The 19th-century horror novel that inspired Sarah Perry's Melmoth
A Penguin Classic
Created by an Irish clergyman, Melmoth is one of the most fiendish
characters in literature. In a satanic bargain, Melmoth exchanges his
soul for immortality. The story of his tortured wanderings through the
centuries is pieced together through those who have been implored by
Melmoth to take over his pact with the devil. Influenced by the Gothic
romances of the late 18th century, Maturin's diabolic tale raised the
genre to a new and macabre pitch. Its many admirers include Poe, Balzac,
Oscar Wilde and Baudelaire.
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