What is "gormenghast"

The Gormenghast series comprises three novels by Mervyn Peake, originally published between 1946 and 1959. The series features Castle Gormenghast, and Titus Groan, the title character of the first book. A fourth book, written by Peake's widow, was published in 2009. The series is regarded as the first fantasy of manners. The series draws heavily on Gothic and Regency literature.

Gormenghast is a fantasy novel by British writer Mervyn Peake, the second in his Gormenghast series. It is the story of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, from age 7 to 17. As the story opens, Titus dreads the pre-ordained life of ritual that stretches before him. To Titus, Master of Ritual Barquentine and his apprentice Steerpike are the embodiment of all he wants to rebel against. An important sub-plot involves Titus at school, where he encounters the professors, especially Bellgrove, who becomes Headmaster of Gormenghast school.

Gormenghast is a four-episode television serial based on the first two novels of the Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake. It was produced and broadcast by the BBC.

First broadcast in early 2000, this BBC serial of the modernist fantasy by Mervyn Peake was designed for an early evening time-slot in much the same vein as the earlier adaptations of The Chronicles of Narnia. The BBC conception was based on the idea that Peake's early life in China had influenced the creation of Gormenghast; thus, the castle in the series resembles the Forbidden City in Beijing as well as the holy city of Lhasa in Tibet.

Gormenghast can refer to the following works related to Mervyn Peake's opus.

• Gormenghast (series), a trilogy of books.
  • Gormenghast (novel), second in the series.
  • Gormenghast (castle), the building featured in the books.
  • Gormenghast (opera), an opera based on the books.
• Gormenghast (TV serial), a BBC series.

Gormenghast is a fictional castle of titanic proportions that features prominently in a series of fantasy works penned by Mervyn Peake. It is the setting for the first two books in the Gormenghast series, Titus Groan and Gormenghast. It incorporates many of the elements of both medieval castles and Regency period stately homes, though in practice it operates like a small city-state. It has its own government, a Byzantine system of laws and rituals, a rigid class system, and is seemingly self-sufficient. The castle is home to the ancient House of Groan who have, as the Earls of Groan, ruled for centuries without anything changing.

Ritual plays a large part in the daily life of all characters in the castle, most of all the Earl of Gormenghast, whose days are largely spent adhering to the obscure and esoteric tenets of Gormenghast tradition. Titus' dread and rebellion against the iron letter of Gormenghast Law becomes one of the main themes in the series leading to his preoccupation with freedom.

The castle has become synonymous with large, sprawling buildings and has been used as a reference point in other works of fiction.

Gormenghast is an opera in three acts composed by Irmin Schmidt to an English-language libretto by Duncan Fallowell, based on Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast Trilogy. It premiered at the Opernhaus Wuppertal on 15 November 1998.