Introduction: Maturin and the work of writing -- Affect/ agency/ authenticity -- Imitations of immorality: "Fatal revenge" and "The Wild Irish Boy" -- 'Passing before modern eyes': romance and rebellion in "The Milesian Chief" -- 'My muse I find is too atrocious for the stage': Maturin's drama -- The trouble with "Women": gender and agency in modernity -- Superstitious nonsense: "Melmoth the Wanderer" and the oral tradition -- 'Is this a country to be silent in?': confessional politics in "Five sermons" and "The Albigenses" -- Conclusion: Melmoth in the marketplace.