Mervyn Peake
(1911-1968)
Gormenghast is the second book in the fantastic Gormenghast trilogy. In it, Mervyn Peake has managed to make the sprawling, never ending castle of gray and stone, one of the main characters. Death is everywhere, lurking in dark corners and worn stairs and crumbling archways. Furtive and building horror sans blood and guts. As with the first book in the trilogy, Peake doesn't let up and cements his trilogy as one of the great Gothic texts of the twentieth century.
Robert Smith and his band The Cure were heavily influenced by Gormenghast. "A Forest" and "The Drowning Man" draw on Gormenghast and the ghastly doings that happen within it ever moldering walls. A must listen and a must read!
My vote for the 5 most Gothic Songs by The Cure, in no particular order:
- A Forest (Haunting Gothic Chase)
- The Hanging Garden (One of the Most Mysterious Songs by Robert Smith)
- The Wailing Wall (A Classic About Robert's Trip to the Holy Land)
- Fear of Ghosts (A Song that Should Have Made it on Disintegration)
- Prayers for Rain (A Gentle Gothic Sluicing)
