The Great Gormenghast Read discussion

Hang, relax, drink your poison of choice, and shoot the bull here.

So we just hang out and joke around with other members? Great idea! (Except for the poison.)

Jocelyn wrote: "So we just hang out and joke around with other members? Great idea! (Except for the poison.)"

Jocelyn, you and I can drink virgin pina coladas or something. I'm a total lightweight so I usually just don't drink. It takes half a beer to get me giggling. Our poison can just be sugar.

Erin wrote: "Jocelyn wrote: "So we just hang out and joke around with other members? Great idea! (Except for the poison.)"

Jocelyn, you and I can drink virgin pina coladas or something. I'm a total lightweigh..."

I may join you guys with that, I don't drink at the moment due to driving around so much (at least until I've got off my P plates).

Erin wrote: "Our poison can just be sugar."

Right.... because what you two need is obviously more online energy. :)

Erin wrote: "Jocelyn wrote: "So we just hang out and joke around with other members? Great idea! (Except for the poison.)"

Jocelyn, you and I can drink virgin pina coladas or something. I'm a total lightweigh..."

*shhh* Thank god, because I'm underage! :P

Kyle wrote: "Erin wrote: "Our poison can just be sugar."

Right.... because what you two need is obviously more online energy. :)"

I've already eaten so much sugar today...I think I'm going to die early with all this sugar. Poison indeed.

Kyle wrote: "Erin wrote: "Our poison can just be sugar."

Right.... because what you two need is obviously more online energy. :)"

You should see me in real life! I'm always bouncing around everywhere. The sugar doesn't seem to make much of a difference at this point. People always think I'm a teenager too. That bits rather annoying. I like to think that I'm quite adult-like despite the bouncing and the penguin hat. :D

I was pleasantly surprised to read this lengthy article on the BBC website. It's not a bad summary of aspects of the books, Peake's life, and their relevance today:

"Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast novels are cult classics of 20th Century English literature. Writer and philosopher John Gray considers what they tell us about the nature of the modern world. (May contain spoilers.)..."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22...

Cecily wrote: "I was pleasantly surprised to read this lengthy article on the BBC website. It's not a bad summary of aspects of the books, Peake's life, and their relevance today:

"Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast nov..."

Oh, yes I believe I've previously read the article. It is an excellent one.

One reason that inspired me to read Peake is the insistence from C.S. Lewis about Peake's worth. I've read plenty of books that Lewis recommended because I find he knew what he was talking about.

We're drawing even closer to the start of the actual read! Cannot wait!

Jonathan wrote: "We're drawing even closer to the start of the actual read! Cannot wait!"

Does it add to my dorkiness if I have it marked on my wall calendar, so I won't forget?

Kyle wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "We're drawing even closer to the start of the actual read! Cannot wait!"

Does it add to my dorkiness if I have it marked on my wall calendar, so I won't forget?"

Dorky is good!

Kyle wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "We're drawing even closer to the start of the actual read! Cannot wait!"

Does it add to my dorkiness if I have it marked on my wall calendar, so I won't forget?"

Nice... :P

I've just read the introductions to my big Illustrated Gormenghast volume, but as it's not very portable, I'll be reading other things alongside it. Yesterday, I picked up the wrong book when I was going out, so ended up with Boy in Darkness, which is a strange one to start with (though not a problem, as I've read them all before). In fact, reading it in relative isolation from the others, rather than chronologically, I was even more struck by how beautifully it is written.

How are the discussions going to be structured? X number of chapters/pages per week? If there is a discussion schedule of some sort, please post it.

Yes, I agree! I've started it, not very far in, and I have at least one other book I have to get done in July as well, so a schedule would be interesting. Unless of course there's no structure, which is fine too. Then I can start discussing it right away! :)

Good questions. I'm not actually sure who is in charge: I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember if Jonathan or Kyle founded the group!

I founded it but Kyle and Cecily are also able to have their say. So perhaps we could work out a chapters discussion structure? As in discussion based around chapter 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on? Cecily, you've read the books more recently so I'll leave this in your hands to work out what would be best!

Me? I didn't know I'd signed up for that! ;)

I think it's a couple of years since I last read them (except for Boy in Darkness, which I've just finished rereading). I'm only 50 pages into TG and the chapters aren't numbered (though they are in G and TA).

Anyway, we have a leisurely two months per book, and personally, I'm not sure it works very well fragmenting the discussion too much. Also, to do that, we (I?) would need to work out where the logical breaks are...

Hmm, what do other people feel?

1. One discussion per book
2. Two discussions per book (one spoiler-free; one not, though in practice the former would probably be rather limited).
3. Several discussions per book, broken into chunks (how many?)
4. Several discussions per book, each based around a theme or questions (what?)


Or should I put those questions in a poll (and would my doing so be an acknowledgement of leading the discussions?!)?

The concern of some is talking about plot detail in a large discussion section before others have got to that point.

I'm reading an old omnibus edition. TG is about 360 pages long and the chapters have titles.

Just so we have something to throw around as a suggestion, I'll suggest six sections of roughly 60 pages (somebody else can investigate four of 90 pages, if they want to).

The chapter title below is the suggested last chapter of each section:

1 Keda

2 At the Prunesquallors

3 Inklings of Glory

4 The Twins are Restive

5 Blood at Midnight

6 Mr Rottcodd Again (Finish)

Any feedback on this suggestion?

I'm fine with that. I looked at those chapters and that seems entirely reasonable. I've never been one to care about spoilers, but I would hate it if I spoiled something for someone else, so I was concerned about this only for others sake. Ian, those seem like a great way to break it up.

That sounds good Ian, if one of the other mods can set that up? I don't have my copy with me in the US and will start as soon as I get home.

Ooh, on holidays? Sounds exciting!

Ian wrote: "Ooh, on holidays? Sounds exciting!"

Through Uni for a holiday mixed with a study trip. Been visiting the sights in Boston which is one amazing city.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ide...

That is great! I'll have to read IJ this year now...

Now I wanna add it to my list too...trying to remember if I have a copy of that one...

Okay, so it's July 2nd and I'm not seeing any activity here yet. A suggestion:

Can a moderator please set up six discussion topics, matching the scheme Ian suggested in comment 21? This way, people can join the discussions as they complete each part of Titus Groan. Simply go to the Titus Groan folder and post six well-labeled topics and voilà! We're off!

Ex: Discussion, part I, beginning through chapter "Keda"

Discussion, part II, through chapter "At the Prunesquallors"


and so on. Merci beaucoup!!

Jim wrote: "Okay, so it's July 2nd and I'm not seeing any activity here yet. A suggestion:..."

Done!

Now get busy...

;)

Lots of discussion topics here:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

Cecily wrote: "Jim wrote: "Okay, so it's July 2nd and I'm not seeing any activity here yet. A suggestion:..."

Done!

Now get busy...

;)"

Thanks Cecily!

Peake is a powerfully word painter; his language creates strong visual impressions and ambiance. His writing is however so concentrated in voice and description that, however much I appreciate his writing and looked forward to these discussions, I had to stop reading him for the moment because I started to think in Peake-ish throws. Not necessarily a bad thing, just highly inappropriate for the voice of my current novel.

I wonder if other writers or artists feel themselves being influenced when reading works that are as strong in character as Peake?

ohhh...word painter...I like that...

I'm sure they feel influenced. His style is so strong I think you would be hard pressed not to be influenced. I haven't written for a while, but I think I'd have the same problem were I writing right now.

Adam wrote: "Peake is a powerfully word painter; his language creates strong visual impressions and ambiance. His writing is however so concentrated in voice and description that, however much I appreciate his..."

That's an interesting point, Adam. The first time I was reading Gormenghast I was also writing a number of papers for school, and I admit there were a few times where I stopped and asked myself, "how would Peake describe this?" I suppose on the one hand I should be appreciative that I felt like my writing had improved for a little while, yet on the other hand I also felt like I was masking my own personal voice. I realized that I write in a very particular style/voice, and that no matter how hard I tried, it always seemed to be present in whatever I was writing (whether a scientific paper, or something more narrative).

I guess what I mean is that at first I felt ashamed of my own style of writing, but as I went along I learned that the best results come from embracing one's own style and simply tweaking it to make it work for what I wanted to accomplish (in whatever type of thing I was writing).

But yeah, I definitely know what you mean about how a writer's voice can kind of overwhelm and extend out into other things.

Adam wrote: "Peake is a powerfully word painter; his language creates strong visual impressions and ambiance. .."

He is indeed. I think you could guess he was also an artist and illustrator, even if you only knew about his writings.

I'm not a creative person, but I can understand how such a powerful writer might affect your own work.

Just want to say I really enjoyed these books! Thanks so much for inviting me to this group! Without it, I might never have heard of Peake!

Having been the only person I know who has read this, I really appreciate there being scrolling threads of discussion on Peake and especially Gormenghast. It makes me giddy in all the nerdiest ways.

Nerdy giddiness is wonderful, isn't it?

I love reading these discussions, though there is so much thoughtfully-expressed content, that sometimes it's hard to add much. I rather wish GoodReads had a "Like" function.

midnightfaerie wrote: "Just want to say I really enjoyed these books! Thanks so much for inviting me to this group! Without it, I might never have heard of Peake!"

It was a pleasure to have you in the group Midnightfaire! I loved reading about your first experiences/impressions with the strange world of Titus Groan.