Melmoth the Wanderer
Published on 3. May 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
720 pages
978-0-241-36654-7 (ISBN)
Description
The Penguin English Library Edition of Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin
'My hour is come ... the clock of eternity is about to strike, but its knell must be unheard by mortal ears!'
This violent, profound, baroque and blackly humorous novel is the story of Melmoth, who has sold his soul in exchange for immortality in a satanic bargain, and now preys on the helpless in their darkest moments, offering to ease their suffering if they will take his place and release him from his centuries of tortured wanderings. Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) blended Gothic fiction and psychological realism to create a work of hallucinatory power.
The Penguin English Library - beautiful editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the Second World War.
'My hour is come ... the clock of eternity is about to strike, but its knell must be unheard by mortal ears!'
This violent, profound, baroque and blackly humorous novel is the story of Melmoth, who has sold his soul in exchange for immortality in a satanic bargain, and now preys on the helpless in their darkest moments, offering to ease their suffering if they will take his place and release him from his centuries of tortured wanderings. Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) blended Gothic fiction and psychological realism to create a work of hallucinatory power.
The Penguin English Library - beautiful editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the Second World War.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 40 mm
Weight
496 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-36654-7 (9780241366547)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Charles Maturin
Melmoth the Wanderer
E-Book
05/2012
1st Edition
Penguin Books Ltd
€5.49
Available for download
Previous edition
Charles Maturin
Melmoth the Wanderer
Book
05/2012
Penguin Classics
€27.43
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Charles Robert Maturin (1782-1824) was born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, going on to become a clergyman and writer of Gothic novels and plays. At first a failure, his work was nonetheless noticed by Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron, which led to the staging and success of his tragedy Bertram. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, on the other hand, dismissed it as 'melancholy proof of the depravation of the public mind'.) His later plays and fiction, including Melmoth the Wanderer, were neglected and Maturin died in poverty. The work's brilliance was recognised posthumously, and it now endures as one of the most famous gothic novels in English literature.