Titus Alone
First 1959 edition cover
Author	Mervyn Peake
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Gormenghast
Genre(s)	Gothic
Publisher	Eyre & Spottiswoode
Publication date	1959
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	NA
Preceded by	Boy in Darkness
Followed by	Titus Awakes

Titus Alone is a novel written by Mervyn Peake and first published in 1959. It is the fourth work in the Gormenghast series. The other works in the series are Titus Groan, Gormenghast, the novella Boy in Darkness, and the fragment Titus Awakes.

[edit] Plot summary

The story follows Titus' journey in the world outside Gormenghast Castle, having left his home at the end of the second book.

He bumbles through a desert for a time, then uses a canoe to row down the river, where the reader gets a surprise---although Gormenghast is a crumbling, medieval castle, Titus finds himself in a modern city. Skyscrapers tower, and the river itself is covered in pipes, canals, and fishermen. As he slips the painter on the canoe, he has his first encounter with two faceless, silent persons, ostensibly police officers.

Later on, Titus becomes friends with a man named Muzzlehatch, who runs a zoo and drives a shark-shaped car. He meets and has an affair with, Muzzlehatch's former lover, Juno. Titus walks down a crumbling highway, where he has an unpleasant encounter with a beggar that eats money. He even spends some time wandering around the Under-river, an underground city filled with outcasts, runaways, and derelicts. There, (yet another contrast to the antiquity of previous novels), someone informs us that 'Molusk' has just circled the moon, probably a kind of metal-plated satellite.

Mark Robertson's cover illustration for the Mandarin paperback edition

Titus eventually is found in a state of fever by a woman named Cheeta, who is the daughter of a scientist who runs a light-bulb equipped factory filled with mysterious bad smells, and who talks to his workers through a giant television set. Cheeta is described as a 'modern girl', who drives a helicopter, and for whose body Titus lusts, however he informs her several times that he hates her. Cheeta is shocked because other men would give anything for her favor. She contrives an elaborate plan to lure him into the "Black House", to see 'a hundred bright inventions', and end their relationship on a high note. There, she attempts to recreate Gormenghast horrendously, but is foiled by Muzzlehatch, who dies in the effort. Muzzlehatch also manages to blow up Cheeta's father's factory as revenge for the murder of his animals. Titus flees and spends months wandering a wasteland alone, until he comes across a large rock that he knew from his childhood. Hearing the guns of Gormenghast saluting the missing Earl, he is confirmed in his knowledge that he is not insane and that the Castle exists. Tempted to return to his duties, he nevertheless confirms his desire for independence and once again strikes off alone, this time in a different direction.

[edit] Critical reception

This last book is a strange and unpolished piece of work, due to Peake's illness during its writing. The book's posthumous publication was met with scathing rejection by critics.

The first edition contains many changes wrought by a heavy-handed editor, including the omission of entire chapters. The editor also removed various references to modern technology such as helicopters and cars. Critical reception has been more mixed since the complete novel was published.

[edit] External links

• Review of Titus Alone