Assessments of Peake’s life and work in books
Philip
James, British Book Illustration 1935–45. [National Book League Exhibition
Catalogue.] Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1946, p.14.
Noticed in
MPR 17:22
Janet Adam Smith, Children’s
Illustrated Books. Collins, 1948, p.47.
Refers to ‘MP’s gnarled and grotesque [line-drawings], printed on blue,
pink and yellow paper, for Captain Slaughterboard.’
Kathleen
M. Lines, Four to Fourteen: a library of books for children. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1950, p.20.
Mentions Captain Slaughterboard
(A1) only.
‘A realistically imaginative tale of bold bad pirates illustrated and amplified
by the artist’s characteristic drawings. Not a book to give indiscriminately to
any child.’
Eric
Newton, In My View. Longmans, Green, 1950, pp.155–57.
Reprints
his review of the 1944 Peter Jones’ exhibition – see Parts E and H.
Charles Ede (editor), The Art of the Book. Some record of work carried out
in Europe and the USA 1939–1950. Studio, 1951, p.182.
Discusses MP’s Treasure Island and, in the section on commercial book-binding, reproduces
the cover of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde (B11) executed by W. & J. Mackay at Chatham.
David
Bland, The Illustration of Books. Faber, 1951, pp.102–103; 2nd ed.,
revised, 1953 [1954], pp.102–103; 3rd ed., enlarged, 1962, p.136.
The
first ed. thought that Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor 1945 (A1b) was
printed on coloured paper; it was revised to ‘over-all tints’ in the
third ed. The first edition’s surprise that it should be possible to produce Ride a Cock-Horse (B1) for only 5s is omitted in the third edition.
Kathleen Raine, under ‘Poetry’ in The Year’s Work in Literature 1950, edited by John Lehmann. British Council / Longmans, 1951, p.62.
Frank
Eyre, 20th Century Children’s Books. Longmans, Green & Co, for the
British Council, 1952, pp.32–33, 37–38.
Applauds the individuality
of MP’s illustrations in Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor and Household
Tales.
Richard
Buckle, The
Adventures of a Ballet Critic.
Cresset Press, 1953, f.p.32 and pp.79–80.
Describes how Buckle invited
MP to draw the ballet dancer Jean Babilée. Reproduces one of the eight
sketches printed in Ballet,
July 1946, Vol.2, No.2, pp.29-36 (see Part D).
Malcolm Muggeridge, Foreword to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Wingate, 1954, pp.vii-viii (B8b).
David
Bland, A History of Book Illustration: the illustrated manuscript and the printed
book. 2nd edition, Faber; Cleveland and New York: World Publishing Co., 1958,
p.381.
‘It is in fact questionable how far his subtle satirical drawing
appeals to children. Often it must seem to parents to be too gruesome; and this
quality is rightly to the fore in The Ancient Mariner, one of his best
books.’
Fritz Eichenberg and Ruth Hill Viguers, in Illustrators of Children’s Books, 1946–56, edited by Ruth Hill Viguers, Marcia Dalphin, and Bertha Mahony Miller. Boston: The Horn Book, 1958, p.54 (by Fritz Eichenberg, in ‘The European Picture Book’) and p.165 (by Ruth Hill Viguers).
Christopher
Hassall, Edward Marsh, patron of the arts: a biography. Longmans, 1959,
pp.551 & 611.
Brief mentions reveal the extent of Marsh’s pre-war interest
in both MP’s paintings and his poems. See Vast Alchemies (F11) pp.108–9
and 113.
Kingsley
Amis, New Maps of Hell: a survey of science fiction. New York: Harcourt,
Brace Jovanovich, 1960, p.153; Gollancz, 1961, and Science Fiction Book Club,
1962 (p.152); Four Square, 1963, N.E.L., 1969 (p.131); and New York: Arno, 1975
(p.153).
Dismisses MP as ‘a bad fantasy writer of maverick status.’
Marcus
Crouch, Treasure Seekers and Borrowers: children’s books in Britain.
Library Association, 1962, pp.98 & 100. (Pages 99 & 101 in the reprint ‘with
amendments’ of 1970.)
‘The most impressive Grimm . . . with powerful,
disturbing and creative drawings, perhaps the major achievement of this curious
genius.’ Of Captain Slaughterboard, he writes, ‘vital and exuberant
but grotesque and violent in the extreme.’
Robin
Jacques, Illustrators at Work. Studio Books, 1963, p.59.
Brief biblio-biographical
entry; reproduces a drawing from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (B5).
James
M. Etheridge (editor), Contemporary Authors: a bio-bibliographical guide to
current authors and their works. Detroit: Gale Research, 1963, vols.7–8,
p.413.
Bibliographical entry only.
Henry C. Pitz,
Illustrating Children’s Books: History, Technique, Production.
New York: Watson-Guptill Publishing, 1963, pp.46 and 47.
Page 46 mentions ‘graphic men like ... MP’ and on
p.47: ‘The work of Robin Jacques (1920– ) and MP (1911– ) has a certain
similarity. Both artists have a careful and rounded pen technique, and a
certain grotesque humour lurks beneath their meticulous drawings.’
Anon, Who’s Who. Adam & Charles Black, 1964, p.2360.
Edward Marsh and Christopher Hassall, Ambrosia and Small Beer: the record of a correspondence. Longmans, 1964, pp.189, 191 & 192.
Maurice Collis, Foreword to Poems and Drawings. Keepsake Press, 1965, p.[v]. (A14)
Rigby Graham, Romantic Book Illustration in England, 1943–55. Pinner: Private Libraries Association, 1965, pp.14–18.
J.
R. Townsend, Written for Children. Garnet Miller, 1965, pp.203–4;
Pelican, 1976, revised 1983, 1987. pp.182–83.
On the illustrations for
Ride a Cock-Horse (B1).
C.
S. Lewis, Of Other worlds: Essays and Stories (edited by Walter Hooper).
Geoffrey Bles; New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1966; Harvest (Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich), 1975, pp.39 & 71 (the same in each edition).
Passing mentions
of MP as creator of ‘another world’.
Terence Mullaly, Introduction to the catalogue of the MP exhibition, Upper Grosvenor Galleries, July 1966, p.[1]. (See Part E)
John
[Noel Claude] Lewis, The 20th-century Book: its illustration and design.
Studio Vista, 1967, and revised edition, Herbert Press, 1984, pp.203, 206, 209,
211, 213, & 272.
Celebrates MP’s illustrations for Treasure Island.
John
Mackay Shaw, Childhood in Poetry: a catalogue of . . . the Shaw childhood in
poetry collection. Florida State University. Detroit: Gale Research, 1967
onwards.
Bibliographic notices of Peake books acquired by the collection;
the Third Supplement (1980) catalogues 56 additional items.
Jonathan
Williams, The Lucidities: sixteen in visionary company. Turret Books, 1967.
Edition limited to 280 copies. Unnumbered pages.
Prose poem No.14 is entitled,
‘Dirge for Seer-Scrivener, Prince-Plangent of Gormenghast’.
Brian
Doyle (editor), The Who’s Who of Children’s Literature. Hugh
Evelyn, 1968; New York: Schocken, 1969; pp.341–42.
See also his Boys
Writers and Illustrators (1964).
Anthony
Burgess, Introduction to Titus Groan. Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1968, pp.9–13
(A4d).
Reprinted in the Penguin and later hardback issues.
Quentin
Crisp, The Naked Civil Servant. Cape, 1968, pp.140–42; Duckworth,
1977; Fontana, 1977; Flamingo, 1985.
Describes the commissioning, writing,
illustrating and publishing of All This and Bevin Too (B4).
Barbara
Harte and Carolyn Riley (editors), Contemporary Authors: a bio-bibliographical
guide to current authors and their works. Detroit: Gale Research, vols.5–8,
1st revision, 1969, p.871.
Quotes mainly from American reviews of the 1968
Titus books.
Michael
Moorcock, ‘Mervyn Peake’ in Nebula Award Stories 4, edited by
Poul Anderson. Gollancz, 1969, pp.284–85.
A 460-word obituary; ‘his
books have been erroneously labelled ‘Gothics’: an insult to a subtle,
sophisticated and skilful writer.’
Charles
Spencer, ‘MP 1911–1968’ in The Year’s Art 1968–1969,
edited by Michael Dempsey. Hutchinson, 1969, pp.141–42.
Factually and
chronologically inaccurate obituary. Critically unsound.
Maeve
Gilmore answers ‘Discussion questions on the life and works of MP’ at
the Secondary Worlds Symposium, Edinburgh University, 25 April 1969, 5 pp. transcript
of recording on duplicated sheets.
Covers subjects developed in A World
Away (F1).
Maurice Collis, The Journey Up: reminiscences, 1934–1968. Faber, 1970, pp.48, 77, 78, 96, 111, & 112.
Langdon Jones, in the ‘Publisher’s Note’ to Titus Alone. Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970 (A12d). pp.7 & 8. Also in later editions.
A.
C. Ward, Longman Companion to Twentieth Century Literature, revised by
Maurice Hussey. Longman, 1970, p.412; 2nd ed. 1975, p.412, unchanged; 3rd edition,
1981, pp.412–13.
A brief bio-bibliographical note in first two editions;
the third laments the literary cult of MP, undeterred ‘by the luxuriance
of the descriptive prose or even the absence of a solid and well-defined literary
theme to support it all.’
Frank
Eyre, British Children’s Books in the 20th Century. Longman, 1971,
pp.37, 44, 45, 53, & 55.
A revised and enlarged edition of 20th Century Children’s
Books (1952, above).
Carolyn
Riley (editor), Contemporary Authors: a bio-bibliographical guide to current
authors and their works. Detroit: Gale Research, 1971, vols.25–28, p.564.
Five lines only, listing obituaries.
John
Davis, in his Introduction to The Illustrators of Alice in Wonderland and Through
the Looking-Glass, edited by Graham Ovenden. Academy Editions; New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1972, pp.14 and (reproductions) half-title, 10, 43, 89, &
92.
Singles out MP’s as ‘the most memorable interpretation’
of Alice.
Maeve Gilmore, Introduction to A Book of Nonsense. Peter Owen, 1972 (A17). pp.9–12.
Christopher
Kearns, Fantasy: Library Association Bibliography No.14. Library Association,
c.1972.
Observes of the Titus books, ‘these masterpieces are modern Gothic
romances.’
Maeve
Gilmore, Introduction to the catalogue of the ‘Word and Image II: MP 1911–1968’
exhibition. National Book League, 1972, pp.5–9.
See Part E.
Brian
Aldiss, The Billion Year Spree. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973, pp.267–69
& 299; New York: Doubleday, 1973; New York: Schocken Books, 1974; Corgi (paperback),
1975, pp.304–7 & 342.
Compares MP with Tolkien and finds his prose ‘sharp
and particularized ... considerably less lulling than Tolkien’s’; although
‘too dense’ it ‘gets nearer to the things that haunt shadows.’
Repeated in Trillion Year Spree (1986).
Lin
Carter, Imaginary Worlds: the art of fantasy. New York: Ballantine, 1973,
pp.99–101, and 107.
In well-chosen terms, praises the strengths and pinpoints
the weaknesses of the Titus books; a fine example of their hold upon the reader.
Iona
and Peter Opie, catalogue notes to their exhibition, Three Centuries of Nursery
Rhymes and Poetry for Children. Oxford: OUP for the National Book League,
1973, p.31.
Quoted in MPR 17:22.
Brian
Alderson, catalogue notes to the exhibition, ‘Looking at Picture Books’.
National Book League, 1973, pp.77, 271, & 295.
Laudatory assessments of Ride
a Cock-Horse (B1) (‘raises the stature of these little verses to a new
imaginative level’) and of the line drawings in Captain Slaughterboard
(A1).
Margaret
Blount, Animal Land: The Creatures of Children’s Fiction. Heinemann,
1974, pp.109–10.
Brief comments on Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor in the context of animals invented and illustrated by children; MP’s drawings
resemble those of Sybil Corbet, aged 6.
Gay
Clifford, The Transformations of Allegory. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974,
pp.89–92.
On Gormenghast as architectural allegory.
Maeve Gilmore, Foreword to The Drawings of MP. Davis-Poynter, 1974 (A18); Allison & Busby (paperback) 1984, p.[vii].
Hilary Spurling, Introduction to The Drawings of MP. Davis-Poynter, 1974 (A18); Allison & Busby (paperback) 1984, pp.[ix–xvi].
Maeve Gilmore, ‘MP’, the introduction to Writings and Drawings. Academy, 1974 (A19); New York: St. Martin’s, 1974, pp.6–8.
John
Wakeman (editor), World Authors 1950–1970. New York: H. W. Wilson,
1975, pp.1124–26.
The first half of the entry was written on MP’s
behalf by MG; the second half draws substantially on American reviews of the novels.
C.
N. Manlove, Modern Fantasy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975,
Ch.6, ‘MP (1911–1968) – The ‘Titus’ Trilogy’, pp.207–57.
Reviewed in MPR 2:31–33 by Austen Wilks.
Cyrus
H. Peake, Carol J. Snow, and Andrew Guy Peake, The Peak-Peake Family History:
a genealogical and historical account from the earliest known origins to the present.
Self-published by Cyrus H. Peake, Claremont, California, from 1975, by installments.
No continuous pagination. Vol.1, part 2 (1977) reprints the obituary from The
Times (19 November 1968) followed by a 10-line note on his genealogy. MP’s
branch of the family has not yet been investigated by the authors.
Colin
Wilson, The Craft of the Novel. Gollancz, 1975, pp.174, 212, & 239.
Quoted in MPR 8:38–39.
Maeve Gilmore, Introduction to Boy in Darkness. Exeter: Wheaton, 1976 (A21). pp.[3–5].
Joe
de Bolt and John Pfeiffer, in Anatomy of Wonder: Science Fiction, edited
by Neil Barron. New York: Bowker, 1976, p.118.
They class MP as one of ‘the
three most popular writers of fantasy in the last forty years’ (the other
two being Tolkien and Ursula LeGuin).
Christine
Nasso (editor), Contemporary Authors: a bio-bibliographical guide to current
authors and their works. Detroit: Gale Research, vols.25–28, 1st revision,
1977, p.545.
Five lines only, listing obituaries.
Phyllis
Carmel Mendelson and Dedria Bryfonski (editors), Contemporary Literary Criticism.
Volume 7. Detroit: Gale Research, 1977, pp.301–3.
Quotes from TLS
review (26 January, 1973) of A Book of Nonsense (A17), Hugh Brogan’s
‘Gutters of Gormenghast’ (1973), Philip Guerrard’s ‘Strategic
Fantasies of MP’ (1976), and Duncan Fallowell in Books & Bookmen (1976).
Mike
Ashley, Who’s Who in horror and fantasy fiction. Elm Tree Books, 1977,
pp.144–45.
Appreciative but wildly inaccurate; see MPR 6:34.
Maurice
Collis, Diaries, 1949–1969. Heinemann, 1977.
Numerous references
throughout.
Joseph
Connolly, Collecting Modern First Editions. Studio Vista, 1977, p.131.
Reviewed in MPR 7:33–34.
William Feaver, When We Were Young: two centuries of children’s book illustration. Thames & Hudson, 1977, p.24 and (reproductions) p.22 & pl.107.
Ken
Hawkes, Sark. Newton Abbott: David & Charles, 1977, pp.7, 130–31,
& 164.
A glimpse of soccer-playing Peake.
Russell
Hoban, Introduction to Household Tales. Picador [Pan Books], 1977 (B10d).
pp.7–19.
Mainly pp.15 & 16.
Christine
A. Kloet, catalogue notes to the exhibition, ‘After Alice: a hundred years
of children’s reading in Britain.’ Library Association, 1977.
Quoted
in MPR 17:20.
Robertson
Davies, ‘Gleams and Glooms,’ in One Half of Robertson Davies.
New York: Viking Press, 1978. p.229.
Asks reader to compare Poe with MP, ‘whose
trilogy ... possesses qualities of sustained macabre fantasy, of poetic expression,
and of sheer creative power which I do not think Poe can rival.’
Lee Kingman, Grace Allen Hogarth, Harriet B. Quimby, Illustrators of Children‘s Books. Horn Books, 1978, p.150.
Robin
Myers (compiler and editor), A Dictionary of Literature in the English Language
from 1940 to 1970. Oxford, New York, etc: Pergamon, 1978, p.243.
Mainly
bibliographical.
Franz
Rottensteiner, The Fantasy Book: the ghostly, the gothic, the magical, the
unreal. Thames & Hudson, 1978, pp.130–32.
Reviewed in MPR 8:29–31.
Brian Sibley, a bibliographical note to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Methuen, 1978 (B8c) pp.[vii-viii].
Barbara Stoney, Sybil: Dame of Sark. Hodder & Stoughton, 1978. Not yet seen. Info from LBS.
Donald
H. Tuck, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent,
1978, p.343.
Brief, bio-bibliographical assessment; derivative.
Diana
Waggoner, The Hills of Faraway: a guide to fantasy. New York: Atheneum,
1978, pp.61–62, 66, & 259.
‘As an exercise in the weird, the eccentric,
and the remote [the trilogy] is unique, a fantasy which is whole, solid and complete,
but has no relation to Primary reality: not a metaphor for the real world, but
a frozen distortion of the popular image of Victorian life.’
John Watney, Introduction to Peake’s Progress. Allen Lane, 1978 (1979) (A22); New York: Overlook Press, 1981, pp.13–33.
Maeve Gilmore, Introduction to ‘The Voice of a Pencil’ exhibition catalogue. Durham: DLI Museum & Arts Centre, 1979, p.[v]. Reissued at the other venues of this exhibition. Reprinted, with corrections, in MPR 10:31–33. See Part E.
Maeve Gilmore, Programme notes on The Wit to Woo. Edinburgh: Nottingham Theatre Group, 1979, p.8. See Part E.
John Clute and Peter Nicholls, entry ‘Peake’ in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: an illustrated A to Z, edited by Peter Nicholls. Granada, 1979, p.453.
B.
C. Oliver-Morden, entry ‘Peake’ in Novelists and Prose Writers,
edited by James Vinson, in the series, ‘Great Writers of the English Language’.
Macmillan, 1979, pp.959–60.
Noticed in MPR 12:38. Reprinted in
20th Century Fiction (1983).
Elsa
J. Radcliffe, Gothic Novels of the Twentieth Century: an annotated bibliography.
Metuchen N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1979, p.170.
‘The sort of literature
from which cults have sprung. Evidently Peake wasn’t at the right place and
time for the readership. As it is, I just couldn’t get involved with the
tale and kept going under.’
Robert Reginald, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature: a checklist 1700–1974. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 2 vols. pp.407 (bibliographical) & 1028 (biographical).
Roger
C. Schlobin, The Literature of Fantasy: a comprehensive, annotated bibliography
of modern fantasy fiction. New York: Garland, 1979, pp.196–97.
Reviewed
in MPR 10:38–39 by Pierre Versins.
Marshall
B. Tymn, Kenneth J. Zahorski and Robert H. Boyer, Fantasy Literature: a core
collection and reference guide. New York: Bowker, 1979, pp.21–22.
Excludes the Titus books (‘pure Gothic fiction’) from fantasy.
Maeve Gilmore, Foreword to Mervyn Peake / Oscar Wilde. Spilstead (limited edition); Sidgwick & Jackson (trade), 1980 (B23). p.9.
David
Punter, The Literature of Terror: a history of gothic fictions from 1765 to
the present day. Longman, 1980.
Numerous references throughout.
Gamini Salgado, entry on Peake in Novels and Novelists: a guide to the world of fiction, edited by Martin Seymour-Smith. Windward, 1980, pp.75, 197, & 243.
Michael
Moorcock, Introduction to The Great Captains by Henry Treece. New English
Library, 1980, pp.1, 3 & 4.
A new introduction to a book first published in
1956 by the Bodley Head; Moorcock draws several parallels between Treece and MP
‘who merely sought to describe and make coherent the colourful ... world
in which [they] lived.’
Harold
Osborne (editor), The Oxford Companion to 20th-century Art. Oxford: OUP,
1981, p.427.
‘Neither reliable nor well-balanced’ – MPR
15:43.
Anne
Commire (editor), Something about the Author: facts and pictures about authors
and illustrators of books for young people. Vol.23. Detroit: Gale Research,
1981, pp.162–66.
A chronological summary of MP’s life with abundant
quotations from his writings. Perpetuates the myth that he was ‘officially
assigned to visit Belsen concentration camp’ but otherwise accurate and appreciative.
Ann
Evory (editor), Contemporary Authors: a bio-bibliographical guide to current
authors and their works. Detroit: Gale Research, vol.3, new revision series,
1981, pp.423–24.
Includes a full column of quotations from reviews.
Duncan
Fallowell, entry ‘Peake’ in The Makers of Modern Culture, edited
by Justin Wintle. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981, pp.404–5.
Reprinted in MPR 12:30–31.
Colin
Greenland, entry ‘Peake’ in Twentieth-Century Science Fiction Writers,
edited by Curtis C. Smith. Macmillan; New York: St. Martin’s, 1981, pp.632–33
(in a terminal section entitled ‘Major fantasy writers’).
A balanced
attempt to take in the many facets of MP’s prose.
John
Harthan. The History of the Illustrated Book: The Western Tradition.
Thames & Hudson, 1981, pp. 278–80.
Mentions ‘a brief but vigorous renewal of book
illustration in English general publishing between 1943 and 1955 ...
[which] began in 1943 with the Rime of the Ancient Mariner,
illustrated with nightmarish pictures by MP.’ Also says that MP’s
Alice ‘struck a new, astringent and essentially adult note in the
imagery of this perennial classic.’
Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi, A Dictionary of Imaginary Places. Granada, 1981, pp.149–51.
Rosemary
Jackson, Fantasy: the literature of subversion. Methuen, 1981.
MP is
dismissed in the Introduction. No other mention. Reviewed in MPR 13:37–42,
by Peter McKenzie.
Colin Manlove, entry ‘Peake’ in Dictionary of National Biography: 1961–1970, edited by E. T. Williams and C. S. Nicholls. Oxford: OUP, 1981, pp.828–30.
Geoffrey
Leech and Michael H. Short, Style in Fiction: a linguistic introduction to
English fictional prose. Longman, 1981, pp.140–45.
Reprinted in MPR
15:30–35.
Roger
C. Schlobin (editor), The Aesthetics of Fantasy Literature and Art. Notre
Dame (Indiana): University of Notre Dame Press; Brighton: Harvester. 1982.
Brief mentions of MP; reviewed in MPR 18:43–45 by Colin Greenland.
Harry
Blamires, Twentieth-century English Literature. [The final volume of the
Macmillan History of Literature] Macmillan, 1982, pp.204–5, 207, 263.
Diminishes by implication – ‘the Gormenghast trilogy’ [sic] has
‘a largeness that generally appertains to masterpieces’ – and reproduces
‘The Dancers’ from Drawings 1949.
Everett
F. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction. Ohio: Kent State University
Press, 1983, pp.400–401.
Deals only with Mr Pye, which ‘might
have been successful as a nouvelle. The illustrations are superior to the
text.’
Meirion
and Susie Harries, The War Artists: British official war art of the twentieth
century. Michael Joseph in association with the Imperial War Museum and the
Tate Gallery, 1983, pp.180, 201–3, 255–56, & 306.
Mentions MP’s
attempts to be a war artist.
C.
N. Manlove, The Impulse of Fantasy Literature. Macmillan, 1983, Ch.7, ‘Fantasy
and Mind: MP’, pp.115–26.
Revised from ‘A World in fragments:
Peake and the Titus Books’, MPR 11:9–16.
Michael Moorcock, Preface to A World Away, by Maeve Gilmore (F1). Methuen, 1983, pp.[ix]–xv.
B.
C. Oliver-Morden, entry ‘Peake’ in 20th Century Fiction, edited
by James Vinson, in the series, ‘Great Writers Student Library.’ Macmillan,
1983, pp.515–17.
Reprinted without change from Novelists and Prose
Writers (1980).
Tom Pocock, 1945: the dawn came up like thunder. Collins, 1983, Ch.4, pp.123–47.
Adrian
Room, Dictionary of Trade Name Origins. Routledge, 1983, p.133.
Claims
that ‘Towards the end of the Second World War ... MP gave a small pen-and-ink
drawing to Alan Bott, the managing director of the Book Society and the Reprint
Society. Bott was at the time thinking of starting a paperback publishing company
as soon as the war was over but was stuck for a suitable name. He did not want
to have a bird (because of Penguin) or an animal (because of the American
kangaroo logo on Pocket Books), so had to try elsewhere. Sitting at his desk and
pondering on the problem he found himself staring at MP’s little picture
– and there, in the god Pan, was the name he had been seeking. Pan Books
was actually founded in 1944.’ This story is not attested. (See Part C)
G. Peter Winnington, entry ‘Peake’ in Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 15: British Novelists, 1930–1959 (Part 2: M–Z), edited by Bernard Oldsey. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983, pp.423–31.
Alan
Lee (artist) and David Day (author), Castles. Allen & Unwin; New York:
Bantam, 1984, pp.188–89 (illus.) & 190 (text).
The double spread reproduces
Alan Lee’s drawing for the cover of the Penguin edition of the Titus books
(A4l, etc.); p.190 is David Day’s commentary.
Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen, Introduction to Sketches from Bleak House. (B24) Methuen’s Children’s Books, 1984 [copyright notice dated 1983]. pp.5–7.
Anthony Burgess, Ninety-nine Novels: the best in English since 1939. Allison & Busby, 1984, p.36.
Joseph Connolly, Modern First Editions: their value to collectors. Orbis, 1984, pp.224–25.
Harry Blamires (editor and contributor), A Guide to 20th-Century Literature in English. Methuen, 1984, pp.216–17.
Quentin
Crisp, The Wit and Wisdom of Quentin Crisp, compiled and edited by Guy
Kettlehack. New York: Harper & Row, 1984; Century, 1985, pp.129–130.
Brief, garbled, reference to baby-sitting for the Peakes.
[Colin
Greenland] The Science Fiction Source Book, edited by David Wingrove. Longman,
1984, p.212.
‘Titus Groan books are as vigorously Romantic as all his
work, a tale of spiritual and emotional revolt against a corrupt and decrepit
order’.
Rates Titus Groan very highly (17/20).
Roger Hardy, entry ‘Peake’ in Fontana Biographical Companion to Modern Thought, edited by Alan Bullock and R. W. Woodings. Fontana, 1984, p.587.
Malcolm
Edwards and Robert Holdstock, Realms of Fantasy. Limpsfield, Surrey: Dragon’s
World, Paper Tiger, 1984, Ch.3, ‘Gormenghast: the Realm of Titus Groan’,
pp.33–43.
A commentary largely inspired by quotations, especially from
Michael Moorcock, to accompany four illustrations by Ian Miller.
Edmund
Little, The Fantasts. Amersham: Avebury, 1984, Ch.4, ‘MP (1911–1968):
Gormenghast’, pp.54–73.
Covers ground much better handled by Bristow-Smith’s
dissertations (Part I), for example; ultimately depressing, for that is Little’s
view of Gormenghast.
Brigid
Peppin and Lucy Micklethwait, Dictionary of British Book Illustrators: the
20th century. Murray, 1984, pp.229–30.
Devotes a full page to MP;
laudatory but frequently inaccurate.
Humphrey
Carpenter and Mari Prichard, Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature.
Oxford: OUP, 1984, pp.397–98.
Treasure Island ‘had to wait
until 1949 to find an artist exactly fitted to it, MP.’
Joseph
L. Sanders, ‘The passions in the clay: MP’s Titus stories’ in Voices
for the Future, vol. 3. Bowling Green, Ohio: Popular Press, 1984, pp.75–105.
A rich, tightly argued discussion of the moral and philosophical bases of the
world of MP’s fiction. Reprinted in Mervyn Peake, Titus Alone (A12l).
Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 1992. pp.260–91.
Ann
Swinfen, In Defence of Fantasy: a study of the genre in English and American
literature since 1945. Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1984, pp.3 & 100.
MP is
excluded because ‘his novels appear to be rather different in character from
the works being discussed here’ (p.3).
Harry Blamires, A Short History of English Literature. Routledge, 1985. p.407
Margaret Drabble, Oxford Companion to English Literature, 5th edition. Oxford: OUP, 1985, p.748.
Bernard Smith, entry ‘Peake’ in Writers in Sussex, by Bernard Smith and Peter Haas. Bristol: Redcliffe, 1985, pp.105–7.
Alvin
Sullivan (editor), British Literary Magazines: vol.4, The Modern Age, 1914–1984.
New York: Greenwood Press, 1986, pp.254 and 362.
Notices MP’s contributions
of poetry and ‘a fine series of drawings of contemporary authors’ to Mercury, and ‘etchings [sic] for The Ancient Mariner’
to Poetry (London).
Brian
W. Aldiss with David Wingrove, Trillion Year Spree: the history of science
fiction. Gollancz, 1986, pp.266 & 262–64.
Reprints unchanged the
assessment from Billion Year Spree (1973), see above.
Randolf
Quirk, Words at Work: Lectures on Textual Structure. National Univ. of
Singapore Press, 1986. pp.54–56.
On distance and perspective in the Titus
books.
Harold
Bloom (general editor), Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism: Twentieth-Century
British Literature, vol.4. New York: Chelsea House, 1987, pp.2218–28.
The first page reproduces photographs of MP and other authors. Extracts from A
World Away (F1), from articles (see Part H) by Duncan Fallowell (1976), G.
Peter Winnington (1979), Hugh Brogan (1973) and Colin Greenland (1981), plus Anthony
Burgess’s Introduction to Titus Groan (A4d), complete.
Martin
Dodsworth, ‘Mid-Twentieth-Century Literature: 1930–1980’ in The
Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature, edited by Pat Rogers. Oxford:
OUP, 1987, Ch.9, pp.446, 447.
‘Two novelists of fantasy embody the forties’
taste for extravagance most clearly’: MP and Tolkien.
Josette
Leray, Titus ou l’héritier errant: modalités et sens de la
quête dans la trilogie de MP, in Le Voyage romantique et ses réécritures,
ed. Christian La Cassagnère, Fac. Lettres Clermont-Ferrand, France, 1987,
pp.257–270.
On the quest motif in the Titus books. Not seen.
Wim
Tigges, Explorations in the Field of Nonsense. Rodopi, Amsterdam, 1987.
pp.70–71.
Quotes Graham Greene with reference to MP’s Alice.
Paul
Wright, The Literary Zodiac. Anodyne Publishing; Sebastopol, Ca: CRCS Publications.
1987, pp.207–216.
Reprints Wright’s 1980 article, ‘The Gutters
of Gormenghast’ (see Part H).
James
Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock, Fantasy: the 100 best books. Xanadu, 1988,
Chapter 64, pp.137–38.
Enthusiastic thumbnail sketches of MP’s life
and the three Titus books.
Edward
Hodnett, Five Centuries of English Book Illustration. Scolar Press, 1988,
pp.275–76.
A 500-word bio-bibliographic critical commentary, sometimes
perceptive, sometimes ill-founded – a fine example of the love–hate
relationship that MP’s work inspires.
David
Pringle, Modern Fantasy: the hundred best novels. Grafton, 1988, Chs.1,
10, & 23, pp.27–28, 46–47, 76–77.
Plot summaries of the three
Titus books, the first two of which are ‘masterpieces of modern fantasy.’
The third is not so appraised.
Tigges, Wim, An Anatomy of Literary Nonsense. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1988. pp.53–4, 57, 59, 87, 96, 165–6, 195, 226, 231, and 257.
On page 165 Tigges calls Peake the only ‘true heir’ of Lear as far as nonsense verse is concerned.
D.G.
Marowski & R. Matuz (eds.). Contemporary Literary Criticism (vol. 54).
Detroit: Gale Research, 1989.
Nine critical essays which ‘provide lucid insight into
Peake’s creative process and portray the diversity of positive and negative
commentary on Peake’s work. The wide range of commentary reflects how Mervyn
Peake, even to this day, remains an artist who has confounded the public and
scholars alike.’
Andrew
Sinclair, War Like a Wasp: the lost decade of the ’forties. Hamish
Hamilton, 1989. pp.61, 74, 94, 151, 164, 184–86, 226.
Page 165 reproduces
three drawings from The Adventures of the Young Soldier (B3) and page 186
the cover of Poetry London X, with the nightmare figure of life-in-death.
Grace
Ingoldby, Out of Call or Cry: The Island of Sark. Heinemann, 1990. Chapter
10, mainly, pp.125–39.
A personal study of the island of Sark, recalling
MP’s participation in Eric Drake’s painter community and the filming
of Mr Pye for television, the two main events on the island in the twentieth
century.
Nick and Tessa Souter, Illustrator’s Sourcebook: 1850 to the Present Day,
with picture research by Anne Marie Ehrlich. Macdonald, 1990.
MP gets two pages – most get only one. ‘In many of MP’s
works a lively humour is merged with an instinct for the macabre and the
grotesque, as seen in the facial caricatures that were a recurring element in
his work.’
G. Peter Winnington, The critical reception of Mervyn Peake’s Titus books, in Mervyn Peake, Titus Alone (A12l). Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 1992. pp.217–26.
Ann Yeoman, The cry of a fighting-cock: notes on Steerpike and ritual in Gormenghast. In Mervyn Peake, Titus Alone (A12l). Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 1992. pp.322–31.
Randall
Stevenson, A Reader‘ Guide to the 20th-century Novel in Britain. Kentucky
U P, 1993.
Depicts MP as ‘a unique figure in English fiction’ (p.81).
Adam
Piette, Imagination at War. British Fiction and Poetry 1939–1945.
Macmillan Papermac, 1995, pp.49–54, 227, 228.
Reviewed at length by
Laurence Bristow-Smith in PS 4:iv.
Alice
Mills, entry ‘Peake’ in Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 160:
British Children’s Writers, 1914–1960, edited by ?Meena Khorana?.
Detroit: Gale Research, 1996, pp.207–216.
A generally balanced assessment
of MP as illustrator and writer for children, with the occasional lapsus calami
(for which see PS 5:i).
Peter
Parker (ed.), Entry under 1959 in The Reader’s Companion to the 20th-Century
Novel, Fourth Estate, 1994. pp.360–63.
A sympathetic and perceptive
but also erratic assessment; suggests that the genesis of the series may be found
in ‘Boy in Darkness’; concludes that it is a parable of the contemporary
world, where good and evil inextricably merge.
Russell Davies (ed.), The Kenneth Williams Letters, HarperCollins, 1994.
Two brief mentions of MP in connection with The Wit to Woo, in which Williams played Kite – whom he remembers as Pike. Clearly, his memories (written more than 15 years after the event) should be treated with caution.
Margaret Drabble and Jenny Stringer (editors), Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: OUP, 1996. p.445.
Tanya
Gardiner-Scott, Entry ‘The Titus Groan Trilogy’ in the Guide to Science
Fiction and Fantasy Literature. eds Tom Shippey and A J Sobczak. Magill 1996.
pp.944–46.
Roughly 70% plot summary, 30% analysis. ‘Classic high
fantasy . . . looks back to Gothic novels.’ MP’s ‘feast of language’
sets the characters apart from much twentieth-century writing. Devices in TA are
similar to those of 1950s sf.
John
Clute and John Grant (eds), The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Orbit [a division
of Little Brown & Co], 1997. p.749.
Perceptive, accurate entry, ending: ‘He
is the most potent visionary the field has yet witnessed.’
Christoph Schöneich, Edmund Talbot und seine Brüder: Englische Bildungsromane nach 1945. 1999, Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen, 344p. (In German)
There‘s a chapter on Peake (pp. 152–78) about the conflict between frozen ritual and individual development, petrified tradition and the wish of the protagonist to become ‘Titus Groan in his own right’ – in narratological terms: the tension between allegory and Bildungsroman, from the point of view of Erich Fromm‘s political psychology in Escape from Freedom: between necrophilia and biophilia. (Not seen. Author’s summary.)
Michael Tolley, Grotesque Imaginings: Peaking through Keyholes. In
Seriously Weird: Papers on the Grotesque. Ed. Alice Mills. New York etc:
Peter Lang, 2000. pp.153–65.
Very briefly reviewed by Dr Nick Freeman in PS 7,
2: 37.
Max
Duperray, La folie et la méthode. Essai sur la déréalisation
en littérature. Paris, France: L’Harmattan, 2001. pp.181-6.
A rare analysis (and rather lengthy summary) of ‘Same Time, Same Place’
in the context of theories of the unreal in fiction and the limits imposed on
the fantastic by generic definitions. (In
French)
Carlo
Pagetti, The Whale and the Gryphon: On the Road to Gormenghast. In Literature
and Visual Arts in the Twentieth Century, ed. and introd. by Daniela Carpi.
Bologna, Italy, 2001. pp.193–204.
Not seen.
Victor
Watson (et al. eds.), The Cambridge Guide to Children’s Books in English.
CUP, 2001.
On p.547, Arvon Wellen places MPs illustrations for
The Hunting of the
Snark and
Alice as ‘among his best works’ and singles out
Bid as ‘a
brilliantly frightening and baroque work.’ There’s a further comment on p.607
qualifying MP’s nonsense verse as ‘exuberant but odd’.
Tim Woods, Who’s Who of Twentieth-Century Novelists. Routledge, 2001. p.271.
Mary
Barber, Warningcamp: The History of a Sussex Community. Bognor Regis: Woodfield
Publishing, 2002.
Brief mention of MP as a resident in the village, naming
the houses he lived in.
Sophie Aymès, La bille et l‘encrier: écriture et auto-illustration chez MP. In Texte/Image: nouveaux problèmes. Eds Liliane Louvel and Henri Scepi. Rennes, France: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2003. pp.201–18. (In
French)
Not seen.
David
Punter and Glennis Byron, The Gothic. Oxford and Malden, Ma: Blackwell,
2004.
Several brief notices, particularly pp.154–5.
Peter
Boxall (ed.), 1001 Books You Must Read before You Die. Intro. Peter Ackroyd.
Cassell/Universe, 2006.
Contains entries for both Titus Groan (‘a novel
of superb craft’) and Gormenghast (‘an outstanding feat of literature’).
Stephen Jones and Kim Newman, eds. Horror: Another 100 best books. New
York: Carroll & Graf, 2005.
Apparently contains an essay by Christopher
Fowler on Gormenghast (not seen).
Victoria de Rijke and Howard Hollands, The Thing that is not There: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Mervyn Peake’s Captain Slaugterboard Drops Anchor. In The Story and the Self: Children’s Literature: Some Psychoanalytic Perspectives. University of Hertfordshire Press, (1st March) 2008. pp.236–48
Sara Wasson, Urban Gothic of the Second World War: Dark London. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Chapter 6 contains a section on ‘Mervyn Peake’s wartime writing’ (pp.142–56).
It was reviewed by Adam Piette in PS 12, i: 48–50.
Arrate Hidalgo Sánchez,
Steerpike and Evasive Villainy in MP’s
Gormenghast Novels. In Villains: Global Perspectives on Villains and Villainy Today (ed. Burcu Genc & Corinna Lenhardt). Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2011. pp.55–62.
Argues that ‘Steerpike challenges classifications and escapes
satisfactory definitions of the modern villain.’
Michael Moorcock, ‘Breaking Free: an introduction to MP’s Titus Alone.’
In London Peculiar and other Non-Fiction. Oakland, Ca: PM Press, 2012.
First published (in German) as the introduction to the German translation of TA published by Klett-Cotta in 2010.
This piece is available on the internet
here.
Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles, Children’s Picturebooks: the art of visual storytelling. London: Laurence King. 2012.
Calls Captain Slaughterboard ‘a key picturebook that was way ahead of its time’.
Catherine Nichols, Alice’s Wonderland: A Visual Journey Through Lewis
Carroll’s Mad, Mad World. New York: Race Point Publishing (part of
Quarto Publishing), 2014.
MP’s Alice has ‘quirky, dark illustrations’
that ‘are a result, in part, of his disturbing experiences as a war artist
at the end of World War II. ... MP’s Alice wanders through a dark and
malevolent Wonderland, and the reader fears for her safety among its mad
inhabitants. MP’s White Rabbit looks angry, his face in a scowl and his
fists clenched, as he stomps toward the viewer.’
Sophie Aymes,
‘La bille et l’encrier: écriture et auto-illustration chez
Mervyn Peake.’ In Texte/image — Nouveaux problèmes ed. Henri Scepi. Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2016. pp.201–18.
Rhian E. Jones, ‘Mervyn Peake’. In British Writers Supplement XXV, ed. Jay Parini. Farmington Hills, Mich: Charles
Scribner’s Sons (part of Gale, a Cengage company), 2018.
ISBN 9780684325590
A perceptive overview of the Titus Books, with a few biographical inaccuracies and limited bibliography.
The 18th chapter is ‘Vast Shambles: Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast (1947[sic]–1959)’, pages 191–201, illustrated. A perceptive and sympathetic study of the castle and its symbolism.
© G. Peter Winnington 2020
Please tell
me of any corrections or additions I should make.
Continue with Part H, articles on Mervyn Peake in periodicals, or