Charles Robert Maturin, also known as C. R. Maturin (25 September 1780 – 30 October 1824), was an Irish Protestant clergyman (ordained in the Church of Ireland) and a writer of Gothic plays and novels.Chris Morgan, "Maturin, Charles R(obert)." in ''St. James Guide to Horror, Gothic, and Ghost Writers'', ed. David Pringle. Detroit and New York: St. James Press, 1998. (396–97) His best known work is the novel '' Melmoth the Wanderer''.

Early life

Maturin was descended from Huguenots who found shelter in Ireland, one of whom was Gabriel Jacques Maturin who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin after Jonathan Swift in 1745. Charles Robert Maturin was born in Dublin and attended Trinity College. Shortly after being ordained as

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

of Loughrea,

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, in 1803, he moved back to Dublin as curate of St Peter's Church. He lived in York Street with his father William, a Post Office official, and his mother, Fedelia Watson, and married on 7 October 1804 the acclaimed singer Henrietta Kingsbury.

Works

His first three works were

Gothic novels Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

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 their help, Maturin's play ''Bertram'' was staged in 1816 at the

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster. Notable landmarks ...

for 22 nights, with Edmund Kean starring in the lead role as Bertram. 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. 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. He produced several novels in addition to ''Melmoth the Wanderer'', including some on Irish subjects and ''The Albigenses'', a historical novel which features werewolves. Various poems have also been ascribed to Maturin on dubious grounds and appear to be the work of others. The prize-winning "Lines on the Battle of Waterloo" was published in 1816 under the name of the university graduate John Shee. "The Universe" appeared with Maturin's name on the title page in 1821, but is now thought to be almost completely the work of James Wills. The exaggerated effectiveness of Maturin's preaching can be gauged from the two series of sermons that he published. On the occasion of the death of Princess Charlotte, he declared: "Life is full of death; the steps of the living cannot press the earth without disturbing the ashes of the dead – we walk upon our ancestors – the globe itself is one vast churchyard." A contemporary account records that there had seldom been seen such crowds at St Peter's. "Despite the severe weather, people of all persuasions flocked to the church and listened spellbound to this prince of preachers. In his obituary it was said that, 'did he leave no other monument whereon to rest his fame, these sermons alone would be sufficient'." Maturin died in Dublin on 30 October 1824. A writer in the ''University Magazine'' was later to sum up his character as "eccentric almost to insanity and compounded of opposites – an insatiable reader of novels; an elegant preacher; an incessant dancer; a coxcomb in dress and manners."

International reputation

In 1821 Maturin's successful play was adapted into French as ''Bertram, ou le Pirate'' by Charles Nodier and Baron Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor, and ran successfully for 53 nights in the following year. This version was the source for the even more successful opera '' Il pirata'', with a libretto by Felice Romani and music by Vincenzo Bellini, premiered at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

of Milan in 1827.

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

admired the play and

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...

based his ''Antony'' upon its hero in 1831. The play was also printed and frequently produced in the United States. The novel ''Melmoth the Wanderer'' was also published in French translation in 1821 and served as an influential model for writers in France. In 1835 Honoré de Balzac wrote a parody, ''Melmoth Reconcilié'', in which Maturin's hero goes to Paris, where he finds in its banking world an ethos that "has replaced the principle of honour by the principle of money" and easily finds someone to accept damnation in his place. In Balzac's eyes, "this novel is taken up with the same idea to which we already owe the drama of '' Faust'' and out of which Lord Byron has cut his cloth since ''

Manfred ''Manfred: A dramatic poem'' is a closet drama written in 1816–1817 by Lord Byron. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Gothic fiction. Byr ...

''".

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...

was also an admirer of Maturin's novel, equating it with the poetry of Byron and Edgar Allan Poe.

Family connections

A sister of Maturin's wife married Charles Elgee, whose daughter Jane Francesca became the mother of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

. Thus Charles Maturin was Oscar Wilde's great-uncle by marriage. Wilde discarded his own name and adopted the name of Maturin's novel, Melmoth, during his exile in France. Maturin's eldest son, William Basil Kingsbury Maturin, followed him into the ministry, as did several of his grandsons. One of these,

Basil W. Maturin Basil William Maturin (15 February 1847 – 7 May 1915) was an Irish-born Anglican priest, preacher and writer who later became Catholic. He died on board the RMS ''Lusitania'', during the First World War. Life He was born in Ireland in 1847 t ...

, died in the sinking of in 1915. The second son was

Edward Maturin Edward Maturin was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 18 June 1812 and died in New York City on 25 May 1881. He was naturalised as an American and worked as a professor of Greek. His fiction and poetry generally dealt with historical themes, while his wor ...

, who emigrated to the United States and became a novelist and poet there. William Maturin (1803–1887), a Tractarian, was the Church of Ireland priest at Grangegorman and also librarian of

Archbishop Marsh's Library Marsh's Library, situated in St. Patrick's Close, adjacent to St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland is a well-preserved library of the late Renaissance and early Enlightenment. When it opened to the public in 1707 it was the first public lib ...

, Dublin, from 1872 until 1887."Maturin, William" in ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Opera

* ''Six Lextures on the Events of Holy Week'' (Oxonii, 1860) * ''The Blessedness of the Dead in Christ'' (Londinii, 1888)

Known works

Novels

*''The Fatal Revenge; or, the Family of Montorio'' (1807
Available online
*''The Wild Irish Boy'' (1808
Available online
*''The Milesian Chief'' (1812
Available online
*''Women; or, Pour et Contre; a Tale'' (1818) Available online
vol.1vol.2vol.3
*'' Melmoth the Wanderer'' (1820
Available online
*''The Albigenses'' (1824
Available online
*''Leixlip Castle'' (1825

Plays

*''Bertram; or The Castle of St. Aldobrand'' (1816
Available online
*''Manuel'' (1817
Available online
*''Fredolfo'' (1819
Available online
*''Osmyn the Renegade'' (fragments published posthumously in 1830, but in rehearsal at Covent Garden in 1822)

Sermons

*''Sermons'' (1819
Available online
*''Five Sermons on the Errors of the Roman Catholic Church'' (1824
Available online

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maturin, Charles Robert 1780 births 1824 deaths Irish people of French descent Irish horror writers 19th-century Irish Anglican priests Alumni of Trinity College Dublin People from County Dublin 19th-century Irish novelists 19th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights Critics of the Catholic Church Irish male novelists Irish male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century male writers Writers of Gothic fiction