Melmoth l'errante

Melmoth the Wanderer #1

by Charles Robert Maturin, Francesco Santi (Translator)

Nell'autunno del 1816 il giovane John Melmoth lascia il Trinity College di Dublino per assolvere un compito ineludibile: assistere uno zio moribondo dal quale dipendono tutte le sue speranze di indipendenza economica. Nella decrepita casa in cui si reca, John viene accolto da un avvizzito vecchio in preda al delirio, che lo supplica di alleviare le sue pene portandogli del Madeira, conservato gelosamente in un ripostigli chiuso a chiave in cui nessuno mette piede da oltre sessant'anni. Nello sgabuzzino dalle finestre murate John scopre un dipinto datato 1646. L'opera cela qualcosa di oscuro e terribile, che traspare con evidenza dallo sguardo spaventevole dell'uomo ritratto. Dalle labbra dello zio morente, John apprende che quel volto appartiene a un lontano parente, un uomo che avrebbe dovuto essere morto, essendo vissuto oltre centocinquant'anni prima, e invece vive ancora. Un antenato che ha ventudo l'anima al diavolo in cambio dell'immortalità, e che da allora vaga per il mondo in cerca di qualcuno che accetti di prenderne il posto. È «Melmoth l'Errante», un discendente dell'Ebreo Errante, il ciabattino che, secondo una leggenda, vedendo passare Cristo sulla via del calvario, gli scagliò contro una ciabatta e venne condannato a vagare sulla terra fino alla fine dei tempi. Così ha inizio uno dei capolavori della letteratura gotica, un romanzo capace come pochi di suscitare raccapriccio nei lettori. L'autore, il reverendo Charles Robert Maturin, calvinista e prozio di Oscar Wilde, covava in sé l'oscura ambizione di «spingere il romanzo gotico al di là dei limiti più estremi, superando Erode in crudeltà e destando più scandalo e scalpore di chiunque l'avesse preceduto». Ma come ricorda Sarah Perry nell'introduzione e questo volume, «non basta infercire un racconto di ceri e manoscritti, o descrivere fanciulle che vagano in camicia da notte in oscuri sotterranei: per funzionare il racconto gotico esige che il lettore provi lo stesso brivido delizioso dei personaggi che incontra sulla pagina».

Genres: Gothic, Classics, Horror, Fiction, 19th Century, Literature, Fantasy

750 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1820

About the author

Charles Robert Maturin was an Irish Protestant clergyman (ordained by the Church of Ireland) and a writer of gothic plays and novels.

His first three works were published under the pseudonym Dennis Jasper Murphy and were critical and commercial failures. They did, however, catch the attention of Sir Walter Scott, who recommended Maturin's work to Lord Byron. With the help of these two literary luminaries, the curate's play, Bertram (first staged on 9 May 1816 at the Drury Lane for 22 nights) with Edmund Kean starring in the lead role as Bertram, saw a wider audience and became a success. Financial success, however, eluded Maturin, as the play's run coincided with his father's unemployment and another relative's bankruptcy, both of them assisted by the fledgling writer. To make matters worse, Samuel Taylor Coleridge publicly denounced the play as dull and loathsome, and "melancholy proof of the depravation of the public mind", going nearly so far as to decry it as atheistic. Coleridge's comments on Bertram can also be found in 'Biographia Literaria', chapter 23. The Church of Ireland took note of these and earlier criticisms and, having discovered the identity of Bertram's author (Maturin had shed his nom de plume to collect the profits from the play), subsequently barred Maturin's further clerical advancement. Forced to support his wife and four children by writing (his salary as curate was £80-90 per annum, compared to the £1000 he made for Bertram), he switched back from playwright to novelist after a string of his plays met with failure. One of his grandsons, Basil W. Maturin, a Chaplain at Oxford University, died in the sinking of RMS Lusitania in 1915.

Charles Robert Maturin died in Dublin on 30 October 1824. Honoré de Balzac and Charles Baudelaire later expressed fondness for Maturin's work, particularly his most famous novel, Melmoth the Wanderer.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Melmoth the Wanderer is a unique hybrid of grotesque Gothic comedy and sardonic picaresque novel… The tale is multifaceted and extremely erudite…
An old pathological miser dies and bequeaths his nephew – a student John Melmoth – his riches and an ominous family secret… A mysterious portrait of an ancestor possessing the sinister gaze… And a tattered manuscript… In the novel John Melmoth plays only a passive part of a reader and listener… The malicious hero of the tale is a dark figure from the portrait – ubiquitous and undying Melmoth the Wanderer…
To solve the mystery John reads the fragmentary manuscript left by certain Stanton… The notes of this miserable failure somewhat resemble an absurdist comedy… He first encounters the wicked Wanderer in Spain and after that he keeps looking for him everywhere until his cousin delivers him into a madhouse…
In the madhouse the Wanderer visits Stanton and offers him a devilish deal…

…of your finally being lodged in this mansion of misery, where only I would seek, where only I can succour you.’ ‘You, demon!’ – ‘Demon! – Harsh words! – Was it a demon or a human being placed you here? – Listen to me, Stanton; nay, wrap not yourself in that miserable blanket, – that cannot shut out my words. Believe me, were you folded in thunderclouds, you must hear me! Stanton, think of your misery. These bare walls – what do they present to the intellect or the senses?

The cousin seems to be more demonic than the devil…
The manuscript is finally read and in comes a Spaniard – an unlucky picaro of the novel – and he becomes a narrator of the rest of the tale…
Against his will he becomes a monk… Religion is his evil star…

How shall I – how shall the fraternity, and all the souls who are to escape from punishment by the merit of your prayers, answer to God for your horrible apostacy?” “Let them answer for themselves – let every one of us answer for ourselves – that is the dictate of reason.” “Of reason, my deluded child, – when had reason any thing to do with religion?”

He lives in a convent surrounded with hypocrisy, malice, hate and envy… When the times grow especially hard he is visited by the Wanderer offering him a deal… He refuses… He escapes but is caught by the Inquisition… He manages to flee… He becomes a scribe for the ancient Jewish doctor… Copying the manuscripts he learns the story of the insular paradise and a solitary girl abiding on the tropical isle… This tale of the lost Eden is very poetic… She is visited by the Wanderer, she is charmed and falls in love…

Accustomed to look on and converse with all things revolting to nature and to man, – for ever exploring the mad-house, the jail, or the Inquisition, – the den of famine, the dungeon of crime, or the death-bed of despair, – his eyes had acquired a light and a language of their own – a light that none could gaze on, and a language that few dare understand.

He tells her about the world, about mankind and religion…

“It is right,” he continued, “not only to have thoughts of this Being, but to express them by some outward acts. The inhabitants of the world you are about to see, call this, worship, – and they have adopted (a Satanic smile curled his lip as he spoke) very different modes; so different, that, in fact, there is but one point in which they all agree – that of making their religion a torment; – the religion of some prompting them to torture themselves, and the religion of some prompting them to torture others.”

In the end the devil turns out to be less evil than church… With the devil one has a choice and can refuse his offer… With church there is no choice – it always deceives, chastises and punishes…
Faith is harmless but the vehicles of faith are malignant.

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's an old story told by Ezra Pound--I believe it can be found either in "The ABC of Reading" or "From Confucius to Cummings"--about a retired sea captain, determined to improve his primary school Latin, who was tasked by his tutor (the local vicar or schoolmaster) with reading Vergil's Aeneid. When he had finished, his mentor inquired, "How did you like the hero?"

"Hero? What hero?" the captain replied.

"Why, it's Aeneus I mean," answered the teacher.

"Hero? You call him a hero? By God, I thought he was a priest!"

That's how I feel about the "hero" Melmoth. He's supposed to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for two hundred years of life, but he's so incompetent that he never comes close to leading his would-be substitutes to damnation; instead, he whines about the inferior living to which he has been assigned by his demonic superiors, just like a dissatisfied curate.

"Dissatisfied curate" is a phrase that aptly describes Charles Maturin, the author of "Melmoth the Wanderer." An impoverished, married clergyman, he was convinced that his failure to rise was a consequence of his theological convictions, but it appears that he was more likely snubbed because of his refusal to play politics or follow instructions. I believe, however, that it might very well have been theological rigidity that made it impossible for Maturin to create a thoughtful and thrilling gothic fiction. Although he admired the sensational effects of "Monk" Lewis, the sombre tableaux of Mary Shelly, and the thoughtful meditations of William Godwin, Maturin's conventional moral limitations seem to have prevented him from learning useful literary lessons from any of them, and to have hampered him on every page of this extremely long--this much, much too long--novel.

Maturin is willing to expound on any given insight or expand any given image far beyond intellectual elucidation or sensuous delight. Whether it be a philosophical disquisition, a theological dispute, a sepulchral or an Edenic description, the reader may be sure that, although it may amaze by being exhaustive, it will never please by being succinct. The only exception is Maturin's extraordinary gift for vituperation. Here, Melmoth speaks as eloquently as Shakespeare's Timon. His Juvenalian rants are impressive in their completeness and terrifying in their energy, but--alas!--they too eventually grow repetitive and wearisome. I would be surprised if any admirer of "Melmoth the Wanderer" wished the book longer.

There is, however, much in this book to respect, though it lies more in the conception than in the execution. Its Chinese box structure--with tales within tales breaking off and resuming in surprising places, the damaged "manuscripts" marred with lucunae-- not only evoke "The Arabian Nights" but also serve to help the reader suspend his disbelief and appreciate the unfolding narrative in a distinctly post-modernist fashion. The glimpses of rural Ireland and its people are distinctly observed and well executed, reminding one of the better pages of Walter Scott. Also, the conception of Melmoth himself--a monstrous meld of Byron, Faust and Satan, a creature both human and inhuman, inside and outside of time--is (despite the clerical prissiness inherited from his spiritual father Maturin) a thoroughly original and influential creation. (Listen closely to Melmoth's conversation with the unspoiled Immalee and you may hear the voices of Lord Rochester and Jane Eyre.) I was also pleasantly surprised by the ending, in which all the tales rush precipitously to a powerful conclusion with all the energy and abruptness of "Monk" Lewis. (Maturin wanted to stretch the novel out to five volumes, but his publisher, having had enough, refused.)

All in all, I am glad I read the novel. I am even happier that I read it quickly. I am sure I shall never read it again.

[°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ʜᴇʟᴇɴ Ροζουλί Εωσφόρος ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°° ★·.·´¯`·.·★ Ⓥⓔⓡⓝⓤⓢ Ⓟⓞⓡⓣⓘⓣⓞⓡ Ⓐⓡⓒⓐⓝⓤⓢ Ταμετούρο Αμ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο Maturin,ένας Ιρλανδός εκκεντρικός κληρικός έγραψε αυτό το βιβλίο γοτθικού ρομαντισμού το 1820.

"Μέλμοθ ο περιπλανώμενος", μια ιστορία που συντίθεται απο πολλές άλλες ιστορίες και όλες μαζί σχηματίζουν ένα ενιαίο σύνολο που ορίζει την μετάλλαξη, τη μοναξιά και το Κακό σε απόλυτη απομόνωση απο το Καλό.

Η γοτθική φρικτή γοητεία συνήθως περιφέρεται γύρω απο την απειλητική απουσία του Θεού σε οποιοδήποτε θρησκευτικό πλαίσιο.
Δεν μπορεί να υπάρξει τέτοιου είδους ιστορία αν δεν δεχτούμε εξαρχής πως το υπερφυσικό εύκολα αντικαθιστά το θεϊκό με όπλα του την αμαρτία,την εμμονή,την ανηθικότητα και τη φωτιά της πνευματικής κόλασης που ζεσταίνονται όλοι οι πειρασμοί του κόσμου.

Τα αποτελέσματα αυτής της αντικατάστασης ειναι συνήθως συμπλέγματα παράνοιας, διωγμοί, τραγωδίες, ήρωες που δεν μπορούν να ξεφύγουν απο παγίδες της μοίρας και της κληρονομικότητας και φρικιαστικοί θάνατοι.
Οι "καλοί" χαρακτήρες στη γοτθική φρίκη είναι σχεδόν πάντα αφελείς, μονοδιάστατοι και καταδικασμένοι στην άγνοια της πίστης και της μοιρολατρείας. Ο μόνος πρωταγωνιστής με κάθε δύναμη προσωπικότητας, με κάθε πρόγνωση θανάτου έγκυρη, με κάθε επιδεξιότητα πρόκλησης θυσιών και κάθε προσωπική κατάκτηση τραγωδίας και ψυχικών κανιβαλιστικών μακελειών είναι ο Διάβολος αυτοπροσώπως.

Αυτό ακριβώς ισχύει στην ιστορία του Μέλμοθ.
Πάνω σε αυτό το αρχέτυπο ο προσωποποιημένος δαιμονικός χαρακτήρας προέρχεται απο ένα μεγάλο κακό που είναι το ίδιο το προσωπικό του φορτίο.

Αυτό το βάρος της πουλημένης ψυχής μεταφέρεται απο ιστορία σε ιστορία μέσα στα χρόνια που πλαισιώνουν την ατελείωτη καταδίκη του και την ανικανότητα του να απαλλαγεί απο την εξορία του Διαβόλου.
Ο Μέλμοθ είναι ο εξόριστος ήρωας στη φρίκη της προβλέψιμης αιωνιότητας που γνωρίζει το τέλος της ιστορίας του.
Μέσα σε ένα χειρόγραφο κρύβονται αιώνες αφήγησης ιστοριών για έναν άνδρα που ειναι ο άνθρωπος του πορτρέτου.... αναφέρεται ως ο "Άγγλος" αν και είναι ο άνδρας χωρίς καταγωγή που γεννήθηκε στην Ιρλανδία περνώντας πολλά χρόνια απο χώρα σε χώρα ξεχασμένος απο κάποια -ίσως- δική του οικογένεια στο Δουβλίνο και βαθιά απογοητευμένος.

Ο Μέλμοθ φαίνεται σατανικός χωρίς στην ουσία να είναι. Περισσότερο είναι ένας ψεύτικος διάβολος που γίνεται χαρακτηριστικός επειδή είναι παράφορα αδιανόητος και απρόβλεπτος.
Βρίσκεται παντού και πουθενά, τα κίνητρα του μοιάζουν ανεξήγητα όμως πηγάζουν απο ιδέες και πράξεις που οδηγούν στο κακό τα θύματα του.
Είναι περισσότερο δραστήριος και ορίζεται απο τις κινήσεις του προς επίτευξη του σκοπού του, παρά ένας σκοτεινός ήρωας τρόμου.

Ο Μέλμοθ έχει πουλήσει τον εαυτό του στο κακό πάνω στη γη με μια άγρια εμπορική συμφωνία που εξαργυρώνεται στον ουρανό.
Σε αυτή την συμφωνία όμως η αθανασία του ήρωα μας είναι ένα ειδεχθές βάρος που δεν μεταβιβάζεται αν λείπει η ψυχική συναίνεση του παραλήπτη.

Έτσι, έρχεται σε αντιδιαστολή με την σατανική θυσία παρόμοιων ηρώων που απέβλεπαν σε προσωπικά οφέλη και υπερφυσικούς επίγειους πειρασμούς.

Ο περιπλανώμενος δεν έχει τίποτα απο την αιχμηρή οξυδέρκεια κάποιου Μεφιστοφελή -Faust-, του λείπει η ακαταμάχητη γοητεία του Dorian Gray και ο αχαλίνωτος ερωτισμός του μοναχού του Matthew Lewis.

Είναι ένας ήρωας ταυτόσημος με τη βασική αλήθεια της ανθρώπινης φύσης. Αποπνέει μια ζεστασιά σκοτεινή κερδίζοντας τη συμπάθεια του αναγνώστη απλά και μεθοδικά σε όλη την αφηγηματική υπερβολή και οδηγεί με έναν παλμό εξουσίας στην κατανόηση των βαθύτερων πηγών του πραγματικού κοσμικού φόβου.

Μακροσκελές και υπέροχο ανάγνωσμα που λίγο απείχε για να χαρακτηριστεί αριστούργημα.

Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.

[Nickolas B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Μετά από μια όμορφη συνανάγνωση στην Λέσχη του Βιβλίου, τελείωσε ο Μέλμοθ...

Θεωρώ πως είναι ένα καλό γοτθικό μυθιστόρημα το οποίο όμως αν ήταν 300 σελίδες λιγότερο θα ήταν ακόμα πιο δυνατό.
Το βιβλίο ουσιαστικά είναι ιστορίες μέσα σε ιστορίες οι οποίες έχουν σαν κεντρικό χαρακτήρα τον καταραμένο Μέλμοθ. Ο Μάτσουριν θίγει πολλά θέματα όπως η θρησκεία, ο κλήρος, ο έρωτας, οι αστικές τάξεις αλλά δεν μπορεί να μείνει αποστασιοποιημένος οπότε πολλές φορές καταλήγει σε αφελή συμπεράσματα ή απλοϊκές εξηγήσεις. Επίσης δεν αποφεύγει μια επίδειξη γνώσεων η οποία κουράζει σε συνδυασμό με τις αμέτρητες παραπομπές του μεταφραστή.

Οι χαρακτήρες του μυθιστορήματος έχουν βάθος κάτι το οποίο λείπει σε αρκετά γοτθικά μυθιστορήματα και παρά τις πολλές σελίδες δεν νομίζω πως ο αναγνώστης χάνεται στα ονόματα κυρίως λόγω της αφηγηματικής ικανότητας του συγγραφέα.

Η ιστορία λοιπόν του Μέλμοθ ξεκινάει από ένα παλιό πορτραίτο και μετά από μια πολυσέλιδη περιπλάνηση καταλήγει στην αρχική πηγή του κακού. Οι βασικοί χαρακτήρες γνωρίζουν τον καταραμένο περιπλανώμενο και βρίσκονται πάντα σε δίλημμα για το αν πρέπει να ενδώσουν στις ανίερες προτάσεις του.

3,5/5

[Leah Rachel von Essen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is technically an awful novel. It at one point reaches 4 nested narratives within the main one. Each nested narrative is closer to the ending of the book, and the last bit of the outward narrative makes up a couple chapters. The relations are mostly just Melmoth- little else combines them all. It's impossible to name a main character except perhaps for Melmoth, who is almost entirely absent at the beginning of the tale then increasing so throughout.

And that's the genius, somehow, of this novel. This novel builds. It has many small, fake-out builds that make you think you will reach a conclusion, know Melmoth's horrible request, know who he is, hear his story, where something big and wild will happen-- and the novel always falls back, pulls back, to bring you back to that suspense, until the peak ending of the last nested tale that made me actually shed a tear. It is a truly strange and almost impossible to describe novel, that feels to make no sense until in the end, it makes perfect sense, even though no explanation has ever been provided. I destroyed the physical novel almost entirely with scribblings, underlinings, circlings, of love or of frustration, love particularly of the descriptions of nature and feeling, frustration particularly at the point where Orientalism briefly and badly comes into play, but also at the moments when suspense is most frustrated. Nothing is simple. Melmoth is not human but we don't get to accuse him of being the Devil either. We just never get to know... Beautiful, weird, weird novel. I felt like it was taking forever yet didn't want it to end. So bizarre.

[Timothy Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where do I begin with this one? To say I've been working on it thirty years plus would be bragging. I first encountered Melmoth in HP Lovecraft's Supernatural Horror in Literature, where he praised it to the rafters. I spent a summer working as a delivery man while in college, so I read the first part of Melmoth in the cab of a truck. This time around, I was working a part-time job on the graveyard shift, where I read the novel at 2AM while trying to fight sleep (always the optimum way to experience Gothic novels). And I finished it at the dentist's office.
Melmoth is the story of a man named Melmoth who has somehow extended his life by 150 years. It's never said how he did it, but the assumption is that he made a pact with Satan. The only way Melmoth can escape the pact is to find someone to take his place. This situation forms the narrative of the book.
The novel was written in 1820 by an Irish clergyman, who never saw any success from it (he died a few years after it was published). Since it's written at the time of the Romantic revival, Melmoth is outside of the great Gothic wave. However, these post-Goth writers did love to use their words. They never let one sentence suffice when an entire page would do. For instance, here is a passage I have pulled from the manuscript at random:

She was thus employed on the eighth morning, when she saw the stranger approach; and the wild and innocent delight with which she bounded towards him, excited in him for a moment a feeling of gloomy and reluctant compunction, which Immalee's quick susceptibility traced in his pausing step and averted eye. She stood trembling in lovely and pleading diffidence, as if intreating pardon for an unconscious offence, and asking permission to approach by the very attitude in which she forbore it, while tears stood in her eyes ready to fall at another repelling motion.

And that's just two sentences. Try enduring 600 pages of this prose.
Melmoth is actually a series of stories within stories. Such a style of writing is not new; Arabian Nights used this technique. The 1965 Polish film Saragossa Manuscript also utilized the same method. It's a good style to keep the reader engaged, but you can get lost in the narratives.
Melmoth links all the stories together with a mysterious wanderer who appears at a crucial time in someone's life. He makes them an offer they can't refuse. Whenever he appears, the subject of the story is at the lowest point in their life, usually near death. Melmoth's offer will take them out of the horrid situation, but at the cost of their soul.
The first tale is that of John Melmoth, a college student who travels to the home of his uncle and benefactor. Here he learns of his fabled ancestor who appears at dire moments in the history of the family. The description of his uncle's wretched genteel poverty is one of the best sections of the novel. The younger Melmoth soon locates a manuscript among his deceased uncle's papers which tells of the adventures abroad of an Englishman named Stanton after the Restoration. Stanton has several encounters with the wanderer, one of them in a lunatic asylum. John Melmoth next encounters a Spaniard who tells him the story of a nobleman forced to become a monk. The wanderer appears when the monk is imprisoned by the Inquisition. Escaping from the cells of the Inquisition, the monk takes refuge with a Spanish Jew who shows him a manuscript describing the wanderer's encounter with a noble Spanish Christian family. The wanderer succeeds in wedding the daughter of the family, only to bring her tragedy. Melmoth concludes with the wanderer making his final appearance to John Melmoth.
My one-paragraph summary of the novel only skims the basics of the complicated plot. There's a whole passage where Melmoth encounters a jungle girl on an island off the coast of India. Hard to say, but I can't help but wonder if this passage inspired both The Jungle Book and Tarzan. The description of the prisons of the Inquisitions out-goths anything Edgar Allan Poe wrote. But I should also mention Maturin's anti-catholic church diatribes are excessive to the point of parody.
Melmoth is a crucial book in the development of Gothic horror literature. If the reader can endure the prose, it's a good tale.

[Έλσα · Rating 4 out of 5]

Τι εγραψε ο ανθρωπος;!

Ενα γοτθικο μυθιστορημα του Ιρλανδου Maturin! Αδιαμφισβητητη η συγγραφικη του δεινοτητα. Οι γνωσεις του κ η μορφωση του διαφαινονται σε ολο το κειμενο. (αν κ ειχε πολλες παραπομπες, γνωμικα κτλ.)

Τον Μελμοθ τον λατρεψα! Ενας υπηρετης του διαβολου. Ενας ηρωας που περιπλανιεται, που βρισκεται σε καθε γωνια. Κατεχει δαιμονικες δυναμεις, ωστοσο δεν ειναι τοσο κακος οσο θελει να φαινεται. Ολες οι ιστοριες εχουν ως παρονομαστη τον Μελμοθ. Θιγονται θεματα οπως η αγαπη, ο ερωτας, η εξουσια, η αδικια, ο ρολος της εκκλησιας. 😈

Εξαιρετικες οι αφηγησεις στο μοναστηρι, στα κελια της Ιερας Εξετασης κ φυσικα στην ιστορια της Ισιδωρας.

Μπορει οι πολλες παραπομπες να με κουρασαν αλλα το εργο με αποζημιωσε. Δεν μπορω παρα να το βαθμολογησω με 4.5/5

[E. G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduction
Note on the Text
Select Bibliography
A Chronology of Charles Robert Maturin

--Melmoth the Wanderer

Explanatory Notes

[Warren Fournier · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The life of the happy is all hopes--that of the unfortunate all memory."

This beast of a book has been applauded as being right up there with "Frankenstein" as the pinnacle of the gothic era. I might agree.

Now, I've tried and tried to give Gothic romances a fair shake, especially considering that "Frankenstein" is one of my favorite books of all time. But I just don't like the vast majority of this genre. The hysterics and swooning and melodrama. The romance that lacks any chemistry. The unnecessary secrets to create a very lackluster mystery. The Scooby Doo endings. The endless meandering prose to tell some of the simplest stories in literature.

"Melmoth the Wanderer" is actually everything I THOUGHT Gothic romance would be, but typically isn't. Let me paint you a picture of what to expect.

An autumn evening, rain and wind rattling the window panes of an ancient family estate. Elderly Irish servants are bustling about with smoking pipes in their toothless mouths, talking of headless ghosts and faerie folk. A crowd of aristocrats are gathered in the parlor, snacking on salted salmon and growing tipsy from potcheen. Everyone is preparing for the imminent death of "the master," who lays heaped in blankets upstairs while his nephew, John, holds vigil. With a trembling hand, the old miserly invalid gives John a rusty key to a secret closet. "Fetch me a cordial. Madeira," he says. Inside the small room, a spooky painting of "Melmoth," a family ancestor, hangs in the dark. As John passes with the wine, the eyes on the portrait follow him. Thunder claps overhead as John's uncle gives his dying wish. The portrait in that room, and a manuscript beneath, must be burned. For the portrait was painted 150 years ago, but the man in that painting is still alive, ageless, and only appears on the nights that an ancestor lays on his deathbed. In fact, he is already here, watching them right now... standing in the doorway.

Oooo...! Now that's what I'm talking about!

What ensues is less of a novel and more of a collection of episodes all tied together with this traveling villain who seems to be able to teleport across the world, trying to find a vulnerable victim who, in a time of desperate need, would be willing to change places with the cursed Melmoth. These layers of stories within stories have been called by "The Guardian" as "a Gothic matryoshka," and can be frustrating for the reader. However, the disorienting feel of being lost in the "narrative" is apropos to the titular character being able to transcend space and even time.

Imbedded in these stories is quite a lot of anti-Catholic themes, which I suppose was unusual coming from a writer out of Ireland, as the inhumanity and hypocrisy of the Inquisition features as the real horror throughout. The first side-story, "The Tale of the Spaniard," is perhaps the most blatant in this regard, a heart-pumping suspense yarn of a man named Alfonso who is forced to become a monk due to politics and religious manipulation. Alfonso finds that a monastery is really a prison, a place where distinguished families try to lock away their embarrassments--grown children who had been born out of wedlock or who have had the audacity to fall in love with a woman beneath their station. Alfonso is not allowed to renounce his vows or to leave the campus. The monks and their Superior resort to very unchristian and increasingly sadistic acts to subdue him, leading to a daring escape attempt through the secret catacombs of the monsatery. This is one of the most memorable scenes of the book, with Alfonso crawling through ever-narrowing underground spaces in complete blackness while, overhead, the sounds of chanting monks echo through the maze of passages. Claustrophobic, eerie, and suspenseful. Great stuff!

If the Tale of the Spaniard was anti-Catholic, the Tale of the Indian is anti-everything. Here, Melmoth himself gives a scathing critique of all of society, pointing out the hypocrisies of the everyday life of all religious peoples who profess "love one another" despite constantly engaging in wars while kings grow rich and the poor starve. In this section, Melmoth clearly harbors acrimony towards his fellow human beings, saying things like the only parents who truly show any kindness towards their children are those who abort them before they can be born in this horrible world. He also actually shows a bit of tenderness towards a young woman who is infatuated with him, though he also delights in torturing her psychologically. I found this section to be a bit ridiculous, as it concerns a love affair between the tainted Melmoth and an innocent soul named Isidore who was shipwrecked on an island as a baby, growing up knowing no human beings. She then is discovered and brought back to her parents in Spain. We are supposed to believe that this toddler was able to survive on an uninhabited island until the bloom of her womanhood without being feral, or at least difficult to adjust to the stodgy life of manners and Catholic dogma. But no, within three years she is as cultured as if she had always lived among the upper crust of Spanish society. I know the book is all allegory and fairy tale, not realism, but this is the kind of thing that takes me out of romances.

There are several more separate story sections embedded in the narrative that is supposed to show how all the characters throughout time are linked by Melmoth "like beads on a string." But this leads to my main obvious issue--the length. Not that long books are themselves a problem. Look how many people love "The Stand." I too have loved many a Russian door-stopper and enjoyed the 1200+ pages of "Jean-Christophe." But a book really needs to earn its length. Let's compare "Melmoth" to "Frankenstein." Mary Shelley was able to say so much in such a short book, while Charles Maturin never misses the chance to expand what could be said in one sentence into an entire page or more. The result is a book as artificially inflated as a newly promoted middle manager at a car repair shop. On top of that, each of the interrelated tales are at least novella-length in themselves, and so added together with the general setup of the wandering Melmoth character, you have yourself one brick of a book which traditionally had to be published in four volumes.

Still, I can't complain too badly. I enjoyed the long ride, and I think most readers, especially scholars of the horror genre, will enjoy it too.

So dim the lights, burn some incense, put on some ambient Gregorian chants, and settle in for a truly classic literary experience.

WORD OF THE DAY: Today, I don't have so much as one interesting word to share from the book, but I do have several examples of how quickly language evolves. When this novel was published in 1820, the English spelling of "show" was "shew," "gulf" was "gulph," "choke" was "choak," "skulls" and "ankles" were "sculls" and "ancles," "tonight" was "to-night," "monkeys" was "monkies." And somehow, the old spellings make more sense. English is weird.

[William2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Gothic work of Christian sexual hysteria.

[Chelo Moonlight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estuvo a punto de perderme al final por tanta historia dentro de historia dentro de historia… pero en cómputo general me ha gustado mucho!

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 2 out of 5]

If anyone reads this review, frankly, I’ll be stunned. And impressed. Modern readers would never finish this overlong overwrought story. I meant the book ‘Melmoth the Wanderer’, not my review. Shut up.

First, gentle reader, go to Youtube and play in the background:

https://youtu.be/mpgAm-QeR-4

Or for harsher tastes:

https://youtu.be/BQPAza1KfJg

‘Melmoth the Wanderer’ (metaphorically a malignant moth of the night?) walks the world (well, mostly in Ireland, Spain and an island somewhere off the coast of India) looking for someone to tempt into swearing allegiance to he-who-isn’t-ever-named. Melmoth the Wanderer gave his soul to he-who-isn’t-ever-named in exchange for 150 years of life. The Wanderer doesn’t really DO anything except mostly scare the bejesus out of people who are facing terrible life choices that lead to (or not) supposedly horrible un-Christian and immoral values.

A new sad short story is introduced every time a character meets another character. Each person tells a long-winded short story involving the meeting of a character who begins another sad but instructive story.

Some of these nested short stories involve Catholics who suffer agonies of the damned! Spanish Catholic inquisitors and doctrinaire monks are insane and wicked! They use actual torture and totalitarian mind-control over other unfortunate Catholic believers.

Wandering Melmoth has a disturbingly piercing look in his eyes and a wicked laugh. He is intelligent with a gift for smooth talking, theoretically. He shows up whenever people are vulnerable, which, frankly, means he only has a walk-in appearance every 1,000 of so pages in this novel of a million pages. Wait, sorry! The actual page count is almost 700. It only seems like a million pages.

Charles Maturin liked to write a lot primarily on overwrought fearful emotions and intense soul-searching desperation. He used only about 50 of the 600+ pages for actual action. For the character of Melmoth, Maturin’s pleasure was in writing extensively about his fears and emotional agonies. Omg, did he enjoy himself writing about emotional agonies! In run-on paragraphs…

One story involves a formerly innocent (virgin) woman who falls into error by loving the Wandering Melmoth. She believed Melmoth really loved her, thus dooming herself and her family to extended emotional misery and social shame. Surprise! - an early death is in the cards for her after her un-sanctified baby girl is born. The baby is also doomed since it is a living sin, not a person of God.

Peculiarly, none of the main male characters pass on sin to innocent babies, only women do. Nor do any of the men fail their moral tests or opportunities for redemption with the exception of the damned and wholly incompetent Wandering Melmoth. He basically grins spookily and talks shit everywhere he wanders - the main signs he is evil and is trying to do evil. (2023 Edit: Reminds me of Christian and conservative males today.) The Wanderer never once commits an act of violence or hurts anyone. He is really just a sweet-talking guy without a soul. Only the Catholic monks do violence and torture.

The Catholic monk’s story is brutal! The starving family (will the father eat his kids? will the young daughter prostitute herself? will mom die of starvation?) and the two different women’s stories (marry dishonorably as judged by God or not, and suffer social or emotional damnation forever?), not so much. But there be ghosts, and pictures on walls with eyes that watch you, and a spooky Melmoth haunting everybody including the first narrator, called Melmoth as well, who starts the nesting tales when his horrible uncle dies, bequeathing a haunting picture hidden away inside a closet - watching, watching, watching, eyes glittering....

The woman who loved Melmoth dies for her sin, which was apportioned to her in her having a baby, the proof of unsanctified-by-religious-authorities sexual desire. Very judgy and unfair, gentle reader. The men characters must do sex as well, I suspect, hello, a baby happens (human women don’t do parthenogenisis, married or unmarried) but somehow sex is not as much of a killing sin for men as it is for women in this book. I am wondering at this moment how the author’s religious ideas of women having loving sex with a man they love and the man also says he loves her, somehow always kills off unmarried women through giving birth. Meanwhile the unmarried fathers get the opportunity for redemption, exciting travel and staying alive to praise God later. Is this supposed to attract women to religious values!

Edit, March 2023: Wait! Actually, I guess given the evidence of legal changes for many Americans in the states in the South and the Midwest today, I guess a lot of women will soon be punished once again for having sex, whether the sex is forced on the woman or not! Being forced to have an unwanted or unhealthy baby they can’t afford to have, without having decent healthcare insurance or child care, while the fathers can walk away, and often do walk away despite love promises or the laws about child support. After all, boys will be boys! They are often considered blameless, being without any visible sin, you know, the baby bump. Men can go on, move on, and often do live without the social or economic devastation the woman has. I guess this return of the legal inequality of gender economics, not to mention Old Testament religious judgement on female sex in cases of rape, child marriage, incest, seems to be accepted by Southern and Midwestern women (women being in sin for sexual desires, men just being boys). I mean, if I lived in the South or Midwest and was a young woman, I would be yelling and demonstrating about losing my rights, protesting at having to have a baby I don’t want until I’m ready for a baby, voting for liberals, joining women’s rights organizations, moving to a state where women were actually respected as being a person or given a chance for an education. To be more than only impoverished babymakers sweating under the hard hands of men holding all of the cards to economic freedom and religious judgement. I’d be figuring out where my clitoris was, and how I can control sexual experiences. If I was a man, who, one never knows, sometimes the law works for women, might be actually caught up and prosecuted in an enforcement net of the laws about child support, garnishment of wages and so on, I as the father might be having to pay to support his unwanted or chronically ill child with an expensive disability, I would be making an appointment for a vasectomy. Today.


Original review continues:

By a strange coincidence, the author, Charles Robert Maturin (1782-1824), was an Irish Protestant clergyman who hated the Catholic Church as much as he feared atheists and the devil. He was completely biased and judgy, no shame.

He wouldn’t have liked me, gentle reader. I’m an atheist because all religions despise and punish women when they act or want to act like normal people, or have the same rights as men. Maturin does not deviate from the usual dogma of every religion in regards to women even though he clearly believes the Catholic Church is horribly wrong in their (early millennia) use of torture to punish and kill, and in the maintenance of celibate religious organizations.

Some religious folks today categorize me as damned - which is the usual religious pile-on of horseshit dumped on women. I think women are equal to men because of my college education with actual real-life history taught without censorship or any banning of books. The truly just and fair moral values of Western secularism are permitted to be taught to students in most colleges. Religious values suck for women, gentle reader. I’m a free bitch, baby.

Sigh.

‘Melmoth the Wanderer’, a ‘gothic romance’, was published in 1820. Believe it or not, many writers in the nineteenth century admired ‘Melmoth the Wanderer’. Honoré de Balzac, Charles Baudelaire, Sir Walter Scott, and Lord Byron liked it. Oscar Wilde was Maturin’s great-nephew and he liked it. An opera and a play was done based on some of the author’s other works of angsty gothic atmosphere and the over-the-top lengthy agonizing of being morally compromised internally and eternally.

I liked Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719 much better despite its also primitive, still developing, style as an early novel. However, like ‘Robinson Crusoe’, ‘Melmoth the Wanderer’ is recommended reading. I recommend skimming. However, for Literature buffs the proto-novel is interesting as the novel evidently influenced the direction of other gothic genre books following its publication.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had been sitting on my shelf to read for some time now, for some reason it never felt like the time. Most of the classic fiction I have read has been in much shorter form and I was quite intimidated by this Gothic epic that I worried might be quite hard work. After completing it, it did feel like a mammoth undertaking but well worth the effort.

Melmoth the Wanderer, damned for some undiscovered reason and doomed to wander the earth looking for individuals in the pit of despair and anguish in the hope that he can persuade them to take his place before he must submit to an unspecified (and unspeakable) fate. We gradually learn about the Wanderer through the investigations of a man who is his namesake and a descendent from the same family.

There is quite a complex narrative structure in which different stories become embedded within one another as we go back in time and discover some of the history of Wanderer and the kind of suffering of individuals went through before they were confronted by Melmoth and presented with his diabolical bargain.

As the reader, we witness stories of the utmost tragedy as people's lives go from bad to worse and they plumb deeper depths of anguish and despair. Yet it seems that no level of human misery is bad enough to make it appear a less favourable alternative to that which Melmoth offers. All this is set against a time in which Europe is beset by powerful religious institutions and stringent dogma. Corruption and cruelty in these institutions and the hypocrisy of their followers is a theme common to many of the stories contained here. I was also surprised by the amount of humour present, such as Melmoth's dying, miserly uncle and Isidora's priest who's obsessed with fine dining.

Sometimes I felt the story rambled on a bit in places but more often than not I found myself rapt by the the tragic stories as they unfolded and overall, I found this a powerful piece of work. A flawed masterpiece perhaps.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried really, really, really hard to like this book. Hell, Baudelaire and Wilde both loved it, so it can't be all bad could it? And scads of people regard it as a classic of the late Gothic genre, so it can't be all bad could it?
Why, yes...yes, it is! Plodding and dull, with around 50% of the text quotations from other works, including Gothic writers such as Radcliffe and Lewis, a peculiarity that maybe I've just never noticed in works of the time, there is little of note here. Maturin, a fine writer it seems when it comes to unceasing page-length descriptions of characters who have absolutely no bearing on the story whatsoever, weighs down the work with his uninterrupted flow of wordage, and the plot advances barely a scratch. I typically enjoy lengthy, slow novels, but this lacked any kind of inherent flavor or spark or whatever you want to call it to make it worth my while. Melmoth is basically Faust + the Wandering Jew and pops up now and again as made clear through the novel's only real joy, fractured and incomplete testimonies as to his 150 year existence, unaged. But this stylism can't save what is ultimately a very mediocre and colorless work.

[Vasilis Manias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Σπάνια θα συναντήσεις ένα τόσο τρομακτικό σε όγκο βιβλίο που θα σε απορροφήσει σε τέτοιο βαθμό. Η χρονική περίοδος που γράφτηκε και δημοσιεύτηκε (κάπου στο 1820) αλλά και ο τρόπος με τον οποίο παρουσιάζει αλλά και συνδέει τις πάμπολες διαφορετικές ιστορίες σε σημεία σου κόβουν την ανάσα. Εκπληκτικός ο χαρακτήρας του Μελμόθ, αλλά και της Ιμαλή, σίγουρα θα αργήσουν να σβήσουν από το μυαλό μου καθώς μιλάμε για ένα κείμενο που μοιάζει με ρώσικη μπάμπουσκα που όσες και αν ανοίξεις, πάντα περιμένεις και μία καινούρια να παρουσιαστεί μπροστά σού. Το προτείνω ανεπιφύλακτα, μη σας τρομάξει ο όγκος του, δώστε του 50 σελίδες και θα με θυμηθείτε.

[Maria Thomarey · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 . Ια να μην αδικήσω τα 5ρια
Readmarathon 2017 11/26 ενα βιβλιο με πάνω άπω 700σελίδες

Finally. Δεν ξέρω τι να πρωτογραψω γι'αυτο το βιβλιο . Το ποσο άργησα να το τελειώσω ειναι παραπλανητικό . Για λόγους υγείας και γιατι μπήκαν στη μέση αλλα βιβλία ,το είχα παρατήσει πολλούς μήνες .
Ας μιλήσουμε ομως για το βιβλιο . Γραμμένο απο έναν Ιρλανδο προτεστάντη, επαγγελματία πάστορα, ειναι ενα ακόμη δείγμα του ρομαντισμού. It's about the evil but surprisingly that evil was not as bad as we expected to be.
Αν και επαγγελματίας πάστορας ο Maturin satirized and judgmental all kind of religious and especially the religious fanaticism. Η σάτιρα του δεν περιορίζεται στην καθολική εκκλησία και αυτο εχει ενα ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον .But ,yes ,Catholic Church is the main target of his satire .
Εχουμε λοιπον ενα σακούλι απο ιστοριες , ενα πισωγύρισμα στο χρονο και έναν -σχετικά-χαλαρό αφηγηματικό ιστό .
The stories take place in various countries and times .
Ναι εκανε κάποιες κοιλίτσες , ναι το τέλος ηταν καπως βιαστικό και άτσαλο, ναι ειχε κάποιες περιττές φλυαρίες και ναι βρήκα -ω του θαυμάτως-κάποια μικρολαθάκια στην μετάφραση.
Wasn't perfect but nevertheless i loved it
Υγ 1: μικρο σπόιλερ που αφορά αλλο βιβλιο : ο Maturin ηταν θείος του Oscar Wilde , απο την μεριά της μητέρας του . Το βιβλιο και ο κεντρικός ήρωας τον σημάδεψαν και τον ενέπνευσαν τοσο στη συγγραφή του "πορτραίτου του Dorian Grey ", οσο κΙ στο όνομα που πήρε οταν βγηκε απο τη φυλακή . Το όνομα ηταν Sebastian Melmoth.
Υγ2:τις πληροφορίες για τον Maturin και τον Wilde ,της βρήκα απο την εισαγωγή του βιβλίου .

[Vicky Ziliaskopoulou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Είναι πολύ ωραίο βιβλίο. Κεντρικό πρόσωπο ο Μέλμωθ (ο Περιπλανώμενος) και πολλές ιστορίες με διαφορετικούς πρωταγωνιστές, που όμως όλες περιστρέφονται γύρω από τον Μέλμωθ. Και στο τέλος αποκαλύπτεται το "μυστικό", για το οποίο γίνεται πολλές φορές λόγος σε όλο το βιβλίο. Ο συγγραφέας καταφέρνει και σε βάζει πολύ περίτεχνα μέσα στο κλίμα της εποχής που γράφτηκε το βιβλίο, μέσα σε όλη τη θρησκοληψία και τις συνήθειες της εποχής.

Ως αρνητικό του βιβλίου θεωρώ ότι πλατειάζει ασκόπως πολύ περισσότερες φορές από ότι θα ήθελα... Έτσι μερικοί διάλογοι γίνονται ανούσιοι και κουραστικοί.

Γενικά το βιβλίο θα το σύστηνα σε άτομα που αγαπούν τη λογοτεχνία και όχι τόσο σε αυτούς που διαβάζουν ένα βιβλίο το χρόνο ή κάτι τέτοιο, αφού είναι λίγο βαρύ για λογοτεχνικό βιβλίο. όμως αυτό δεν αναιρεί το γεγονός ότι είναι υπέροχο.

Οπωσδήποτε πρέπει να σημειώσω ότι παρά την αρχική μου φοβία ότι θα διαλυθεί το βιβλίο και θα μαζεύω σελίδες από όλο το σπίτι (είναι κάπως "κοντόχοντρο" αν μπορώ να το πω έτσι..), αυτό με το ζόρι τσαλακώθηκε στη ράχη του (φυσικά χρησιμοποιώ πάντα σελιδοδείκτη).

[Gafas y Ojeras · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aquellos que se lancen a leer Melmoth el Errabundo deben estar preparados para adentrarse en una de esas lecturas que exige al lector un voto de confianza, una apuesta ciega cuyo importe se cuantifica en tiempo y paciencia. Aceptar que su lectura no será sencilla, que agota a cada párrafo, que te zarandea entre sus tramas invitándote a cada momento a abandonarla en la búsqueda de unos textos más acordes a los tiempos actuales. Yo mismo claudiqué en más de una ocasión desesperado ante mis expectativas. Pero, por suerte, siempre fui terco en mis ambiciones.
Y es que la carta de presentación de una obra tan importante como es esta obra de Charles Maturin viene lastrada con la sentencia de ser la cumbre del género gótico y, por tanto, pieza fundamental entre los inicios de la literatura de terror. Y, realmente, conforme sigo dándole vueltas a todo lo leído, no puedo estar más de acuerdo con esa afirmación. A fin de cuentas, posee todas las características propias del subgénero como la presentación de ambientes tenebrosos y decrépitos, mazmorras, cementerios, criptas, castillos en ruinas y todo tipo de imágenes que uno puede esperar en una novela que se encuadre en esos fabulosos ambientes. Pero es que, además, toda la obra está empapada de otra de las características fundamentales que definen al gótico literario y que los amantes de este tipo de historias suelen olvidar, que es el desborde de pasiones que acompañan a sus personajes.
Es fundamental entender ese manera de retratar a unos personajes en permanente conflicto para poder disfrutar en su totalidad de una obra tan intensa como es Melmoth el Errabundo. Su argumento nos presenta a este extraño ser, personaje maldito que busca a la desesperada su redención definitiva ofreciendo a las personas desamparadas una salida a sus penas. De tal modo, se acerca a ellas facilitándoles una salida que alivie sus tormentos para así poder saldar su propia y eterna condena.
Eso convierte una obra tan peculiar como esta en una sucesión de pequeñas historias en las que Maturin nos retrata el descenso a los infiernos de los personajes que van apareciendo en la trama. Con una precisión quirúrgica, vemos como la desgracia se ceba con cada uno de ellos adentrándonos en la oscuridad de sus almas. Y esa manera de atormentar a los personajes hasta el sadismo lo narra el autor tomándose su tiempo hasta que te compadeces de ese sufrimiento. En más de una ocasión eres tú el que pide a gritos esa liberación ante las desventuras de los atormentados, comprendiendo las penurias y rezando por su momento de alivio.
Para entonces, comienza una nueva historia.
Y es que, cuando ya gritas por esa liberación, Maturin te adentra en una nueva odisea para que puedas comprender la compleja maldición que arrastra nuestro extraño protagonista. Esto te sacará en más de una ocasión de la novela, ya que cuando entiendes las profundas pasiones de los atormentados protagonistas ves que eran tan solo unos meros peones de un tablero mucho más complejo de lo que veías al principio. Y, claro, no quieres conocer una nueva historia de doscientas páginas en donde tener que volver a reconocer de nuevo la compleja condición humana y lo condenada que está desde su concepción. Ahí es donde Maturin te exige y exige, una y otra vez, para que te olvides de lo que hasta entonces era una simple historia, para que entiendas que su extensa novela trasciende a lo que le pasa a cada uno de sus personajes.
Pero sigues adelante. Sigues un poco más porque quieres desenmarañar todo el misterio. Sigues adelante porque te compadeces del errabundo y de su maldición. Sigues adelante porque quieres celebrar unas nupcias cuya cripta te hiela la sangre. Sigues adelante porque quieres ver como escapar de la condena de la inquisición, de la desgracia del amor, del abandono al extraño, de la ambigüedad eclesiástica. Sigues adelante más y más porque, a pesar de todos los tormentos, no vas a ser tú el que ceda al abandono y la liberación de un libro tan complejo como este.
Sigues adelante porque quieres gritar por la emoción de ser uno de aquellos que se adentró en la oscuridad de Melmoth el Errabundo y, por fin, comprendió su condena.

[Spyridoula · Rating 1 out of 5]

Μετά κόπων και βασάνων κατάφερα να τελειώσω ένα βιβλίο, που μου είχε γεννήσει ιδιαίτερα μεγάλες προσδοκίες όταν το έπιασα στα χέρια μου!
Πυκνογραμμένο, με νοήματα δυσκολονόητα σε κάποιες περιπτώσεις, κουραστικά επαναλαμβανόμενο γράφοντας και ξαναγράφοντας ίδια πράγματα με άλλες λέξεις! Και για την υποκρισία της Εκκλησίας το πιάσαμε από τις πρώτες κιόλας γραμμές και για τον χειριστικό ρόλο των ιερέων και λειτουργών της επίσης!!! Δεν χρειάζονταν 950 σελίδες διαρκούς επανάληψης για να εμπεδώσουμε τη γραμμή αυτή....και φυσικά αυτό είναι σταγόνα στον ωκεανό! Με ό,τι κι αν καταπιάνεται, η κατάληξη αποβαίνει το ίδιο φλύαρη και ανιαρή!
Οι εγκιβωτισμένες διηγήσεις δεν με αποπροσανατόλισαν, δεν με κούρασαν ούτε στο ελάχιστο, ίσα ίσα με απέτρεψαν από το να αρχίσω να χτυπάω το κεφάλι μου στον τοίχο. Ξεκινούσες την κάθε ιστορία με όλη την καλή διάθεση για να καταλήξεις και πάλι σε όσα είχες ήδη συμπεράνει για το όλο πόνημα από πολύ νωρίς!
Το κεντρικό πρόσωπο, που είναι ο Μέλμοθ, έχει μάλλον τόσο περιπλανηθεί, που σχεδόν χάνεται στο βιβλίο, για να κάνει αισθητή πια την παρουσία του, σχεδόν από την σελίδα 400 και μετά!!! Επιπλέον ένιωσα ότι ο Maturin προσπάθησε να εκβιάσει τον τρόμο, την φρίκη και τα παρόμοια συναισθήματα και δεν κατάφερε ούτε στο ελάχιστο να μου τα μεταδώσει μέσω του κεντρικού ήρωά του!!! Το κερί με την γαλάζια φλόγα, περισσότερη δουλειά έκανε!!!
Συνοψίζοντας, το γενικό στόρι μου έμεινε- που βγαίνει δεν βγαίνει 100σελ.- τα υπόλοιπα τα ξέχασα την ίδια στιγμή που τα διάβαζα!!
Οφείλω όμως να παραδεχτώ πως το εξώφυλλο του βιβλίου με κέρδισε! Καταφέρνει να σε βάλει στην ατμόσφαιρα του βιβλίου, στο θέμα, κάτι που δεν καταφέρνει τελικά ο Maturin σε 950 σελίδες!!!!

[Evripidis Gousiaris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Εκπληκτική γοτθική ιστορία όπου θα προκαλέσει πληθώρα συναισθημάτων στον αναγνώστη. Αφηγήσεις με διαφορετική χροιά και κλίμα θα συνθέσουν τον σκοτεινό θρύλο του Μέλμοθ, ο οποίος περιπλανιέται σε διάφορα σημεία του χάρτη ανεπηρέαστος από τον χρόνο, αφήνοντας πίσω του θάνατο και δυστυχία. Εντυπωσιακή η μέθοδος που ο συγγραφέας παρουσιάζει την κάθε αφήγηση καθώς και ο τρόπος που της προσδίδει την δική της ατμόσφαιρα. Αξέχαστες στιγμές αγωνίας μέσα σε μοναστήρια και μπουντρούμια αλλά και ρομαντικά ειδύλλια σε εξωτικά νησιά και κάστρα όπου θα αναστατώσουν την καρδιά. Βιβλίο το οποίο μπορεί να μην θυμάσαι μετά από χρόνια σαν σύνολο αλλά σίγουρα θα σου έρχονται στο μυαλό ξεχωριστά οι αφηγήσεις του.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

While parts of this were very interesting, it had one too many points that just dragged the reader down into the deep, dark depths of boredom. Also, a good chunk of it was just anti-Catholic propaganda, and while I'm not Catholic, I don't care for propaganda in general--unless, of course, it's a good read. Granted, the premise was very good, and the story of Immalee was enthralling, not to mention the actual story; but there was one too many stories within a story within a story. It became frustrating. Some scholars think it was never intended to be a novel, but a collection of stories with an interconnecting theme. Perhaps it would've been better that way. We'll never know. All I know is, the story of Moncada should've been half the length it was. I mean, how many times can one read a description of the loneliness and monotony of a monastery without it becoming a chore? The answer to that riddle is this: it's boring the first time.

[Μπάμπης M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Η ιστορία του Μελμωθ αρχίζει στα πρώτα κεφάλαια, στο ενδιάμεσο (900 σελίδες περίπου) έχουμε εγκιβωτισμένες αφηγήσεις, ιστορίες μέσα σε ιστορίες κτλ. Όπου στα τελευταία κεφάλαια επανέρχεται η αρχική ιστόρια με τους χαρακτήρες της για να τελειώσει. Εντελώς απότομα είναι να αλήθεια, αλλά δεν με χάλασε. Σίγουρα ο όγκος και η τεχνική της αφήγησης θα βασανίσει τον απαίδευτο αναγνώστη αλλά ένας πιο πειθαρχημένος δεν θα έχει δυσκολία. Εμένα προσωπικά το ενδιαφέρον μου στο μεγαλύτερο μέρος του βιβλίου ήταν αδιάφορο χωρίς φυσικά να λείπουν τα εξαίσια λογοτεχνικά σημεία. Η συνεχής κριτική και αναφορά στον καθολικισμό, στον μοναστικό βίο και την Ιερά εξέταση με κούρασαν. Γενικά το λογοτεχνικό είδος του βιβλίου μου έφερνε περισσότερο κάτι σε θρησκευτικό ιστορικό μυθιστόρημα (όσοι περιμένετε να διαβάσετε γοτθικό τρόμο ξεχάστε το). Ίσως περίμενα κάτι αντίστοιχο με το αριστουργηματικό καλόγερο του Λιούις και μπορεί η εποχή που το επέλεξα να μην ήταν κατάλληλη. Για όσους θέλουν περισσότερη ανάλυση υπάρχει ένα ενδιαφέρον βίντεο στο YouTube στο πατάρι του Gutenberg που γίνεται ανάλυση του έργου με αρκετές αναφορές στην πλοκή.

[Δημήτρης · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δωράκι από τη θεία η συγκεκριμένη έκδοση καθώς ξέρει πόσο μου αρέσουν οι Εκδόσεις Ερατώ. Άλλη μια φορά το εξώφυλλο, η μετάφραση, η εισαγωγή, το χρονολόγιο στο τέλος, ακόμα και η γραμματοσειρά είναι εξαιρετικά.

Τον Μέλμοθ τον είχα στα υπόψιν μου κάποια στιγμή να τον διαβάσω αλλά δεν ήξερα γιατί υπήρχε μία ογκώδης και μία μικρή έκδοση. Όπως φαίνεται κάποιος εκδότης αποφάσισε να συμπτύξει το αρχικό κείμενο καθώς «τα δεκάδες περίπλοκα επεισόδια και οι αφηγήσεις που αναπτύσσονται μέσα σε άλλες αφηγήσεις, έκαναν την πρώτη έκδοση αυτής της τρομερής ιστορίαςς απλησιάστη για τον αναγνώστη». Βέβαια δεν ξέρω κατά πόσο ήταν πετυχημένο το να συμπτύξει ένα βιβλίο 900+ σελίδων σε περίπου 100.

Το σίγουρο είναι ότι διαβάζοντας τη συμπτυγμένη έκδοση μπορώ να πω ότι σίγουρα μου κίνησε το ενδιαφέρον για το ολοκληρωμένο βιβλίο αν και πιστεύω ότι οι 900+ σελίδες του θα είναι κομματάκι πολλές λαμβάνοντας υπόψιν τον τρόπο γραφής αυτής της έκδοσης. Από εκεί και πέρα η ατμόσφαιρα μου και από αυτό το λίγο μπορώ να υποθέσω γιατί ο Oscar Wilde επηρεάστηκε τόσο πολύ από αυτό το βιβλίο.

[Eleftheria Platia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Μυθιστόρημα γοτθικού στυλ . Εαν συνυπολογίσει κάποιος το πότε γράφτηκε , τον τρόπο αφήγησης , το λεξιλόγιο κτλ θα το χαρακτήριζε ως ένα πολύ αξιόλογο βιβλίο . Σε κάποιον φανατικό του είδους θα πρότεινα να το διαβάσει και ίσως να του έβαζε και άριστα.

Προσωπικά με κούρασε λίγο με κάποιες περιγραφές καθως θεωρούσα πως όλη η πλοκή μενει στάσιμη , χωρίς αυτό βέβαια να υποτιμά τον πλούτο του λόγου και τις άριστες αφηγήσεις .

[Caterina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much to say, I guess Maturin said it all. I liked his fierce stand against Catholicism, his beautiful and atmospheric scenes, but got fed up by his never-ending long-windedness and his intertwined stories. Not sure who started telling a story and who ended telling another!
Anyway, try it if you have ample time and patience.

[Sotiris Karaiskos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read many of the books of early Gothic literature, I have expectingly arrived in this that is considered by many to be a reference point in the Gothic novel. Of course, from the books of my beloved Ann Radcliffe to this some years have passed, that's why there are too many differences. The author seems to take some of the elements that started this genre and made it very popular and carry in to the edge, creating a very tough novel written in very dramatic tones. Such dramatic tones naturally hides many dangers, with the wrong manipulation being able to lead to the limits of parody, but the writer, for the most part, manages to easily avoid this trap, resulting in no way the book losing its gravity .

The subject of the book is purely religious, something awaited by the profession of the writer, and concerns the choice between the way of God and that of loss. The protagonist of the story is Melmoth, a man who makes a deal with the devil and exchanges his soul to live longer. Of course, the devil uses him for his own purposes, sending him to tempt the faithful to move them away from god. Sometimes he hesitates and makes some second thoughts, but in general he does not stop playing the role assigned to him, and thus becomes a symbol of absolute corruption. Through various narratives and stories, the threat of his activities and the struggle of his prospective victims to escape his satanic influence and do what is right is unfolding, with the message of the author being that in the end we all have the choice between for good and for evil.

This religious theme is exploited by the author to talk about other things, such as the social conditions that turn people to sin, the uncontrollable emotions that lead us to wrong decisions, the corruption of the Catholic Church - to which he carries a fierce attack - that in his opinion makes a great deal of harm, removing people from the right kind of Christianity, which, of course, for the writer can not be anything other than the Protestant, but he does not leave it out of his criticism.

All this offer an excellent material to the writer who, for most of the book, exploits it in a very good way. But there are also some weaker moments, some of the stories are not so interesting and alter the rhythm of the book, while the abuse of the story-inside-a-story device is likely to result in the reader forgetting some of the protagonists in history, something admitted at some point self-sarcastically by the writer. These weak points, however, in no way destroy the overall good impression that this book left to me as there are against some extremely strong moments that I really can not describe, that's why I confine myself to mention that they can be only part of a great book and surely this is one of them.

Έχοντας διαβάσει πολλά από τα βιβλία της πρώιμης γοτθικής λογοτεχνίας αναμενόμενα έφτασα και σε αυτό που θεωρείται από πολλούς σημείο αναφοράς στον χώρο του γοτθικού μυθιστορήματος. Βέβαια από τα βιβλία της αγαπητής μουAnn Radcliffe μέχρι αυτό μεσολαβούν κάποια χρόνια, για αυτό υπάρχουν και πάρα πολλές διαφορές. Ο συγγραφέας φαίνεται να παίρνει κάποια από τα στοιχεία που ξεκίνησαν αυτό το είδος και το έκαναν ιδιαίτερα δημοφιλές και να τα πηγαίνει περισσότερο στα άκρα, δημιουργώντας έτσι ένα πολύ σκληρό μυθιστόρημα, γραμμένο σε πολύ δραματικούς τόνους. Μία τόσο έντονη δραματικότητα κρύβει φυσικά πολλούς κινδύνους, με τον λάθος χειρισμό να μπορεί να οδηγήσει στα όρια της παρωδίας, ο συγγραφέας, όμως, στο μεγαλύτερο μέρος καταφέρνει να αποφύγει εύκολα αυτή την παγίδα, με αποτέλεσμα σε κανένα σημείο το βιβλίο να χάνει τη σοβαρότητα του.

Το θέμα του βιβλίου είναι καθαρά θρησκευτικό, κάτι αναμενόμενο από το επάγγελμα του συγγραφέα, και αφορά την επιλογή ανάμεσα στο δρόμο του Θεού και σε αυτό της απώλειας. Ο πρωταγωνιστής της ιστορίας είναι ο Melmoth, ένας άνθρωπος που κάνει μία συμφωνία με το διάβολο και ανταλλάσσει την ψυχή του για να ζήσει περισσότερα χρόνια. Φυσικά ο διάβολος τον χρησιμοποιεί για τους δικούς του σκοπούς βάζοντας τον να βάζεις σε πειρασμό τους πιστούς για να τους απομακρύνει από τον θεό. Μερικές φορές βέβαια διστάζει και κάνει κάποιες δεύτερες σκέψεις, γενικότερα, όμως, δεν σταματάει να παίζει το ρόλο που του έχει ανατεθεί και γίνεται έτσι ένα σύμβολο απόλυτης διαφθοράς. Μέσα από διάφορες αφηγήσεις και ιστορίες ξετυλίγεται το κουβάρι των δραστηριοτήτων του και του αγώνα των υποψήφιων θυμάτων του για να ξεφύγουν από τη σατανική επιρροή του και το κάνουν αυτό που είναι σωστό, με το μήνυμα το συγγραφέα να είναι ότι στο τέλος όλοι έχουμε την επιλογή ανάμεσα στο καλό και στο κακό.

Αυτό το θρησκευτικό θέμα εκμεταλλεύεται ο συγγραφέας για να μιλήσει για πολλά άλλα πράγματα, όπως οι κοινωνικές συνθήκες που στρέφουν τους ανθρώπους στην αμαρτία, τα ανεξέλεγκτα συναισθήματα που μας παρασέρνουν σε λάθος αποφάσεις, τη διαφθορά της καθολικής εκκλησίας - στην οποία κάνει μία σφοδρότατη επίθεση - που κατά τη γνώμη του κάνει μεγάλο κακό, απομακρύνοντας τον κόσμο από τον σωστό χριστιανισμό, που φυσικά για το συγγραφέα δεν μπορεί να είναι άλλος από τον προτεσταντικό, που, όμως, δεν τον αφήνει έξω από την κριτική του.

Όλα αυτά προσφέρουν ένα εξαιρετικό υλικό στον συγγραφέα που στο μεγαλύτερο μέρος του βιβλίου το εκμεταλλεύεται με έναν πολύ καλό τρόπο. Υπάρχουν, όμως, και κάποια περισσότερο αδύναμα στοιχεία, κάποιες από τις ιστορίες δεν είναι τόσο ενδιαφέρουσες και αλλοιώνουν το ρυθμό του βιβλίου, την ώρα που μάλλον γίνεται κατάχρηση του τεχνάσματος της ιστορίας μέσα στην ιστορία με αποτέλεσμα ο αναγνώστης να ξεχνάει κάποιους πρωταγωνιστές της ιστορίας, κάτι που το παραδέχεται σε κάποιο σημείο ο συγγραφέας αυτοσαρκαζόμενος. Αυτά τα αδύναμα σημεία, όμως, σε καμία περίπτωση δεν καταστρέφουν τη γενικότερη καλή εντύπωση που μου άφησε αυτό το βιβλίο καθώς υπάρχουν απέναντί τους μερικές δυνατές στιγμές που πραγματικά δεν μπορώ να τις περιγράψω, για αυτό περιορίζομαι να αναφέρω ότι μπορούν να είναι μέρος μόνο ενός σπουδαίου βιβλίου και σίγουρα αυτό είναι ένα από αυτά.

[Vaso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ποιος ήταν ο Μέλμοθ? Αφορμή για να γνωρίσουμε τον Μέλμοθ και τις περιπλανήσεις του είναι ένα πορτρέτο κρυμμένο από τα μάτια του κόσμου κι ένας ναυαγός που σώζεται από έναν εαρό άνδρα, ο οποίος έχει το ίδιο επώνυμο. Ξεκινά λοιπόν ο ναυαγός να μας αφηγείται την ιστορία του. Κι αυτή είναι μόνο μία από τις εγκιβωτισμένες ιστορίες που όλες τους έχουν ως κοινό παρονομαστή τον Μέλμοθ, ένα πνεύμα? έναν υπηρέτη της κόλασης? ένα συνδυσμό και των δύο? Τι είναι άραγε ο Μέλμοθ? Μπορεί κανείς να του ξεφύγει άραγε?

Ο συγγραφέας σε ένα από τα πιο χαρακτηριστικά δείγματα γοτθικού τρόμου, μέσα από τις διαφορετικές αφηγήσεις θίγει πολλά θέματα της εποχής εκείνης. Μιλά για τη θρησκεία και τον φανατισμό που την διέπει σε ορισμένες περιπτώσεις, τη διαφθορά που υπάρχει στον κλήρο, την εξάρτηση ορισμένων πλούσιων οικογενειών της αστικής τάξης από ιερείς, την σκληρότητα της Ιεράς Εξέτασης και τις σαδιστικές μεθόδους τιμωρίας αλλά και την αγάπη και τον έρωτα που μπορεί να ζεστάνει και την πιο σκληρή καρδιά.
Ο αναγνώστης παρασύρεται από την ιστορία και παρόλο που ίσως υπάρχουν σημεία που κουράζουν, τελικά απολαμβάνει αυτό το ταξίδι παρέα με τους ήρωες που προσπαθούν να αντισταθούν στο κάλεσμα του Μέλμοθ.

"Από μια άποψη η περιέργεια είναι σαν τον έρωτα - πάντα υπάρχει συμβιβασμός ανάμεσα στο αντικείμενο του πόθου και το συναίσθημα που μας δημιουργεί •ετσι, το δεύτερο τρέφει τις αναζητήσεις μας ακόμα κι αν το πρώτο είναι άξιο περιφρόνησης."

[The Literary Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intense imagery, takes a while to get back into reading 18 th century works, but if I don't do it once in a while I tend to lose the knack since it requires more work on the reader's part to decipher the prose. Could see why Poe and Baudelaire liked it, hellish baroque imagery occasionally shot through with black humor.

[Liliana Blum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ojalá pudiera darle 10 estrellas.

[Genia Lukin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fun to be back, for a little while, to a time in which heroes were heroes, villains were villanious, and passions ran so high they spilled overboard.

Welcome to Melmoth the Wanderer - Gothic horror/Fantasy par excellence, which really doesn't know how to write about a sentiment without cranking it up to 11, and the going just a little more.

Meet Melmoth, the most villanious, diabolical villain ever, whose eyes can send people trembling and whose mere laughter can drive them mad. He's Faust like Goethe took something to lower his inhibitions, and he revels in it. Opposing him are various pathetic, tortured souls who fall prey to his Evil Machinations of Evil, and resist bravely the temptations despite being thrown in the madhouse, giving birth to dying children, and variously expiring with tremendous suffering.

It's wildly refreshing, in a way, to return to a literature that allows its emotions to crank up so high. Of course, it would hardly work in a 20th-21st century book precisely because we have grown out of the habit of speaking of smouldering gimlet eyes in the dark and laughter that causes trembling and fear - we are largely a secular world, and even when we are not, evil tends to cause a horror more internal and self-doubting than the pure, magical outside influence that Melmoth has.

And of course we no longer feel entirely comfortable with the absolute resilience that Melmoth's victims exhibit heroically in the face of all adversity. But that's not a bug, it's a feature. All the descriptions are intended to make you feel terrified and appalled - and the fact that it no longer works isn't the book's fault.

Like any Victoriana there is more digression and story within story here than actual "plot of the book" - it really likes its "tales of This" and "Narratives of That" so one should not expect a fast-paced read. Of course, Melmoth dissolves into dust in the end, so it's not a book without excitement.