Talk:Mervyn Peake

comments

What does Fantasist Realist mean? Google doesn't know; this is the only reference. Yeah, Middle-Earth is more mythic than Gormenghast, but I don't see how we can quantify that one's more recognisable than the other or "firmly" locate the Titus books outside fantasy unless we're defining fantasy much more narrowly than the common usage.

The trilogy is just that! The reference to the three published books as a trilogy is not erroneous! Oxford states that a trilogy is A group of three dramatic or literary works related in subject or theme. --^pirate 23:10, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

I have always classified this series as a fantasy. There's no magic or nonhuman races, but there aren't in Islandia (book) either. People only think fantasy has to have magic and elves because of Tolkien. Edgar Rice Burroughs' fantasy novels about Tarzan and about the cave people didn't have any, nor does Jean Auel's books about the cave people (although it depicts them believing in magic, you also see that a lot of their "magic" is common sense). To think that fantasy literature de rigeur requires magic and nonhumans is to limit the power of fantasy itself. --Bluejay Young 16:44, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Then it isn't a trilogy, because the novella 'Boy in Darkness' is about Titus as well.

Why is there no mention of Peake being lobotomized? The ECT didn't work, so his doctors performed 'lesion therapy' and cut up his brain. That's an important point to miss in the bio.

Pictures

This article has no pictures and is just a block of text. Could some one add some Fwed66 16:42, 9 March 2007 (UTC) ...he wasn't actually a big media star. Do you want to buy his descendants a scanner? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.200.33.173 (talk) 17:26, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

It appears this has long been resolvedKerdooskis (talk) 22:50, 21 July 2021 (UTC)

Dramatic adaptations of Peake's work

There is no mention that John Constable's stage adaptation precedes the Glass ensemble tour and that the first stage production was at the Bradford Alhambra Theatre, Bradford (UK)in 1992 http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsC/constable-john.html. If no-one objects I will add this and reference to the entry.

81.108.132.48 (talk) 10:27, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

Maeve Gilmore

The article on his wife Maeve Gilmore has been nominated for deletion. You can vote to keep the article on the notable painter, sculptor and wife of Mervyn Peake.

Btw, you might wonder where the perfectly good article on Peake's notable granddaughter Florence Peake - that has also been deleted, despite being notable. Unfortunately I couldn't defend that one because I'd been disgracefully banned for "vandalism". Note I have never vandalised anything! Flying Fische (talk) 17:26, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Please consider Wikipedia:Meat puppetry. While it's a failed proposal, it is ostensibly bad faith to recruit others to support your own editing. Meph^talk 17:30, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

No, I disagree, it's not a failed proposal until it's deleted, and it's all part of a rather pathetic concerted attempt to delete all the genuine articles that I have contributed. If you are familiar with the subject, perhaps you should comment there. Flying Fische (talk) 20:30, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Gormenghast Trilogy?

The opening paragraph says: "The three works were part of what Peake conceived as a lengthy cycle, the completion of which was prevented by his death, and consequently should not be considered a trilogy." I think there are 2 problems here:

• The final book, Titus Alone, was published about 9 years before Peake's death
• Many sources (including Amazon's editorial review) refer to the series as a trilogy

99.98.161.173 (talk) 09:00, 13 May 2012 (UTC)

As the rest of the article makes clear, Peake was in declining physical and mental health for many years before his death, including during the writing of Titus Alone, and had done fragmentary work on a fourth book but was unable to complete it. So he plainly didn't conceive the series as a trilogy. Whether referring to the three completed books as a trilogy is accurate is a slightly different question, but I don't think that the behavior of "many sources" is particularly relevant either way, unless those sources have some special weight on such topics. "Many sources" refer to The Lord of the Rings as a trilogy, after all. I notice that the Wikipedia article Trilogy presently refers to Gormenghast as "a trilogy by default." 76.179.179.249 (talk) 20:05, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

In the Introduction to Titus Awakes, Brian Sibley says, "In fact, the trilogy was never conceived as such, for the author’s ambitious intention had always been to compose a cycle of novels chronicling Titus’ life and travels...". ( http://www.welovethisbook.com/features/extract-titus-awakes )

Titus Awakes is a continuation of Titus's story by Peake's wife, Maeve Gilmore, and is based on a couple of pages of summary and chapter headings made by Peake in his final years. I've read somewhere (but unhelpfully cannot presently find the citation) that he had thought as far ahead as a further 2 volumes. Anyway, it's true to say that in conception, Gormenghast was intended to be more than a trilogy, but that Peake's untimely death left us with three books penned by him.

Titus Alone was published posthumously as Peake did not bring it to its final form, being able to work on it only sporadically at those times that his final illness allowed. It was finished, but not given it's final "polish" and is published in a form that Peake would not have intended or delivered had he been able to complete it. Michael Number 6 (talk) 00:08, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Mervyn Peake Archive

By the way, the papers of Mervyn Peake and Maeve Gilmore were acquired by the British Library in March 2010:Support the British Library acquisitions. The archive is now catalogued and available on Search Our Catalogue: Archives and Manuscripts Zoe Wilcox (talk) 11:39, 17 July 2012 (UTC)