I am currently working on a series of radio plays for BBC Radio 4's 'Classic Serial' based on the Titus Groan novels of Mervyn Peake.Re-reading Peake's fantastical prose, I came across a wonderful phrase which I had totally forgotten describing of the manner in which the gargantuan chef, Swelter (right), addresses the terrorised kitchen urchins who work for him.
The author, writes of Swelter leaning forward, "dropping each confidential word like a cannon ball smeared with syrup."
Brilliant!
The descriptions in Gormenghast are delightful and so evocative! It's almost a shame my train wasn't cancelled... we would have had so much to talk about!
ReplyDeleteYes, that really is fabulous.
ReplyDeleteSO EXCITED for this!! Good luck & I cannot wait to be sitting cozily & listening to your production :)
ReplyDeletePreRaphaeliet
Thank you! The broadcasts will go out early next summer on or around the centenary of Mervyn Peake's birth.
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeletejust wondered whether you'd heard about this Peake centenary conference:
http://www.chiuni.ac.uk/english/MervynPeakeConference.cfm
...hopefully not TOO academic!
There had been a rumour that I was to be invited to speak but, happily, they forgot!
ReplyDeleteI must say, the thought of listening to a paper on "Peake's influence (from Moorcock and Miéville to mannerpunk)" is a bit scary especially since I'd never heard of 'mannerpunk' and supposed, until I looked it up, that it was some kind of retro avant-garde pop music.
Never mind, the very un-scary Mr Moorcock is, I believe, one of the keynote speakers and quite rightly since he knew Mervyn Peake well.