Melmoth the Wanderer | Melmoth the Wanderer

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,...

Melmoth the Wanderer | Melmoth the Wanderer

At a glance:

The Plot

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