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Mervyn Peake

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Mervyn Peake


Born
in Kuling, Jiangxi, China
July 09, 1911

Died
November 17, 1968

Website

Genre
Fantasy, Poetry, Fiction


Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English modernist writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books, though the Titus books would be more accurate: the three works that exist were the beginning of what Peake conceived as a lengthy cycle, following his protagonist Titus Groan from cradle to grave, but Peake's untimely death prevented completion of the cycle, which is now commonly but erroneously referred to as a trilogy. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J.R.R. Tolkien, but his surreal fiction was influenced by his early love for Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson rather than Tolkien's studies of mythology and philology.

Peake also wrote poetry ...more

40 posts
Mervyn Peake's Blog

Mervyn Peake isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed.

Exhibition of paintings and drawings


A particularly-fine exhibition of Mervyn Peake's work which includes characters from Gormenghast is now on show at the Viktor Wynd Gallery in East London. The exhibition continues until September 2019. Read more of this blog post »
View more on Mervyn Peake's website »
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Published on April 24, 2019 06:15
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Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.94 · 61,928 ratings · 5,180 reviews · 105 distinct works • Similar authors
Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1)
3.92 avg rating — 22,512 ratings — published 1946 — 5 editions
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Gormenghast (Gormenghast, #2)
4.09 avg rating — 14,524 ratings — published 1950 — 2 editions
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The Gormenghast Novels (Gor...
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4.03 avg rating — 9,739 ratings — published 1959 — 22 editions
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Titus Alone (Gormenghast, #3)
3.45 avg rating — 5,950 ratings — published 1959 — 15 editions
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Mr Pye
3.69 avg rating — 968 ratings — published 1953 — 21 editions
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Boy in Darkness and Other S...
by
4.04 avg rating — 366 ratings — 5 editions
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Boy in Darkness (Gormenghas...
by
4.04 avg rating — 325 ratings — published 1956 — 16 editions
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Letters from a Lost Uncle
4.09 avg rating — 304 ratings — published 1948 — 11 editions
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Captain Slaughterboard Drop...
4.08 avg rating — 235 ratings — published 1939 — 13 editions
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Peake's Progress: Selected ...
4.24 avg rating — 146 ratings — published 1978 — 9 editions
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More books by Mervyn Peake…

Series by Mervyn Peake

Titus Groan Gormenghast Titus Alone
(3 books)
by
3.93 avg rating — 53,598 ratings

Quotes by Mervyn Peake  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“And now, my poor old woman, why are you crying so bitterly? It is autumn. The leaves are falling from the trees like burning tears- the wind howls. Why must you mimic them?”
― Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan
tags: autumn, copy, cry, crying, despair, fall, howl, metaphor, mimic, poetic, rain, shakespearean, simile, wind, wit
197 likes
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“Lingering is so very lonely when one lingers all alone.”
― Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan
tags: alone, loneliness
171 likes
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“We are all imprisoned by the dictionary. We choose out of that vast, paper-walled prison our convicts, the little black printed words, when in truth we need fresh sounds to utter, new enfranchised noises which would produce a new effect.”
― Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan
134 likes
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Polls

July Fantasy -- The following poll decides which two books will go to the final round of polls for July 2018's Fantasy BOTM.

 
  18 votes, 25.0%

 
  13 votes, 18.1%

 
  12 votes, 16.7%

 
  8 votes, 11.1%

 
  7 votes, 9.7%

 
  7 votes, 9.7%

 
  7 votes, 9.7%

72 total votes
More...

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