Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Maturin became the curate of Loughrea and subsequently St. Peters, Dublin. His first book, The Fatal Revenge, appeared in 1807 and was followed in 1808 by The Wild Irish Boy and in 1812 by The Milesian Chief, all of which were complete failures both critically and commercially. Nevertheless, Walter Scott thought that he had promise and brought him to the attention of Lord Byron. Together, they assisted Maturin in getting his play Bertram produced at the Drury Lane theatre in 1816. While it was reasonably successful, his subsequent plays were, like his novels, complete failures. In 1820, he published the novella, Melmoth the Wanderer which had reasonable success and influenced both Baudelaire and Balzac, the latter writing a sequel called Melmoth Reconciled. Maturin was an uncle of Oscar Wilde's mother. Maturin's other works include Women (1818), Fredolfo (1819), The Universe (1821), The Albigenses (1824) and Leixlip Castle (1825 posthumous). |
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