November 30, 2006
Gormenghast again
“No sooner had [Steerpike] peered over the banisters than he started back, for the Countess of Groan was passing through the lamplit room below. She seemed to be wading in white froth, and the hollow rooms behind Steerpike reverberated with a dull throbbing, a multitudinous sound, the echo of the genuine ululation which he could not hear, the droning of the cats. They passed from the hall below like the ebbing of a white tide through the mouth of a cave, at its centre, a rock that moved with them crowned with red seaweed.”
That last phrase is, of course, a description of the Countess. Though Gormenghast, its predecessor Titus Groan, and its successor Titus Alone were once available in individual editions [check your used bookstore], the only currently in-print U.S. version is the Overlook omnibus, The Gormenghast Trilogy.
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2 Responses to “Gormenghast again”
The Countess had red hair, you may recall. Like another cat fancier we know.
Oh me oh my. I reckon you do recall that the Countess had red hair. “Crowned with red seaweed.” Unh-hunh.