Charles Maturin

Christina Morin (University of Limerick)

Ed. by Anne Markey, Dublin City University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.4: Irish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Anne Markey (Dublin City University), Ian Campbell Ross (Trinity College Dublin), Eoghan Smith (Carlow College), Sinéad Sturgeon (Queen's University Belfast)

Dates

Born 25 Sep 1782
Died 30 Oct 1824
Activity 1802-1824

Places

Born in Ireland, Republic of (Eire)
Active in Ireland, Republic of (Eire)

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Other

Playwright / Dramatist

Resources

Maturin's Works

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Remembered today for his Gothic masterpiece,

Melmoth the Wanderer

(1820), Charles Robert Maturin (1780-1824) played a pivotal role in the development of Romantic national fiction in Ireland in the early-nineteenth century. A Church of Ireland clergyman, Maturin was profoundly shaped by the conflict of loyalties inherent to his Irish Anglican identity. Born shortly before Ireland’s brief parliamentary independence beginning in 1782 – a period known as Grattan’s parliament, named for the leading patriot spokesman, Henry Grattan – Maturin was firmly attached to the idea of an independent Ireland. Despite his Protestant mindset and firm support of Anglican ascendancy in Ireland, his fictional works continuously register his discontent with the Act of Union of 1800 and its merging of…

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2430 words

Citation: Morin, Christina. "Charles Maturin". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 May 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4900, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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