Melmoth the Wanderer empty. They follow Melmoth's tracks to the top of a cliff, and see his handkerchief on a crag below them. "Exchanging looks of silent and unutterable horror", they return home. Honoré de Balzac wrote a follow-up story ("Melmoth Reconciled") and considered Maturin's novel worthy of a place among Molière's "Don Juan", Goethe's "Faust" and Lord Byron's "Manfred" as one of the supreme icons of modern European literature. Oscar Wilde, during his travels after release from prison, called himself Sebastian Melmoth, deriving this pseudonym from the title character in his great-uncle's novel and from Saint Sebastian. Historian of English literature Walter
Melmoth the Wanderer Raleigh, in his book "The English Novel" (1905) stated "in "Frankenstein" and "Melmoth the Wanderer", the Romantic orgy reached its height". The novel was described by H. P. Lovecraft as "an enormous stride in the evolution of the horror-tale", and Maurice Richardson also wrote an essay for "Lilliput" magazine praising "Melmoth". "Melmoth the Wanderer" was cited by Karl Edward Wagner as one of the 13 best supernatural horror novels. Thomas M. Disch placed "Melmoth the Wanderer" at number four in his list of classic fantasy stories. Devendra P. Varma described "Melmoth the Wanderer" as "the crowning achievement of the Gothic