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Bertram, Or, The Castle Of St. Aldobrand
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
110 pages, Hardcover
First published September 24, 1992
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About the author
Charles Robert Maturin
164 books128 followersCharles 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 11, 2009
I read this play in the 1817 8th edition. Disappointing after Maturin's novels, but it could improve a little on the stage, if one takes into account the basic shortcomings of melodrama. I felt, however, that it didn't have the psychological depth of Melmoth or Montorio. The influence of Byron was very, very apparent - besides the whole Byronic hero bit, one place name was "Manfredonia"! [These notes made in 1982:]
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January 6, 2022I have seen the Bellini's opera Pirate. I was told, Maturin's original story makes more sense than the modified version of the opera plot. Well, at some parts it does, at some it does not. What happened to the child ? I am not a native speaker and lost this information in all that archaic English.
To say something nice, I actually enjoy the tension between male and female protagonist at the beginning. Opera copies the dialogues quite literally, which I aprove of.
To say something nice, I actually enjoy the tension between male and female protagonist at the beginning. Opera copies the dialogues quite literally, which I aprove of.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 3, 2024
I love reading books that are so niche and forgotten there’s no information about it on the internet. The downside is that I have no idea what I just read, it felt all over the place and most likely the moral of the story flew over my head.
I don’t know how Imogen managed to use her legs to storm out of that cave at the end, because surely her knees were destroyed from how often she dropped on her knees during the story.
I don’t know how Imogen managed to use her legs to storm out of that cave at the end, because surely her knees were destroyed from how often she dropped on her knees during the story.
March 12, 2018
what the fuck did i just read?
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews