Michael’s Comments (group member since Aug 01, 2012)

Michael’s comments from the The Tower of Flints: Mervyn Peake's Fantastical Imagination group.

At My Inmost Heart is Fear

At my inmost heart is fear
For the death of all that's dear
Must surely come;
Every joy and every bliss
Close their petals at my kiss.
At my inmost heart is this
Prescience of the tomb.

Collected Poems, page 152

I haven't read "Vast Alchemies" or "Man and His Art", which is a terrible admission. I've not got to "Child of Bliss", either, but I did buy that this summer and will get to it soon(ish).

Cecily wrote: "If you can find a copy of Sketches From Bleak House, do. And tragically, they were never published with the novel.

But there's version of Alice, which is gorgeous: https://www.goodr..."

Thank you for the heads up about "Sketches". I'd anticipated a frightful price, but found a copy quite reasonably, so that's on its way to me!

I have the two volume edition of Peake's "Alice", which I really like.

Cecily wrote: "I enjoyed this far more than Mr Pye, even though I don't normally enjoy children's books unless there's a child on my lap."

"Lost Uncle" had a lovely feel, doesn't it? I've certainly read it myself more times than" Mr. Pye", but that's probably due to it being shorter and easier. I love Miss Dredger in "Mr. Pye", one of Peake's endearing characters, like Dr. Prunesquallor.

On pages 49-50 of the edition I'm reading of A World Away: A Memoir of Mervyn Peake, Maeve talks of Mervyn's attendance as a war artist in Germany at the trial of Peter Back. She doesn't relate the nature of Back's crime, nor the verdict given by the jury of eight US Army colonels, but I found this report of the trial, which states that Back, a civilian, shot an unarmed US airman, for which he was sentenced to death for murder.

Mervyn's brief remarks about the trial include that Back's lawyer, while admitting the facts, pleaded mitigation because his client's moral conscience was warped on account of him being disabled, and therefore having to go that much further to prove himself acceptable to the ruling Nazi party. A small, but nonetheless sad and telling example of how ordinary people are corrupted by authoritarian ideology.

Cecily wrote: "HBC as Countess Groan, of course. You can see her with birds on her shoulders and in her hair!

I'm not sure who Depp could be. Not Dr Prune."

Sorry, Cecily, I somehow missed your comment.

I think that Depp would naturally be thought of as Dr Prune in a Burton production, and agree that he would be wrong for it. I'm always conscious of Depp being Depp in his films, so it would break the spell for me.

I hope that the new Gaiman production (if it happens) uses relatively unknown actors so that they can really inhabit the characters and not bring any celebrity baggage with them.

It appears the Gaiman film has transformed into the Gaiman TV adaptation! Possibly...

http://www.slashfilm.com/gormenghast-...

Hi Berta - or should I say Fuchsia :-)

Welcome to the group. We aren't very active in this group, but we are passionate :-D

Your English is excellent, and much better than my Spanish, insofar as I don't speak it! I think that if you can read Peake, you have no cause to worry about your command of the language.

Peake is still something of a cult figure in Britain - his works are adored by a small minority of readers, though largely unknown to the masses. Interest in him has peaked (excuse the pun!) whenever there is a TV adaptation, but the last one of those was 18 years ago. That may change soon, as there is talk of a new adaptation being in development!

I have a physical copy of The Adventures of the Young Soldier in Search of the Better World, and while I've enjoyed looking at Peake's illustrations, I haven't quite got around to reading it. If you're tempted to read it, Samuel, do say how you find it :-)

Today is the forty-ninth anniversary of the death of Mervyn Peake. This verse from his poem, Where Got I These Eyes that Plunder Storm feels like an appropriate remembrance:

Where got I these eyes that plunder storm
And gather tempests to the tiny lens?
Where got I lips that press the sunlight warm -
And taste the sinewy air, blown from the salt seas?
These marvels, for the probings of the worm,
When the strong current cease?

I know nothing about horses, so I don't have a valid personal opinion. My horsey friends are utterly devoted to their animals, though, so I'm prepared to accept Hoban's view :-)

In the event I had to signal a passing ship for rescue, I could do a Steerpike and get a much better blaze going with my Gormenghast library [shudders at the thought!].

Cecily wrote: "I agree with Michael, but they are so utterly different, it's a question of personal taste more than objective quality, imo."

For sure, Cecily. They're very different works, both of which I enjoy immensely. But given the "Desert Island" test, I'd be taking Peake rather than Hoban :-)

I'd unhesitatingly say Gormenghast, as much as I love Riddley Walker.

:-D

Thanks for sharing your photos, Cecily :-)

It looks how I remember it from the TV series, though that was filmed 30-40 years after Peake was there, so I suspect some changes will have taken place. It looks so peaceful and (if it's not too condescending) quaint.

Yes, that's a beautiful horsey image that's stayed with me, too. There's also Titus's pony.

In the celebration where they have stilted "creatures", I can't remember is horses are specifically mentioned, but that scene always puts me in mind of Dalí's Temptation of St. Anthony, with it's stilt-legged demons, one of which is horse-like.

Now, I can't remember if that scene is in "Titus Groan", published in 1946, the same year Dalí produced his painting, or in "Gormenghast", published in 1950.

I have a couple of horsey friends who would agree with Hoban!

Thanks for sharing your experience, Cecily. I'll get there one day!

It is very surprising that Peake isn't much in evidence. Perhaps, in line with the islanders antipathy towards the car, they don't want to attract too many tourists, which might spoil the island?

Luke wrote: "Russell Hoban also said that he like the wide variety of horses illustrated by Mervyn Peake in the book."

Next time I read it, I'll specifically look out for the horses :-)

I don't know if Peake had a 'thing' for horses, but from memory they do appear in a few of his works - there's the horse in The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb, and a couple of illustrations in Complete Nonsense, as well as appearing in Gormenghast. Then again, the horse was a much more common, everyday sight in Peake's time than it is now, so there may be no particular significance beyond familiarity.