Melmoth the Wanderer

Charles Maturin (1780-1824) was an Irish writer and clergyman. Born and raised in Dublin, Maturin was raised in a prominent Huguenot family. Educated at Trinity College, he became ordained as curate of Loughrea, County Galway, before returning to Dublin in 1903. Due to his position in the Church of Ireland, he was forced to publish his writing under a pseudonym, achieving some acclaim for his early novels. In 1816, his play Bertram was staged at the Drury Lane theatre in London. Although he was encouraged by Sir Water Scott and Lord Byron, he received a devastating review from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who deemed the play “melancholy proof of the depravation of the public mind.” Forced to reveal his identity in order to claim his profits, Maturin was barred from advancement by the Church of Ireland and turned his attention to novel writing. In 1820, his Gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer was published to critical acclaim, earning Maturin a reputation as a leading Romantic, influencing such writers as Charles Baudelaire and Honoré de Balzac. Controversial in his lifetime, viewed as an eccentric in his native country, Maturin would serve as inspiration to his grandnephew Oscar Wilde, as well as countless writers, artists, and aesthetes.