ABSTRACT
Patrick McGrath was born in London in 1950. McGrath's first novel was called The Grotesque, and the title is a good indicator of the Gothic sensibility that informs much of his fiction. In his second novel McGrath chose to focus, with unnerving intensity, on one deeply damaged individual. Both of McGrath's next two novels used the neo-Gothic themes that he had made his own in his early works to explore erotic obsession and the imprisoning power of intense love. The luxuriant decaying ambience of Port Mungo is an ideal setting for McGrath's imagination, and his story of a painter and his chaotic relationships, told from the perspective of his adoring sister, moves towards a characteristically dark conclusion. In his six novels, different though they are, McGrath has created an instantly recognisable world, peopled by disturbed characters forever teetering on the edge of breakdown and psychosis.
