Melmoth the Wanderer (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Charles Robert Maturin
- First Published: 1820
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fantasy—occult
- Time of Work: The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
- Setting: Principally Spain and Ireland
- Genres: Long fiction, Gothic fiction, Magical and occult fantasy
- Subjects: Supernatural, Nineteenth century, Betrayal, Ghosts or apparitions, Fear, Eighteenth century, Seventeenth century, Good and evil, Faustian bargains, Fratricide, parricide, or filicide, Shipwrecks, Devils or demons, Ireland or Irish people, Spain or Spanish people
- Locales: Spain, London, England, Ireland
The Plot
Through a series of interpolated tales, Charles Robert Maturin presents the story of a man whose pact with Satan condemns him to live for nearly two centuries. John Melmoth, given supernatural powers that allow him to travel freely across the European continent, seeks to corrupt a number of individuals whose circumstances make them especially vulnerable to temptation. His efforts give him little solace.
The novel opens in 1816. John Melmoth, a young college student and namesake of the title character, returns to the family estate in Ireland to be with his uncle,...
[The entire page is 1245 words long]
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