Subject: (urth) Another Ghastly Groan

From: Alice Turner <akt at attglobal.net>
Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 23:14:24 +0000

The new NYRSF presents, from one Henry Wessells, citing a biography of
Mervyn Peake by G. Peter Winnington, the fact that Peake (1911-1968)
spent nine of his first eleven years in China: "Parallels between the
early life of the Boy-Emperor and Titus Groan as recounted in the first
two of Mervyn's novels are numerous and striking."

Now I find that most intriguing. I was born in China, myself, but most
of what I know about the Boy-Emperor is from Bertolucci's fascinating
film. And now I think I see the weakness of the TV adaptation--it wasn't
nearly weird *enough* with regard to Titus. The British character actors
were really brilliant and off the wall, but every time it paused to
focus on Titus it got snoresome (I was watching it in the wee hours) and
I could hardly wait for someone, nearly anyone, else to appear. The
movie, was, of course, paced and presented so very differently that it
is hard to compare the productions, but what I remember is a great deal
of weirdness in the treatment of the B-E's upbringing that might have
pepped up the TV show. Perhaps this approach was deemed too kinky, and
maybe that's true if it was envisioned as "family fare." (The Addams
Family perhaps?)

-alga

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