*Mervyn Peake's 'Gormenghast' - the concept of descent. Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast is a book of descent isn't it? By the end of the first part of the trilogy, Titus Groan, almost everyone is in place (apart from the later welcome addition of the teaching staff) and a handful have already been killed-off. And now, by the end of Gormenghast a large number of the cast have been likewise killed-off or have passed-on, and in addition to this descent, there has been a descent in the stability of the world they live in. At the very end of Gormenghast the leader of this castle-world finally focuses her mind and marshals the others in some successful stop to part of this descent - but where was this Gormenghast legend going to go in any future books, other than in some new direction with a new cast?
And the descent of the world of Gormenghast comes from within itself, doesn't it? Its own seed contained its descent. Systems not in place, petty limited brains that bully or twist with envy or plot for influence, all of it a distraction from any awareness of the slow surge towards descent. A Countess able to focus, yes, but only in extremis and only for a very short time, a Countess quickly returning to her cats and birds. Engrossing for those of us who find the details of descent far more interesting than those jolly folks who succeed.
* Yes yes does Peake's Gormenghast have its weaknesses? Perhaps it is somewhat over-written? It is not for everyone. It's clear that this is not going to be plot-heavy and action-heavy, rather is it going to be action that is met, in due time, along a road of vivid description: it's just that the description and the action are both very good.
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