Intertextual Inclusions in Charles Maturin’s Novel “Melmoth the Wanderer”

Abstract

The article examines Charles Robert Maturin’s novel “Melmoth the Wanderer”. The choice of this work is dictated by its undeniable significance for literature as a whole, on the one hand, and the insufficient study of the novel’s text from a textual, particularly intertextual perspective, on the other. In this study, intertextual relationships are divided by type and functional characteristics into intertextual and intercontextual. The first type of relationship serves a referential function, while the second serves a meaning-forming function. Both have common functional units: allusions, quotes, etc. With such a division in mind, an attempt is made to recognize and analyze prospective and retrospective intertextual inclusions encountered in Charles Maturin's novel. The study of these inclusions is based on the fact that the contexts of the novel are layered on top of contexts from well-known and significant works of European literature, including Russian literature: “The Monk” by M. Lewis, “Faust” by J. Goethe, “Eugene Onegin” by A. S. Pushkin, and others. This research approach allows us to speak of the polyinterpretability of “Melmoth the Wanderer” and to view it through the prism of works created both before and after the novel’s publication.

Keywords

• gothic
• intertextuality
• intercontextuality
• maturin
• melmoth the wanderer
• romanticism