - it's in my tsundoku pile - but I was going to reference 'Jonathan Strange' here as it feels like its a definite influence there, too - not least in the determination to resist fantasy cliches.
Frodo Baggins isn’t “petit bourgeoisie”, he’s a member of the Shire’s landed gentry.
Female fan here! First read it at 19 on the recommendation of an older boyfriend. Felt very much aligned with Fuchsia - the girl who doesn’t understand why she doesn’t quite fit in this strange world. The impact of Steerpike’s ‘fool’ said to her at a key moment absolutely sliced me up at the time. Now a sixtysomething and read it in quite a different way. The crumbling, decaying world, stubbornly clung on to by its inhabitants has been increasingly pertinent over the years.
It’s always struck me as a very cinematic work, although, ironically, unfilmable in many ways. Thought the BBC version was good in parts but catastrophically wrong in others - I often wonder what David Lynch would have made of it.
One of my favourite books, though I only read it once, and that many years ago. Few books are as familiar and evocative when I see it on the shelf. It amuses me that one rainy day someone will pick it up and wonder, what an odd title…