Written in 1820 by an eccentric Anglican curate in Dublin, this work brought the terrors of the Gothic novel to a new pitch of claustrophobic intensity. Its tormented villain, a Faustian transgressor desperately seeking a victim to release him from his fatal bargain with the devil, was regarded by Balzac as one of the great outcasts of modern literature. Maturin's bizarre narrative structure of interlinked tales allows the action of the novel to range from rural Ireland to an idyllic Indian island. The text is that of the first edition of 1820, and includes a new introduction and explanatory notes.