Happy Irish Fiction Friday! Today we feature another author from the Swan River Press “Irish Writers of the Fantastic” Poster: Charles Robert Maturin and his novel Melmoth the Wanderer. In fact, I’m sharing two links to the novel.
Maturin was born in Dublin on September 25, 1782. He was an Irish Protestant Clergyman. His first Gothic novels were not critically or commercially successful but did catch the attention of Sir Walter Scott, who along with Lord Byron got Maturin’s play Bertram staged in Drury Lane. His work was critical of the Church, which blocked any further advancement of Maturin within the clergy. Melmoth the Wanderer was published in 1820. After Maturin’s death on October 30, 1824 at only 42, “A writer in the University Magazine was later to sum up his character as “eccentric almost to insanity and compounded of opposites — an insatiable reader of novels; an elegant preacher; an incessant dancer; a coxcomb in dress and manners.”” (Wikipedia).
In Melmouth, you will find a little Faust, a little Swift, and a touch of Arabian Nights. Enjoy!
