Novel
Melmoth the Wanderer
Charles Maturin · 1820
Synopsis
In Dublin, a student, John Melmoth, keeps watch over a dying uncle and finds in the house the portrait of an ancestor dated 1646 and an old manuscript. He thus discovers the story of this ancestor, a scholar who sold his soul in exchange for a prolonged life and travels the world looking for someone to take over his pact. The tales nest within one another: that of the Englishman Stanton, that of the Spaniard Monçada, who escaped from a convent and fell into the hands of the Inquisition, then the tale of the Indians, centred on a young girl, Immalee.
Context
The author's first three novels had appeared under the name Dennis Jasper Murphy. According to a contemporary, he stuck a wafer on his forehead when he wrote, so that he would not be disturbed. The publisher Constable, of Edinburgh, advanced him five hundred pounds in 1819, and the book came out in 1820. Jean Cohen gave it in French as early as 1821, in a free version; Jacqueline Marc-Chadourne published the first complete translation in 1965, with Jean-Jacques Pauvert, with a preface by André Breton.
Who it is for
A long Gothic tale of stories nested within one another, demanding to read; translated in full into French.
Prizes and reception
The last of the great English Gothic novels; Honoré de Balzac gave it an ironic sequel, and Oscar Wilde, in exile, took the hero's name.
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