ORBzine - Movie Reviews January 2000

Gormenghast reviewed by John Kane A lot of people have talked a lot of rubbish about it. The look is too chinese - the book feels more english. Though brilliant, the look is just not right. Peake lived in China, but probably was not influenced to that extent. Gormenghast is a story of class revolt, and I do not think that Peake was in favour of it. The book shows the steady state of society as being grim and tradition-locked. You don't see the ordinary people; everyone's a gargoyle. The writer writes [comparatively] obscure fiction for avid readers - and to them, burning a library is about the worst thing imaginable. We must ask ourselves; is Manservant Flay [Christopher Lee] worse than a conniving young murderer? Steerpike is not the hero, he's a virus - a warning against change for change's sake. Titus is the hero, although volume one ends when he is still only 2 years old! In the end, Titus brings more change than Steerpike ever did! Steerpike is just a conventional man of dark passions. And this is, at the base of it, a more conventional tale than the critics would like. Search This Site

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