the faintest, wannest smile that ever agitated for a moment the lower half of a human face

[cimorene]

It was perhaps the faintest, wannest smile that ever agitated for a moment the lower half of a human face. The eyes took no part in it. They were as vacant as saucers of milk; but one end of the mouth lifted as might the cold lip of a trout.

—Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast

Comments

[lazaefair]

It's like Goth Wodehouse. Love it.

[cimorene]

Yes, I see what you mean... it's sort of the... register and the approach to narration and the tone, but then all the - grotesquerie bits go very Extremely every now and then, and of course, there's a lot of adjective and adverb around at all times. A lot more sensory-everything in general with Peake.

[pensnest]

I was just thinking the same - it's like a Wodehouse quote, but colder.

[cimorene]

You know those trailers recut to look like a trailer of another genre? It's like Wodehouse was recut into a horror movie trailer. All that atmosphere.

[buddleia]

There was a tv adaptation but I couldn’t quite bear to watch it. How on earth could anyone get everything in?

[cimorene]

Yeah, actually this is why I only watched one episode of the J&W series too. The plot and dialogue is about a tenth of it. It'd be like "adapting" a Diego Rivera mural by removing the visual and just telling a story.

[stultiloquentia]

My gosh, what a line. I guess I'm due for a reread.

[cimorene]

I actually stalled out about 60% through the book in question, I think. I still have it on my phone but I lost my bookmark, so I may need to just start over...