Reinventing Marie Corelli for the Twenty-First Century

Description

First collection of original, unpublished, critical essays on Marie Corelli as a book

With the purpose of introducing Marie Corelli to a new generation of readers and of reconsidering her works for generations familiar with them, Reinventing Marie Corelli for the Twenty-First Century demonstrates how provocative the author was as a public figure and how controversial and paradoxical were the views about womanhood and the supernatural pitched in her novels. This collection of original essays focuses on three major battles that engaged Corelli: her personal and public contentions, her mercurial constructions of gender and resistance to the New Woman modality and her untenable reconciliation of science with the supernatural. Corelli was often fighting several fronts at the same time; she rarely was not at war with someone including herself.

Introduction, Brenda Ayres and Sarah E. Maier; 1. Stratford-upon-Avon’s ‘Great Little Lady’, Nick Leigh Birch; 2. From ‘Girl Alone’ to ‘Genius’: Corelli’s Transforming Epistolary Rhetoric, Colleen Morrissey; 3. Marie Corelli, the Public Sphere and Public Opinion, Julia Kuehn; 4. ‘The Muses Are Women; So Are the Fates’: Corelli’s Literary Masquerade(s), Sarah E. Maier; 5. The Devil & Miss Corelli: Re-gendering the Diabolical and the Redemptive in ‘The Sorrows of Satan’, Julianne Smith; 6. Muscular Christianity Unbound: Masculinity in ‘Ardath’, Gareth Hadyk-DeLodder; 7. Over Her (Un)dead Body: Gender Politics, Mediumship and Feminist Spiritual Theology in the Works of Marie Corelli, Carol Margaret Davison; 8. ‘The Story of a Dead Self’: The Theosophical Novels of Marie Corelli, Brenda Ayres; 9. ‘Something Vile in the Composition’: Marie Corelli’s ‘Ziska’, Decadent Portraiture and the New Woman, Angie Blumberg; Index.

Sujets

• Literary criticism
• Feminism

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 30 avril 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781783089451
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Reinventing Marie Corelli for the Twenty-First Century
Reinventing Marie Corelli for the Twenty-First Century
Edited by
Brenda Ayres and Sarah E. Maier
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition first published in UK and USA 2019
by ANTHEM PRESS
75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA
© 2019 Brenda Ayres and Sarah E. Maier editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters © individual contributors
The moral right of the authors has been asserted.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-78308-943-7 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78308-943-1 (Hbk)
This title is also available as an e-book.
Dedicated to our dads,
Charles L. Ayres (1926–2018)
and
Patrick F. X. Maier, the best Gido ever
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Chronology
List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Brenda Ayres and Sarah E. Maier
Chapter 1.
Stratford-Upon-Avon’s “Great Little Lady”

Nick Leigh Birch
Chapter 2.
From “Girl Alone” to “Genius”: Corelli’s Transforming Epistolary Rhetoric

Colleen Morrissey
Chapter 3.
Marie Corelli, the Public Sphere and Public Opinion

Julia Kuehn
Chapter 4.
“The Muses Are Women; So Are the Fates”: Corelli’s Literary Masquerade(s)

Sarah E. Maier
Chapter 5.
The Devil & Miss Corelli: Re-gendering the Diabolical and the Redemptive in The Sorrows of Satan

Julianne Smith
Chapter 6.
Muscular Christianity Unbound: Masculinity in Ardath

Gareth Hadyk-DeLodder
Chapter 7.
Over Her (Un)dead Body: Gender Politics, Mediumship and Feminist Spiritual Theology in the Works of Marie Corelli

Carol Margaret Davison
Chapter 8.
“The Story of a Dead Self”: The Theosophical Novels of Marie Corelli

Brenda Ayres
Chapter 9.
“Something Vile in the Composition”: Marie Corelli’s Ziska , Decadent Portraiture and the New Woman

Angie Blumberg
List of Contributors
Bibliography
Index
ILLUSTRATIONS
1.1 Portrait of Marie Corelli
1.2 Study at Mason Croft, Stratford-upon-Avon
1.3 Mason Croft, Stratford-upon-Avon
1.4 The back of Mason Croft, Stratford-upon-Avon
1.5 Church Street, Stratford-upon-Avon
1.6 Marie Corelli on a yacht
1.7 Marie Corelli at a fête
1.8 Marie Corelli Memorial, Stratford-upon-Avon
CHRONOLOGY 1855 Corelli born Mary “Minnie” Mackay on May 1, likely the natural child of Dr. Charles Mackay (a journalist) and Elizabeth Mary Mills. 1861 Mackay marries Mills. 1862–63 Mackay goes to America to work as a reporter. 1866–70 Corelli attends convent school in Paris or Italy. 1870 Family moves to Fern Dell, Box Hills, Surrey; George Meredith is a neighbor. 1874 Submits poem and article to Blackwood’s , which are rejected. She decides to become a professional singer and pianist. 1875 Bertha Vyver comes to live with the Mackays. 1876 February, Mrs. Mackay dies. 1885 Sends five sonnets to Blackwood’s , which are rejected. Stepbrother Eric comes to live with the family. George Bentley publishes her article in Temple Bar in July. Corelli sends A Romance of Two Worlds to Bentley. 1886 A Romance of Two Worlds published in February by Bentley, and Vendetta!; or, The Story of One Forgotten published later that year. 1887 Thelma ; meets Oscar Wilde who admires her work. 1889 Ardath published; William Gladstone (former prime minister) admires her work and visits her. Dr. Mackay dies in December. 1890 Wormwood: A Drama of Paris published in October. A church that bases its doctrines on A Romance of Two Worlds is founded in America. A town in Colorado is named after her. 1891 Queen Victoria requests that all her books be sent to her. 1892 The Soul of Lilith; The Silver Domino; or Side Whispers, Social & Literary . Prince of Wales invites her to a private dinner. Scandal over Silver Domino and split with Bentley. 1893 Barabbas, A Dream of the World’s Tragedy published by Methuen. 1895 The Sorrows of Satan; Cameos: Short Stories; Sorrows bestseller . Corelli refuses to send any more books to reviewers. 1896 The Mighty Atom and The Murder of Delicia published. 1897 Ziska: The Problem of a Wicked Soul ; has a hysterectomy, insisting upon a female surgeon. 1898 The Song of Miriam & Other Stories; The Modern Marriage Market ; Eric dies. 1900 Boy, Jane and The Master-Christian published. 1901 Corelli and Vyver move into Mason Croft in Stratford-upon-Avon. Corelli invited to attend Edward VII’s coronation. 1902 Temporal Power: A Study in Supremacy . 1903 Controversy about Carnegie free library in Shakespearean home. 1904 God’s Good Man and The Strange Visitation of Josiah McNasson: A Ghost Story published. 1905 Free Opinions Freely Expressed published. 1906 Treasure of Heaven published. Altered photograph. Falls in love with married Arthur Severn. 1907 Delicia & Other Stories published. 1908 Holy Orders, the Tragedy of a Quiet Life published. 1911 Life Everlasting published. 1914 Innocent: Her Fancy and His Fact ; heavily involved in war effort. Ends relationship with Severn. 1915 Vendetta and Wormwood adapted to film. 1916 Temporal Power adapted to film by G. B. Samuelson. 1917 Holy Orders made into film by I. B. Davidson. 1918 The Young Diana published; Thelma made for film by Fox; The Love of Long Ago, and Other Stories . Charged for hoarding food. 1919 God’s Good Man made for film by Stoll. 1921 The Secret Power published; Innocent made into film by Stoll. 1922 Thelma made into film again; The Young Diana made into film by Paramount. 1923 Love and the Philosopher published. 1924 April 21, Corelli dies. 1925 Open Confession to a Man from a Woman published. 1926 The Sorrows of Satan adapted for film by Paramount. 1942 Bertha Vyver dies.
ABBREVIATIONS Ardath Ardath; The Story of a Dead Self Barabbas Barabbas: A Dream of the World’s Tragedy Boy Boy; A Sketch Cameos Cameos; Short Stories Diana The Young Diana: An Experiment of the Future FO Free Opinions Freely Expressed on Certain Phases of Modern Social Life and Conduct Lilith The Soul of Lilith MA The Mighty Atom MC The Master-Christian Murder The Murder of Delicia OC Open Confession to a Man from a Woman Romance A Romance of Two Worlds: A Novel SD The Silver Domino, or, Side Whispers, Social and Literary Sorrows The Sorrows of Satan Thelma Thelma: A Society Novel TP Temporal Power; a Study in Supremacy Treasure The Treasure of Heaven: A Romance of Riches Vendetta Vendetta: The Story of One Forgotten WE Is All Well with England? Wormwood Wormwood: A Drama of Paris WS Woman—or Suffragette? WW My Wonderful Wife! A Study in Smoke Ziska Ziska: The Problem of a Wicked Soul
INTRODUCTION
Brenda Ayres and Sarah E. Maier
Once upon a time, Marie Corelli was the most popular, and bestselling, writer in the world. In England she was just as well known as Charles Dickens, according to one of her biographers, George Bullock (117). 1 Another biographer claimed that while Queen Victoria was alive, Corelli was the “second most famous Englishwoman in the world” (Masters 6). More than half of her 30 novels sold over 100,000 copies each year (Casey 163), a record that outpaces Hall Caine’s annual sales of 45,000, Mrs. Humphry Ward’s 35,000 and H. G. Wells’ 15,000 (Masters 6). Her sales exceeded those of Rudyard Kipling’s, Arthur Conan Doyle’s and H. G. Wells’ combined (Casey 163). So popular were her books and her mystique, one cynic complained about the “Corelli Cult” (Stuart-Young 680). Women flocked to her and actually “fought over each other to get near her and tried to kiss the hem of her dress” (Masters 7). In the United States a new church was formed to practice the “Electric Creed” described in A Romance of Two Worlds , 2 and a town in Colorado was called Corelli City (94).
“Marie Corelli” began her life as Mary Mills; with no existing birth certificate, she is believed to have been born on May 1, 1855, in London to Mary Elizabeth (Ellen) Mills, the mistress of Charles Mackay (Ransom 11; Federico, Idol 4). Author, poet and literary editor for the Illustrated London News , Mackay was a married man (to Rose Henrietta Vale) and father of four other children. Little Mary Mills was told he was her stepfather—his absence from her life was constant until the death of his wife and the marriage of her biological parents in 1861, at which point she becomes Mary Mackay but is known as “Minnie” (Ransom 11; Federico, Idol 7).
Living in the country at Fern Dell of Box Hill was a challenge for the young girl. No formal education was available other than the accomplishments provided by a governess, but Minnie seemed to yearn for knowledge because, as she said, “I instinctively did all I could to make myself a personality to be reckoned with. For this reason I