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Albigenses
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 degrees of piety; maniacal harridans, formidable outlaws, and knights in armor.
The Albigenses received, in general, better reviews than most of his other works, mainly because of its relatively reduced emphasis on blasphemous doings, but the reputation of Melmoth the Wanderer soon overshadowed it.
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 degrees of piety; maniacal harridans, formidable outlaws, and knights in armor.
The Albigenses received, in general, better reviews than most of his other works, mainly because of its relatively reduced emphasis on blasphemous doings, but the reputation of Melmoth the Wanderer soon overshadowed it.
1686 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1824
About the author
Charles Robert Maturin
116 books106 followersCharles Robert Maturin was an Irish Protestant clergyman (ordained by the Church of Ireland) and a writer of gothic plays and novels.
His first three works were 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 the help of these two literary luminaries, the curate's play, Bertram (first staged on 9 May 1816 at the Drury Lane for 22 nights) with Edmund Kean starring in the lead role as Bertram, saw a wider audience and became a success. 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. Coleridge's comments on Bertram can also be found in 'Biographia Literaria', chapter 23. 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. One of his grandsons, Basil W. Maturin, a Chaplain at Oxford University, died in the sinking of RMS Lusitania in 1915.
Charles Robert Maturin died in Dublin on 30 October 1824. Honoré de Balzac and Charles Baudelaire later expressed fondness for Maturin's work, particularly his most famous novel, Melmoth the Wanderer.
His first three works were 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 the help of these two literary luminaries, the curate's play, Bertram (first staged on 9 May 1816 at the Drury Lane for 22 nights) with Edmund Kean starring in the lead role as Bertram, saw a wider audience and became a success. 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. Coleridge's comments on Bertram can also be found in 'Biographia Literaria', chapter 23. 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. One of his grandsons, Basil W. Maturin, a Chaplain at Oxford University, died in the sinking of RMS Lusitania in 1915.
Charles Robert Maturin died in Dublin on 30 October 1824. Honoré de Balzac and Charles Baudelaire later expressed fondness for Maturin's work, particularly his most famous novel, Melmoth the Wanderer.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 10, 2018
Un gran novelón gótico. Con Maturin ya sabes que te puedes esperar: páginas y páginas de historias que se entremezclan entre sí y que están tan bien narradas que son capaces de llevarte al tiempo y lugar donde sucedieron. Las descripciones del autor son muy precisas y al igual que con Melmoth la descripción de la Edad media, las órdenes de caballería o las eclesiásticas están maravillosamente retratadas.
Es una novela que incluye de todo: romance, drama, comedia, acción y aventuras, terror.. y es una pasada ver como Maturin consigue mezclar todo esto sin crear un batiburrillo sin sentido, en todo momento estás dentro de la historia. De echo, esta combinación es tan buena que el libro me recordaba al Quijote, salvando las distancias con la inmortal obra de Cervantes.
Maturin narra en Los albigenses el enfrentamiento entre dos creencias religiosas: la que impera de manera hegemónica en el siglo XIII, que es el catolicismo romano, y una secta perseguida como son los albigenses.
A lo largo de la trama se empatiza con personajes de los dos bandos, puesto que en ambos existen héroes y heroinas llenas de bondad y villanos locos y repugnantes.
Mención especial para Francisco Torres Oliver, el mejor traductor español que he podido leer. Sólo de imaginarme a este hombre traduciendo este tocho que estaría en inglés antiguo y respetando tan bien el contenido de la obra me quito el sombrero.
Es una pena que parece que esta obra no es tan conocida como Melmoth, pero para mí está al mismo nivel que aquella.
Volveré a Maturin para leer la pieza que me falta: Venganza fatal o la familia de Montorio.
Es una novela que incluye de todo: romance, drama, comedia, acción y aventuras, terror.. y es una pasada ver como Maturin consigue mezclar todo esto sin crear un batiburrillo sin sentido, en todo momento estás dentro de la historia. De echo, esta combinación es tan buena que el libro me recordaba al Quijote, salvando las distancias con la inmortal obra de Cervantes.
Maturin narra en Los albigenses el enfrentamiento entre dos creencias religiosas: la que impera de manera hegemónica en el siglo XIII, que es el catolicismo romano, y una secta perseguida como son los albigenses.
A lo largo de la trama se empatiza con personajes de los dos bandos, puesto que en ambos existen héroes y heroinas llenas de bondad y villanos locos y repugnantes.
Mención especial para Francisco Torres Oliver, el mejor traductor español que he podido leer. Sólo de imaginarme a este hombre traduciendo este tocho que estaría en inglés antiguo y respetando tan bien el contenido de la obra me quito el sombrero.
Es una pena que parece que esta obra no es tan conocida como Melmoth, pero para mí está al mismo nivel que aquella.
Volveré a Maturin para leer la pieza que me falta: Venganza fatal o la familia de Montorio.
October 4, 2015
I had a predisposition to like this, as I enjoy Sir Walter Scott, and I also read and enjoyed Maturin's "Melmoth the Wanderer" some years ago. In fact, this was such enjoyable escapism that I think I got more pleasure from it than any other book I've read this year so far. It helps that I have always felt more at home in the 13th century than the 21st. This is a magnificent blend of Gothic fantasy: battles, jousts, sieges, damsels in distress, wise hermits, evil witches, corrupt ecclesiastics - even werewolves...with plenty of comedy to leaven the horror, and some bromance to leaven the courtly love of knights for maidens. Some of the physical description, such as of the bandit castle by the sea, left me vertiginously intoxicated. I was there, torchlight flickering as I climbed the stone spiral staircase, damp exhalations from the dungeons beneath, looking out over the battlements on a wild and stormy sea under the star crossed sky...
Are there faults? Only if you dislike this sort of thing. If you know nothing of the historical background, are not familiar with the Bible, and have no Latin, then it would be very confusing. One of the comic themes is the relationship between two worldly prelates, the battle-axe-wielding Bishop of Toulouse and the wine-bibbing Abbot of Normoutier. The bishop's disdain for the latter is founded on the Abbot's frequent mangling of his Latin quips and descent into "dog" Latin. I think I missed a lot of the wittier and more abstruse puns, but then as a schoolboy my Latin compositions were often disfigured by my Latin master drawing a lamppost in the margin of my exercise book, signifying that my efforts were mere "dog" Latin themselves.
Nevertheless this is a tightly plotted page-turner and I was sorry when it came to an end. I read the four volume edition available for free download on the Bodleian Library site, and my most annoying moment was the discovery that one page was missing. But that still left more than 1,400 others - and not a page too long.
Maturin, as an Irish Anglican priest, experienced bigotry and sectarianism at first hand. The ending is conventional in that we get happy marriages all round, but perhaps not so conventional in that the context is one of happy ecumenism and the healing of apparently irreconcilable religious difference through the solvent of love and friendship. In a world still marred by the effects of religiously inspired intolerance, this book is not as far from contemporary concerns as it may at first appear.
Are there faults? Only if you dislike this sort of thing. If you know nothing of the historical background, are not familiar with the Bible, and have no Latin, then it would be very confusing. One of the comic themes is the relationship between two worldly prelates, the battle-axe-wielding Bishop of Toulouse and the wine-bibbing Abbot of Normoutier. The bishop's disdain for the latter is founded on the Abbot's frequent mangling of his Latin quips and descent into "dog" Latin. I think I missed a lot of the wittier and more abstruse puns, but then as a schoolboy my Latin compositions were often disfigured by my Latin master drawing a lamppost in the margin of my exercise book, signifying that my efforts were mere "dog" Latin themselves.
Nevertheless this is a tightly plotted page-turner and I was sorry when it came to an end. I read the four volume edition available for free download on the Bodleian Library site, and my most annoying moment was the discovery that one page was missing. But that still left more than 1,400 others - and not a page too long.
Maturin, as an Irish Anglican priest, experienced bigotry and sectarianism at first hand. The ending is conventional in that we get happy marriages all round, but perhaps not so conventional in that the context is one of happy ecumenism and the healing of apparently irreconcilable religious difference through the solvent of love and friendship. In a world still marred by the effects of religiously inspired intolerance, this book is not as far from contemporary concerns as it may at first appear.
Want to read
November 22, 2015Romance in 4 volumes.
You may read online at InternetArchive
You may read online at InternetArchive
June 2, 2016
Narra las andanzas de dos caballeros, un obispo, una chica y algún que otro se mete en la historia. Los Albigenses intercederán para que no vaya todo bien entre los amoríos y los problemas de creer o no creer en Dios.
Muy denso, escrito con muchas metáforas y lenguaje poético. Desgarrador el dolor de todos ya sea por algo insignificante. Ellos sufren, nadie es feliz nunca. La religión era la riqueza del ahora.
No puedo recomendar este testo, si queréis leer algo Maturin, en este orden: “Venganza Fatal o la Familia Montorio” y “Melmoth el Errabundo”. Ellos tienen una historia más definida o historias. En “Los Albigenses” es una descripción de casi 800 páginas del dolor.
Muy denso, escrito con muchas metáforas y lenguaje poético. Desgarrador el dolor de todos ya sea por algo insignificante. Ellos sufren, nadie es feliz nunca. La religión era la riqueza del ahora.
No puedo recomendar este testo, si queréis leer algo Maturin, en este orden: “Venganza Fatal o la Familia Montorio” y “Melmoth el Errabundo”. Ellos tienen una historia más definida o historias. En “Los Albigenses” es una descripción de casi 800 páginas del dolor.
June 17, 2013
A period of history I don't really know much about, but the name Simon de Monfort is one I'm familliar with. Took a while to work out that the Simon in the book is the father of the Simon de Montfort, sixth earl of Leicester. If you know Leicester at all, it's the son that the university and concert hall are named after and who's statue is on the clock tower in gallowtree gate.
As to the book, it reminded me of books written by Sir Walter Scott, lots of characters with various adventures. Damsels in distress, knights in shining armour and wicked religious characters.
As to the book, it reminded me of books written by Sir Walter Scott, lots of characters with various adventures. Damsels in distress, knights in shining armour and wicked religious characters.
June 27, 2018
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December 5, 2019Tengo numerosos altares literarios erigidos para los autores que más admiro, pero ninguno tan alto como aquel en el que tengo a Ann Radcliffe. Y eso que han pasado muchas, muchas lecturas entre sus novelas y yo. Los misterios de Udolfo y El italiano han quedado atrás. Sin embargo, casi todo estremecimiento literario lo mido con base en ellas. Son las responsables de las grutas que tiene mi pensamiento, de las cosas misteriosas que me atraen: bosques sombríos, castillos inmensos, voces de ultratumba. No creo ser el único. Todo aquel que ha pasado con emoción por las novelas de misterio, desde Frankenstein a La caída de la Casa Usher, algo le debe a Radcliffe.
En fin, ella no es el tema de esta nota. Hablaré de uno de sus menores epígonos, Charles R. Maturin (1782-1824). Y como para mí, todos son menores que ella, no culpo a este autor de nada. Al contrario, es casi una falta de respeto lo que afirmo porque no he leído Melmoth el errabundo, de 1820, la cual es considerada la cumbre de la novela gótica. Hablo sólo por mi experiencia, soy abogado de mis propios estremecimientos. Y pienso que Maturin sabía que ya estaba todo dicho en este terreno, así que su novela Los albigenses, la última de las que escribió, aparecida el año de su muerte, se aleja del mundo gótico: es un gran mural histórico que retrata el siglo XIII. Es tal la distancia que existe entre el autor y la época que narra, que pareciera no existir relación de ninguna especie, como si fuera un capricho para escribir libremente.
La personalidad de Maturin y de su tiempo no estaban siquiera esbozadas; sin embargo, la época de los albigenses, es decir, de los cátaros, la más célebre de las herejías, da mucho que pensar, pues la novela retrata a un pueblo lleno de devoción. Evidentemente, Maturin está de su lado, de la autenticidad de su creencia. Y aporta una visión que devuelve a los albigenses una existencia que la Historia les ha quitado. No vemos, en efecto, personas, sino mapas sobre los cuales Maturin nos pinta el avance de las tropas cristianas. La novela, por otra parte, no acaba donde termina el relato de este pueblo. Si el lector no supiera por otros medios que la cristiandad exterminó de raíz este pensamiento, con sus acostumbrados métodos inhumanos, pensaría que es posible una reconciliación, un entendimiento entre las dos culturas. En ocasiones, mientras leemos novelas históricas, vivimos una indignación que no es la nuestra.
En fin, ella no es el tema de esta nota. Hablaré de uno de sus menores epígonos, Charles R. Maturin (1782-1824). Y como para mí, todos son menores que ella, no culpo a este autor de nada. Al contrario, es casi una falta de respeto lo que afirmo porque no he leído Melmoth el errabundo, de 1820, la cual es considerada la cumbre de la novela gótica. Hablo sólo por mi experiencia, soy abogado de mis propios estremecimientos. Y pienso que Maturin sabía que ya estaba todo dicho en este terreno, así que su novela Los albigenses, la última de las que escribió, aparecida el año de su muerte, se aleja del mundo gótico: es un gran mural histórico que retrata el siglo XIII. Es tal la distancia que existe entre el autor y la época que narra, que pareciera no existir relación de ninguna especie, como si fuera un capricho para escribir libremente.
La personalidad de Maturin y de su tiempo no estaban siquiera esbozadas; sin embargo, la época de los albigenses, es decir, de los cátaros, la más célebre de las herejías, da mucho que pensar, pues la novela retrata a un pueblo lleno de devoción. Evidentemente, Maturin está de su lado, de la autenticidad de su creencia. Y aporta una visión que devuelve a los albigenses una existencia que la Historia les ha quitado. No vemos, en efecto, personas, sino mapas sobre los cuales Maturin nos pinta el avance de las tropas cristianas. La novela, por otra parte, no acaba donde termina el relato de este pueblo. Si el lector no supiera por otros medios que la cristiandad exterminó de raíz este pensamiento, con sus acostumbrados métodos inhumanos, pensaría que es posible una reconciliación, un entendimiento entre las dos culturas. En ocasiones, mientras leemos novelas históricas, vivimos una indignación que no es la nuestra.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews