Melmoth the Wanderer is a dark Faustian tale in the gothic style. It is the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil for an extra 150 years of life, a pact he can get out of only if he persuades another soul to take his place. Melmoth travels to the depths of human misery and despair in the attempt to find someone desperate enough to make such a devilish bargain. This work was a huge hit in the nineteenth century and highly innovative for its time, as it tells its story as a series of flashbacks and embedded tales, with different narrators and viewpoints. It is full of extravagant...

Six classic nineteenth century tales of 'gothic' horror from Benediction Classics: Leixlip Castle and Melmoth the Wanderer (abridged) by Charles Robert Maturin, The Mysterious Mansion by Honore de Balzac, The Flayed Hand by Guy de Maupassant, The Ruins of the Abbey of Fitz-Martin (Anon.) and The Mysterious Spaniard (Anon.).

Charles Robert Maturin's last novel, The Albigenses (1824), a historical romance of the early 13th century, is a rich tale of the conflict between the Catholic church and the Albigenses, a heretical sect centered in Languedoc. Its historical background does little to inhibit Maturin's strong penchant for extravagant scenes of violence, horror, and vivid evocations of nature at its least benign. His many characters people a well-plotted story of impressive density-the heroine, Genevieve, kind hearted, bold, true to her creed; the ruthless bishop of Toulouse; churchmen and women, of varying...