Melmoth the Wanderer
Charles Robert Maturin
Balzac likens the hero of one of his short stories to āMoliereās Don Juan, Goetheās Faust, Byronās Manfred, Maturinās Melmothāgreat allegorical figures drawn by the greatest men of genius in Europe.ā āBut what is āMelmothā? Why is HE classed as āa great allegorical figureā?ā exclaimed many a surprised reader. Few had perusedāfew know at this dayāthe terrible story of Melmoth the Wanderer, half man, half devil, who has bartered away his soul for the glory of power and knowledge, and, repenting of his bargain, tries again and again to persuade some desperate human to change places with himā penetrates to the refuge of misery, the death chamber, even the madhouse, seeking one in such utter agony as to accept his help, and take his curseābut ever fails. Why this extraordinary tale, told with wild and compelling sweep, has remained so deep in oblivion, appears immediately on a glance at the original. The author, Charles Robert Maturin, a needy, eccentric Irish clergyman of 1780ā1824, could cause intense suspense and horrorācould read keenly into human motivesācould teach an awful moral lesson in the guise of fascinating fiction, but he could not stick to a long story with simplicity. His dozens of shifting scenes, his fantastic coils of ātales within talesā sadly perplex the reader of āMelmothā in the first version. It is hoped, however, that the present selection, by its directness and the clearness of the story thread, may please the modern reader better than the involved original, and bring before a wider public some of the most gripping descriptions ever penned in English.