Why doesn't the Gormenghast series have an autistic fanbase like LOTR? Steerpike in particular seems ripe for discovery by 'we live in a society' and 'he's just like me' autists.
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cause it's actually good
fippy bippy
We are autistic, just in our own special way
LOTR has a classic heros journey plot with lots of very likeable and sympathetic characters, grand journeys, epic battles etc. gormenghast is mostly about a bunch of ugly weirdos doing weirdo stuff in a castle. it's amazing but not as easily loveable as LOTR and so doesn't really facilitate the autstic fanbase stuff
don't fall for the meme
it's boring shitty purple prose
>plotless and full of flowery language
It's more like asoiaf
filtered
>One of the blotches of reflected sunlight swayed to and fro across the paunch. This particular pool of light moving in a mesmeric manner backwards and forwards picked out from time to time a long red island of spilt wine. It seemed to leap forward from the mottled cloth when the light fastened upon it in startling contrast to the chiaroscuro and to defy the laws of tone. This ungarnished sign of Swelter’s debauche, taking the swollen curve of linen, had somehow, to Mr. Flay’s surprise, a fascination. For a minute he watched it appear, and disappear to reappear again—a lozenge of crimson, as the body behind it swayed.
kino
Is this the ESL killer? I'm afraid. This is just gibberish to me, to picture has been evoked.
that's nicely written but, as an ESL, I had to google a few words
I'll pick this up on kindle, it will make researching words faster
i love leveling up my lexicon reading fun stuff
The modern TV adaptation
>alt-right Aryan Steerpike
>all of the Groans are light skinned blacks
>woke girlboss Fuscia
>body positive Gertrude
>Titus becomes a Socialist
didn't the author unironically go mad while writing the last volume? I heard there's some dank meme material in there.
>didn't the author unironically go mad while writing the last volume? I heard there's some dank meme material in there.
That would make a lot of sense.
It was Parkinson’s
it was early onset dementia, parkinson's keeps you sane
>He was showing unmistakable early symptoms of dementia, for which he was given electroconvulsive therapy
I would go mad too if that happened to me.
I loved this when I watched this on TV, I have read parts of the books and they are on my list of things to read 'later'.
It has a kind of LOTR and GOT element to it in that it's a small isolated world, a decayed stagnant piece of a decayed stagnant empire where the city is mistakenly thought to be the whole world by those who live in it. It sets out for this and achieves it where GOT achieves it by accident and unintentionally.
The characters are surprisingly more real because of their insanities;
The Duke is like King William III; his mind gone but his good intentions there, his Wife is evil and insane and living in a cocoon with her pet bird, the daughter is just the perfect archetype for every spoiled girl, the son is th painfully cliched spoiled boy who has the sense to know he needs to leave to fantasy world; both are excellent, the doctor and the old servant barely holding the kingdom together, the twins, the kitchen master.... the book of feasts that they all painfully govern their lives by and have no idea of any of the meaning of the rituals they take part in...
it's all genius stuff.
Steerpike is less so the protagonist and moreso the ordinary person thrown into this insane world, ultimately going insane himself.
I wouldn't say that Steerpike is the protagonist. Steerpike is a flagrant sociopath, but then he's not much worse than any of the other characters, especially the Groans. He's just smarter. The books don't have a clear protagonist, or a coherent plot for that matter.
>I wouldn't say that Steerpike is the protagonist.
I noticed other people did, I wouldn't have said so necessarily but he is, kind of, the "eyes" of the newcomer to the world.
I wouldn't say he's a sociopath or smarter than he rest either; he's motivated out of love or desire for Fuscia who immediately drops him when his face gets burned and the reality of how shallow she is ultimately crushes his better nature.
oh wait, then again he 'did' start the fire in the first place didn't he - but they deserved it, if i remember rightly
He doesn't actually love Fuscia like in the TV series and he has a habit of mutilating animals. He's much more cold and sociopathic in the books
>Steerpike is a flagrant sociopath, but then he's not much worse than any of the other characters
He really is. He's almost completely evil. The other characters are a mixture. They start off as a gallery of grotesques but they get fleshed out and humanized as the book goes on [restricting discussion just to Titus Groan]. Some are bad, some are good, most are somewhere in between, as with reality.
LORD SEPULCHRAVE
Not malicious, but completely ineffectual. He would do no harm if he could be tucked away somewhere, but he's supposed to be in charge, and he's not up to it.
LADY GERTRUDE
Like her husband but more selfish and a little nastier. The couple's biggest crime is neglect of their daughter.
TITUS
Too young to be good or bad.
FUCHSIA
She's an absolute sweetheart.
THE TWINS (CORA & CLARICE)
Hilarious and loathsome, but ineffectual in themselves. They're a weapon in the hands of Steerpike, nothing more.
DR. PRUNESQUALLOR
Basically very kind-hearted, but tends to take refuge in elaborate intellectualism. He reminds me a bit of Mr. Bennett in Pride & Prejudice — a clever man yolked to a stupid woman.
IRMA PRNUESQUALLOR
She hasn't got much about her (see above). A silly middle-aged unmarried woman whose head is turned by flattery. Many such cases!
FLAY
He's not a bad person at all. The quintessential family retainer.
SWELTER
Pretty nasty, obviously. Lots of fun, but only from a distance.
MRS. SLAGG
She's fine. Her biggest fault is silliness. Along with Prunesquallor, she's the only one who gives Fuschia any love at all.
KEDA
She's OK. She just wants to be loved, like most people.
RANTEL & BRAIGON / ROTTCODD / BARQUENTINE
They don't really have much character.
In the context of an ordinary high fantasy series then yes, king good, usurper bad, but the series openly rebels against hereditary monarchy. The Groans are essentially slave owners and their steadfast commitment to duty and tradition sanctions enormous suffering. Swelter has hundreds of boys that he rapes and probably cannibalizes. The peasants live in mud huts and waste all of their time thanklessly carving. The twins are just as evil as Steerpike, stupidity does not negate evilness. The rest of them are fine treating peasants and lower staff like dirt.
You seem to think that if only Steerpike were in charge, he would usher in a socialist utopia. Peake knew quite well what happens when the Steerpikes of this world get a little power.
"There should be no rich, no poor, no strong, no weak," said Steerpike, methodically pulling the legs off the stag-beetle, one by one, as he spoke.
>You seem to think that if only Steerpike were in charge, he would usher in a socialist utopia
No I did not. Read again you idiot. Stop projecting.
>Swelter has hundreds of boys that he rapes and probably cannibalizes
>probably cannibalizes
How do you think he got so fat?
I've only read the first book, but hands down my favorite moment in the whole thing is when you find out that Steerpike has faked fainting in Fuschia's room to get on her good side and you realize the underdog you've been following on and off through the first chunk of the book is a total sociopath.
I'm in a similar position, read the first book last winter and loved it but I'm waiting until it gets cooler again to pick it back up. Fall and winter really suit the book's atmosphere
>I'm in a similar position, read the first book last winter and loved it but I'm waiting until it gets cooler again to pick it back up
Holy mother of booktuber, dark academia pseud bullshit!
Steerpike was supposed to be some ugly ill-shapen albino in the book
In the bbc version
Pic related
Gormenghast feels like some Charles Dickens doorstopper written in the commercial breaks while the author was watching 70s British TV comedies.
Because the book has none of the markings of a typical fantasy series. There are no great battles, no typical protagonist who saves the day, and no magic or witchcraft to mystify the reader. The story is slow paced, and the characters are hard to grasp. The entire atomsphere is esoteric and otherworldly. The story can't be told in TV/movie format, so there's no opportunity for mass marketing.
>The story is slow paced, and the characters are hard to grasp. The entire atomsphere is esoteric and otherworldly. The story can't be told in TV/movie format, so there's no opportunity for mass marketing.
bloody what
>He doesn't actually love Fuscia like in the TV series
Aw that's a pity then, it was that angle that really sold me on the entire story lol
Yeah there's probably a reason I've been putting off reading, I'dhate to think the characters of Titus or Fuscia were somehow 'serious' - imagine Titus as a hero character and not as a frustrated cringefest teen character, no no no no
describing nasty little creepy rooms full of neurotic cranky dorks is not as lovable as an adventure for the soul of the world full of danger and heroism and love. crazy I dont get it
>describing nasty little creepy rooms full of neurotic cranky dorks is not as lovable as an adventure for the soul of the world full of danger and heroism and love
People like Wuthering Heights, which is exactly that.
>he doesn't know about the secret esotheric Gormenghast forums
Hhoohohohhohoh HAHAHAAHAHAH NGMI
please anon I want to make it
Can someone walk me through the third book?
Is it supposed to be a fantasy world of a fantasy world?
The book is more like a prose painting, you enjoy it for long detailed descriptions of bizarre people and fantasy events in slow motion. And it is absolutely beautifully written, a sheer aesthetic joy of prose. But people are typically more interested in plot than prose
It is a slow series but I would not call it plotless in any way. I mean the first two books end in epic duels for fricks sake
https://www.peakestudies.com/
Steerpike is the very obvious inspiration for Littlefinger.
>inspiration
Weird way to spell blatant IP theft. That fat frick couldn’t come up with an original idea to save himself from a heart attack
>Mervyn Peake invented the Macchiavellian schemer archetype in the 1940s
Correct.
I'm not entirely sure why the frick people keep comparing this to LOTR. It's nothing like LOTR. It's not even a "fantasy" in anything other than the absolute broadest sense of the word.
Agreed. I got baited into reading it, and ended up enjoying it, but it is most certainly not fantasy, as it has no supernatural elements in it at all (except maybe the Owls and the Thing).
Because LOTR is made for autists. Gormenghast is a story, LOTR is the construction of an entire world from languages.