Oscar Wilde renewal. He immediately wrote to the Society of Jesus requesting a six-month Catholic retreat; when the request was denied, Wilde wept. "I intend to be received into the Catholic Church before long", Wilde told a journalist who asked about his religious intentions. He spent his last three years impoverished and in exile. He took the name "Sebastian Melmoth", after Saint Sebastian and the titular character of "Melmoth the Wanderer" (a Gothic novel by Charles Maturin, Wilde's great-uncle). Wilde wrote two long letters to the editor of the "Daily Chronicle", describing the brutal conditions of English prisons and advocating penal reform.
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