Melmoth

Sarah Perry's brand of Gothic is an existential one, where theological concepts of sin, guilt and redemption are writ large. Perry has never made a secret of her strict religious upbringing and the impact which it has had on her writing. In this case, however, the religious elements also betray the influence of Charles Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer, an 1820 novel which serves as the inspiration and model for Perry’s book.

Maturin’s protagonist is a Faustian character who strikes a deal with the Devil, selling his soul for a new lease of life. As the end of his extended term approaches, Melmoth searches the world for someone desperate enough to take his place. This turns out to be a surprisingly challenging task. There’s a moral show more behind this. Maturin, an Irish Protestant clergyman who, when not writing novels and plays, applied his skills to composing fiery sermons, stated in the preface to Melmoth that the germ of “this Romance (or Tale)” was to be found in one of his homilies:

'At this moment is there one of us present, however we may have departed from the Lord, disobeyed his will, and disregarded his word–is there one of us who would, at this moment, accept all that man could bestow, or earth afford, to resign the hope of his salvation?–No, there is not one–not such a fool on earth, were the enemy of mankind to traverse it with the offer!'

Sarah Perry recasts Melmoth as a black-clad woman, damned to roam the Earth after denying the Resurrection of Jesus, feet bloody from her lonely travels. This has echoes of the tale of the Wandering Jew, one of several myths and legends subtly evoked by Perry for added resonance. Rather than merely a temptress or wanderer, however, Perry’s Melmoth is, first and foremost, a “witness”: ever waiting, ever watching, listening and remembering the darkest and guiltiest secrets, ‘lest we forget’. Like Maturin’s Melmoth, she also seeks individuals as desperate as she is – except that rather than wanting them to replace her, she tries to lure them to accompany her on her guilt trip.

Structure-wise, Perry takes a leaf from Maturin’s book and from other Gothic classics such as Potocki’s "Manuscript found in Saragossa". Thus the novel is a matryoshka doll of stories within stories, most which are based on “found” documents or related by unreliable narrators. Melmoth’s character provides a link between the different episodes, but there is also an overarching frame story featuring one Helen Franklin, an Englishwoman working as a translator in Prague. Lonely and melancholic, not unlike Melmoth herself, Helen finds some warmth in her friendship with academic Karel and his English lawyer wife Thea. It is Karel who introduces Helen to the mythical figure of “Melmoth”, about whom he is becoming obsessed. After Karel disappears, Helen learns, through documents he leaves behind, of other people who, over the centuries, appear to have been haunted by Melmoth. In a brilliant narrative move, Perry uses each episode to portray examples of individual guilt which also represent some of the worst instances of Man’s inhumanity to Man. We witness burnings of heretics in 16th Century England, lowly Turkish officials facilitating the Armenian genocide and, in one of the lengthier parts of the book, the confession of an elderly German regarding his small, but no less heinous, role in the Holocaust. Throughout, Melmoth glides, accompanied by an entourage of crows, terrifying in appearance, but more harrowing still in the guilty memories she evokes. We ultimately discover that even Helen has her secrets, prompting a final showdown between her and Melmoth.

Perry’s monster is deliciously ambiguous. At times, her presence seems almost benevolent, righteous – even necessary. But Melmoth is frightening chiefly because she wants to deny her victims the chance to start again. The novel’s ultimate message is not one of guilt but of redemption. Remembering, it seems to suggest, is vital. Evil should be recognised and not forgotten. And yet, it is often easier and sweeter to succumb to self-pity or, worse, despair, rather than to accept the possibility – and gift – of redemption. One should embrace this challenge, and live.

If it all sounds heavy and philosophical, it’s because it is. But Perry manages to package these complex ideas into a gripping novel. In this respect, she’s certainly better than Maturin. At its best, his Melmoth the Wanderer is exciting, brilliant and visionary. But, too often, it feels interminable, not just because of its sheer length (over 600 pages) but also because of its verbose asides, its obsession with irrelevant detail, and its haughty religious (and generally anti-Catholic) rhetoric. Perry’s novel is meant for less patient readers, packing more punch in hardly half the length.

Some find Perry's writing style rather too ornate – frankly, Calvinist as her theology might be, her voluptuous prose reminds me more of Catholic baroque. And that’s fine by me. I loved her atmospheric, poetic descriptions of Prague; I loved the ease in which she slips into the second person narrative, as though she is placing us behind a movie camera; I loved the way she evokes the presence of her wraith-like creation, horribly real and yet undefined … a woman in dark clothes seen just at the very corner of your eye, slipping from view… she’ll follow you down paths and alleys in the dark, or come in the night and sit waiting at the end of your bed. Doesn’t it send shivers down your spine?

For a fuller review, accompanied by a playlist of music to accompany the novel, check out my blogpost at:
http://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2019/02/sarah-perry-melmoth.html show less

Sarah Perry writes with the gravity of myth and the chill of conscience. Melmoth isn’t so much a ghost story as a meditation on witness, guilt, and the way loneliness becomes its own haunting.

The novel’s atmosphere is dense, cold, and cloistered: Prague itself feels like a monastery built out of stone and silence. Helen, the central figure, lives like a penitent nun — stripped of desire, avoiding the world, punishing herself for surviving it. Her counterpart, the bureaucrat Hoffman, is her mirror: both hide behind control to avoid emotion. Into this hush walks Melmoth, the eternal witness, drawn to those who cannot face what they have seen.

What makes the book powerful is its moral ambiguity. We assume the wandering Melmoth was show more cursed for her sin, yet Perry leaves open the possibility that she was the only one who saw clearly — a prophet punished for refusing to lie. She becomes the companion of the forsaken, offering her hand to the lonely and the guilty alike. The horror lies not in her presence, but in the comfort she offers.

At times the prose can feel heavy, the structure labyrinthine, but that weight suits the theme. Perry’s writing demands patience; she wants you to feel the centuries pressing down. When the blackness finally enters the room, it feels earned.

Melmoth lingers because it blurs the line between haunting and mercy. It asks whether seeing the truth is itself a kind of damnation — and whether solitude might be the price of moral clarity. show less

This book is just what I hoped for with Sarah Perry’s new novel: chilling and wonderfully Gothic.
Melmoth the Witness has been roaming the earth for 2,000 years, seeking others to commiserate with her in their crimes of betrayal and cowardice. Melmoth is always in the shadows, her black shroud dripping on the cobblestones, her bloody feet leaving streaks on the floor. The imagery is eerie and those who see her suffer from their guilt. Melmoth is interspersed with a series of vignettes of the Witness’s encounters throughout history, each story coming together in a powerful denouement.

The story follows Helen Franklin, a lonely translator in Prague, who falls prey to the lure of the Melmoth legend after her friend Karel disappears. show more Helen investigates Karel’s Melmoth documents and realizes her connection to the legend is far stronger than she realized. This novel capitalizes on the fears of the guilty, their foreboding anxiety of being discovered, and the realization that there is no way out.

This is a solid follow-up to Perry’s debut, The Essex Serpent. I look forward to reading her next one!

Many thanks to Custom House (HarperCollins) and Edelweiss for the advance copy in exchange for my review. show less

Melmoth has wandered the earth for centuries witnessing the worst of humanity. In this book, Perry goes back and forth between modern day Helen Franklin’s experience with Melmoth the Witness and the manuscripts left by others who encountered her.

This book is stunning. The story is suspenseful and beautifully well written, but also incredibly timely. With cowardly characters that are complicit in some of the worst human rights violations in modern history, Perry asks readers to consider what role we all have to bear witness and respond to the injustice around us.

Just finished reading this incredible story. I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy. Sarah Perry has woven an intricate tale of sin, punishment, guilt and the one thing that none of us can escape, and that is being human. I believe the story can be taken many different ways. But what it boils down to is that we are hardwired and predictable. The pace of the book is smooth and seamless, even though it moves around quite a bit. She manages to create such a story without filler. Some parts of the book make me wonder if she was visited by the still living but ever wandering dark soul that is Clive Barker. This is one book that will be on my top tier shelf for many years. I walked away from it with a heavy heart, but also knowing that show more even though pre destiny lurks around the corner we are still masters of our own fate and have no one to blame for our consequences than ourselves. I will surely be picking up her other works. Melmoth is much easier on the eyes and brain than Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer. But don't let that fool you. She will stick her fingers around the back of your brain, pinch your soul and break your heart in a much more subtle way. And when it is all done and you are picking the pieces of broken soul from the floor, you will realize that you are the one who dropped it in the first place. Perry echoes the true Gothic literary movement with her penmanship. In two hundred years her work will still stand with the pioneers of the genre. show less

‘’Look! It is winter in Prague: night is rising in the mother of cities and over her thousand spires. Look down at the darkness around your feet, in all the lanes and alleys, as if it were a soft black dust; look at the stone apostles on the old Charles Bridge, and at all the blue-eyed jackdaws on the shoulders of St John of Nepomuk! Look! She is coming over the bridge, head bent down to the whitening cobblestones.’’

A manuscript that finds its way into Helen’s hands. Helen. A woman that is in a self-inflicted limbo, punishing herself, trying to appear unnoticed through the shadows of a city where mysticism has woven an eternal veil. A woman of mystery, a tale of a dark presence lurking a little behind of all of us, waiting for show more the moment of the great fall, of despair and cruelty and sorrow. This is Melmoth by Sarah Perry. The finest book I’ve read this year. The closest to my heart, following Wuthering Heights.

When I turned the last page, I found I had tears in my eyes. I couldn’t speak. The reasons are many, I won’t add them here but the moving beauty of Perry’s writing cannot leave you indifferent. This is a hymn, an homage to the unique, magnificent city of Prague, a capital very dear to me. A city of culture and spirit. A city where light and darkness battle with each other, its corners the habitat of legends and ghosts. Try walking in its cobblestones streets during the night. Even the most skeptical of you will start looking around and behind in apprehension, hearing footsteps perfectly synchronized with yours. The Vltava, the Old Town Square, the astronomical clock and Charles Bridge. The Black Lights shows, one of the most well-known cultural attractions of Prague. A city that is probably the most haunting in Europe, along with Edinburgh. Having visited Prague twice, I can say that Perry’s nightly descriptions are so vivid and frightening. The city becomes a major character in this outstanding story and I can think of no better setting for Melmoth’s field of action.

‘’It is for the Wanderer’’, he said. ‘For the Witness- for she who is cursed to walk from Jerusalem to Constantinople, from Ireland to Kazakhstan; she who is eternally lonely, who is excommunicated from the grace of God and the company of men; she who watches, whose eyes are upon you in your guilt and transgression.’’

But who is She? What is this presence that causes such terror? Melmoth the Witness. A fascinating legend of a woman who sees the empty tomb following Christ’s Resurrection. Unlike the other women, she lied about what she had witnessed and was condemned to roam the earth with her bleeding, bare feet, witnessing the despair and cruelty of the human race, forever lonely, feared and despised. This is the figure that haunts Helen’s steps…

‘’She finds herself unwilling to raise her head to the window, as if she might see beyond the glass a face with an expression of loneliness so imploring as to be cruel. (And since she will not look, you must.) ‘’

In chilling, eerie sentences, Perry creates a kind of atmosphere unlike anything I’ve ever read, dearest friends. She transforms windows to threatening objects due to the darkness that is lurking behind them. I never liked windows when the curtains were drawn aside. My mother has told me that even as a baby I would nail my gaze to the window, unblinking. When I grew up, I always asked for someone to close the curtains. I still do that, even in gloomy, wintry mornings. So this fact alone in the novel brought me in a state of serious terror. I genuinely avoided reading it unless I had company in the house. Even at noon, I found myself nervously looking around me or at the window. I had goosebumps. The combination of windows and black cladded figures had me shivering. I know, I’m weird….

‘’Brother, didn’t you expect to find me here? Don’t you know me? Don’t you know my name? I, who was your mother’s pain as she gave birth? Didn’t you see my shadow on the page as you went about your work? Didn’t you feel me at your shoulder as you sharpened your pens into knives?’’
‘’Do you think you can atone for all you’ve done? Do you think there’s enough blood in you to settle the debt?’’

Melmoth is there to witness the cruelty, the ultimate violation created by the human race, all the wars and genocides over the centuries. My favourite story-within-a-story was Josef Hoffman’s. Josef and his family are German living in Prague, devoted Nazists due to their maddening notion of lineage and supremacy. The Second World War comes and goes and the time of the reckoning is at hands. Melmoth jumps to the calling. There were many devastating descriptions of the city during the era of the occupation by the Nazi monsters. The events the influenced Josef’s family are powerfully described and yet, I couldn't feel a single ounce of sadness over their fate. Often, you get what you deserve and the blood of millions of innocents cried for justice. Melmoth’s words at that point are Truth personified.

‘’Sir, have a care, lest her eye be on you,, for her loneliness is terrible, and she will not withstand it.’’

Perry breaks the Fourth Wall throughout the course of the story. Her writing style isn’t easy. This isn’t a mere thriller like the ones that are nowadays mass-produced, devoid of any substance. It requires patience, the right mentality. It requires attention and thought. It requires patience. This is what happens with Literary Fiction, it prevents us from becoming lazy readers. Why complain about a book with many characters and multiple narratives? This is what makes a book rich, challenging, meaningful. Many times, Perry’s exquisite writing reminded me of Oscar Wilde’s apocalyptic, breathlessly dark descriptions. The spaces, the rooms, the settings are outstanding. She creates anticipation, sheer terror by a simple description of the shadows of the curtains and the furniture in a hospital room… This is how perfect a writer she is. Any references to Dvořák’s Rusalka always melt my heart. Also, as in her masterpiece The Essex Serpent, there is a very balanced, very interesting focus on religion and the way it is perceived by each one of us in our daily lives.

Read these quotes and immerse yourselves in absolute beauty:

‘’ Look! It is evening now, and no snow falling: the cobbles on Charles Bridge and in the Old Town Square are glittering and treacherous and every minute someone somewhere falls. Master Jan Hus in his winter cloak looks silently over the crowd: you might think, were you so inclined, that he is recalling how once he wore a proper hat on which painted devils danced, and walked to where the fires were banked to burn him.’’

‘’A minute passes and an eerie sound rises from the east of the river, then from the west; from behind the National Theatre with its golden crown, from the ticket booths and pizza stalls, from the Black Lights theatres and the library at the Klementinum, where a student at desk 209 turns the pages of a textbook. It is a low note, melancholy, ringing up from the pavements and down from the eaves of apartment blocks.’’

I cannot say much about the characters because it would a major spoiler in itself but know this: I seldom find a novel where each character could have been the protagonist of a new book. Helen will stay with you for a long, long time. If she doesn’t, you need to be attention, I’m sorry to say.

In the end, words cannot possibly convey the bonding between this novel and me. We are made for each other, I cried upon reaching its final pages, its outstanding last four paragraphs are an example of the finest Literature I’ve ever encountered. I have loved Melmoth so much that I’ve placed it in a very special place in my heart, side-by-side to Wuthering Heights. Those of you who know me well, know what this means. Melmoth is a book unlike any other. A place where darkness, despair, hope, and endurance form a masterfully choreographed danse macabre. It came to find me in a very particular moment in my life. I cannot thank it enough…

‘’And I saw what you did when you shouldn’t have done it - I know what thoughts plague you most, when you cannot keep hold of your mind - I know what you cannot confess - not even alone, when all the doors are bolted against your family and friends! I know what a fraud you are, what an impostor - you never had me fooled.’’

Many thanks to Serpent’s Tail and Edelweiss for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com show less

Melmoth by Sarah Perry is a 2018 Serpent’s Tale publication.

I have not read ‘The Essex Serpent’ so I had no preset expectations for this book. The main draw for me was the advertised Gothic tone. The book delivers on that front, in spades! The folklore is exquisitely utilized in this crackling good tale of horror and suspense.

Melmoth is a legendary figure said to have witnessed Christ’s resurrection, but then later denied the truth of what she saw. As such, she is now doomed to wander the earth in eternal loneliness, witnessing the dark deeds of humanity. Misery loves company, so Melmoth offers her hand to those at the crux of their darkest moments of despair, imploring them to join her.

Helen Franklin, is an unassuming woman in show more her forties, working as a translator in Prague. Suddenly, her friend, Karel, hands her a manuscript describing encounters with Melmoth the Witness. The he suddenly disappears, and Helen begins to feel as though she’s being watched.

As the story progresses, it becomes clear that our humble Helen Franklin is hiding a dark secret as she finds herself drawn into the fantastical tales of lore contained in the manuscript.

Oh, my goodness! What a deep, heavy, atmospheric story!! This book is supposed to be based, at least in part, on the 1820 Irish Gothic novel ‘Melmoth the Wanderer’ written by Charles Maturin. I am only slightly familiar with the premise of that book, so obviously, it is not necessary to have read it in order to enjoy this book- although I am very interested in reading it someday.

This is the type of story I can get lost in. It is a very creepy story that continually kept my nerves on edge. The setting and scenery couldn’t have been created a better atmosphere. The spine-tingling horror is delicious, but there is also an exploration of profound topics. The story is about seeing, witnessing and about accountability and redemption, with a conclusion that will knock your socks off.

The writing is superb, capping off this finely layered deliciously chilling story!!

4 stars show less