From: "Russell Wodell" <hse@telus.net>
Subject: (urth) Gormeghast
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 08:26:22 

There is an excellent BBC book, "The Art of Gormeghast," about the making of
the series. In fact, it's in my opinion _better_ than the series, because it
allows the reader to feast on the extraordinary art direction without the
tedium of watching the series. Well, maybe it's not fair to call it
"tedium." The problem, IMHO, is that the adaptation is too successful: it
captures the unique slow-motion grotesquery of Peake soo faithfully that it
becomes quite remarkably unpleasant.

And, of course, in case there was any doubt, it makes it indisputably clear
that Peake was a direct influence on The Book of the New Sun. (Imagine
_that_ as a mini-series!)

About eight years ago or so, there was an equally remarkable tv version of
Peake's "Mr. Pye," starring Derek Jacobi as the protagonist who moves to the
Isle of Sark to found a new religion. He is disturbed to discover he is
growing wings...so behaves less well, and discovers he is growing horns....
Like "Boy in Darkness," it is essentially a good-humored attack on
Christianity quite daunting in its ferocity.


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