Maturin, Archibald Constable, and the Publication of Melmoth the Wanderer

Critical discussion of Charles Robert Maturin's late-Gothic masterpiece, Melmoth the Wanderer has noted the novel's fascination with questions of narrative transmissibility and communication. The full story of the novel's protracted composition and eventual publication in 1820 by Arch...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Review of English studies 2006-06, Vol.57 (230), p.359-373
Main Author:	Ragaz, Sharon
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	1800-1899 Authors Bibliography Book publishing Constable, Archibald English Literature History of Publishing and Bookselling Irish literature Literary criticism Magazine publishing Maturin, C. R Maturin, Charles Robert Maturin, Charles Robert (1780-1824) Melmoth the Wanderer Narrative perspectives Narratives Nineteenth Century novel Novels Poetry Publishing publishing history Publishing industry Scottish Publishing Source studies Theater Writers Written correspondence
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Summary:	Critical discussion of Charles Robert Maturin's late-Gothic masterpiece, Melmoth the Wanderer has noted the novel's fascination with questions of narrative transmissibility and communication. The full story of the novel's protracted composition and eventual publication in 1820 by Archibald Constable has, however, never been told. The increasingly acrimonious correspondence between the author and his publisher reveals Maturin's compositional difficulties and his eagerness to be distracted from his task by other projects. It also shows the extent to which the novel's structure was largely determined by the publisher who was faced with the challenge not only of spurring on a recalcitrant author but also of piecing together the disjointed fragments of manuscript that arrived in his Edinburgh publishing house from the Dublin-based author. The novel as we have it may be claimed as a product of collaboration between Maturin and Constable—although such collaboration was throughout unwitting and mutually uncomprehending. Although an extreme case, the history of the book's making exemplifies the processes of negotiation and compromise that attended the production of fiction at a crucial period in the development of the genre when novels were beginning to be recognised as both potentially lucrative and prestigious by authors and publishers alike.
ISSN:	0034-6551 1471-6968 1471-6968