Gormenghast Castle, an immense, brooding edifice of oppressive proportions, is ruled over by Lord Sepulchrave, the 76th Earl of Gormenghast. Titus Groan, Sepulchrave's son and heir, is the main character in a work of monumental imagination, the Gormenghast Trilogy. The work by Mervyn Peake, completed in the mid-20th century, stands with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Eddison's Worm Ouroboros as one of the pillars of truly unique and awe inspiring fantasy in modern literature.
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The two main protagonists of the story are Titus, the boy who chafes at his preordained role as future Earl, and Steerpike, a boy born into squallor who manipulates the weaknesses of the royals to attain power. Peake revels in gothic phantasmagoria, in
medieval grotesqueries and Machiavellian plots. With names like Abiatha Swelter, Irma Prunesquallor and Nanny Slagg, Peake's characters are as bizarre and fascinating as Gormenghast itself.
A lavishly produced BBC production of Gormenghast is available on DVD.
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