Titus Alone
First 1959 edition cover
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| Author | Mervyn Peake |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Mervyn Peake |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Gormenghast |
| Genre | Gothic |
| Publisher | Eyre & Spottiswoode |
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Publication date
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1959 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| 823.914 | |
| 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. It was re-edited by Langdon Jones in 1970 using more of the original manuscript.
The story follows Titus as he journeys through the world outside Gormenghast Castle, having left his home at the end of the second book.
Titus 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. Titus is exhausted by this stage and collapses on the city's waterfront, where he is rescued by a man named Muzzlehatch, who runs a zoo and drives a shark-shaped car. When Titus has recovered, he becomes restless and leaves Muzzlehatch's home to explore the city. He comes upon various huge glass and steel buildings and arrives at a vast circular plaza of grey marble, which he begins to cross. At the far side of the plaza is a kind of airfield where brightly coloured flying machines land and take off. One of the flying machines starts to pursue Titus and he crosses the plaza hurriedly and runs into a large building to escape. He climbs to the top of the building and observes through a skylight that a party is taking place. He watches the party, overhearing various strange and disjointed conservations, until by accident he breaks the skylight, and falls through onto the ground. Titus only avoids arrest at this stage because he is lucky enough to have landed at the feet of Juno, who is Muzzlehatch's ex-lover. Juno and Muzzlehatch (who is also at the party) hide Titus until the police are gone. Nevertheless Titus is later arrested anyway, and brought to trial before a magistrate. He only avoids being sent to an institution for offenders by Juno agreeing to be his guardian and taking him in to live with her.
Titus then goes to stay with Juno, who lives by herself in a beautiful mansion. Although she is at least twice his age, after a short while they become lovers. There follows a blissful period when the two lovers live together joyfully, but Titus again becomes restless and decides to leave Juno. He parts from Juno and heads out once more to explore the city, where he is followed by a mysterious floating orb, which appears to have an intelligence of its own. Titus becomes frightened and angry towards the grey, translucent orb, and flings his Gormenghast flint (his only token of home) at it, smashing it into pieces. He then flees to Muzzlehatch's house. Muzzlehatch informs Titus that the scientists are furious because of the destruction of their orb - their greatest achievement - and that Titus's life is now in danger. He gives Titus directions to the hidden world of the Under-River and urges Titus to flee there.
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