Boy In Darkness The Centenary Edition - Softcover

Mervyn Peake

4.02

350 ratings by Goodreads

9780720613896: Boy In Darkness The Centenary Edition

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0720613892 ISBN 13: 9780720613896

Publisher: Peter Owen Publishers, 2011

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In cooperation with the Mervyn Peake Estate and to coincide with the Mervyn Peake Centenary Year, Peter Owen has gathered together a selection of long out-of-print short stories, and a good number of never before published illustrations, by one of England s most unique and multi-talented artists. Boy in Darkness , the centrepiece of this collection, will be of special interest to fans of the Gormenghast books, as it comprises a chapter in the life of Titus Groan that unfolds beyond the pages of Peake s monumental trilogy. A disturbingly atmospheric tale, told with the force and simplicity of allegory, Boy in Darkness distils the strange logic of the Gormenghast trilogy into a story of pith and mystery, which bears comparison with Kafka and Poe. Written across a range of genres, from a ghost story, to wry character studies drawn from his life in London and on the Isle of Sark, the other stories in the volume reveal surprisingly different facets of Peake s uncanny imagination. Ultimately, the collection coheres through Peake s powers to enchant the mundane and to render the fantastic normal.

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Review:

Master of the macabre, Mervin Peake, retells the story of young Titus Groan who, tired of the endless and senseless ritual of the kingdom of Gormenghast, leaves the boundaries of the world in which he grew up to embark on an adventure that sees him trapped in a desert of grey space.

Rich in both language and imagery, Boy in Darkness is intriguing and compelling and bears all the hallmarks of the Gormenghast trilogy that has captured, delighted and appalled the imaginations of readers of all ages.

A captivating introduction to the work of Mervyn Peake, Boy in Darkness is a classic and fantastical tale that will appeal to anyone who enjoys good story-telling and is not afraid to dip their literary toes into deeper, darker waters. Age 11 and over. --Susan Harrison

Review:

"This extravagant epic about a labyrinthine castle populated with conniving Dickensian grotesques is the true fantasy classic of our time." --"Washington Post Book World "on The Gormenghast series" ""There is no really close relative to it in all our prose literature. It is uniquely brilliant, and we are right to call it a modern classic." --Anthony Burgess on The Gormenghast series" ""[Peake's books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience." --C. S. Lewis on The Gormenghast series" ""An illustrator of the caliber of Goya, Cruikshank, Tenniel, Daumier, Dore, and Cocteau. . . . one of the most sensuous and mysterious English writers, a fantasist so concerned with color, sound, and light that they become actors in the fiction. Does anybody else write like this and so well?" --"Booklist This extravagant epic about a labyrinthine castle populated with conniving Dickensian grotesques is the true fantasy classic of our time." --Washington Post Book World on The Gormenghast series "There is no really close relative to it in all our prose literature. It is uniquely brilliant, and we are right to call it a modern classic." --Anthony Burgess on The Gormenghast series "[Peake's books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience." --C. S. Lewis on The Gormenghast series "An illustrator of the caliber of Goya, Cruikshank, Tenniel, Daumier, Dore, and Cocteau. . . . one of the most sensuous and mysterious English writers, a fantasist so concerned with color, sound, and light that they become actors in the fiction. Does anybody else write like this and so well?" --Booklist

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