Description
Book SynopsisThough disparaged by literary critics of her day, Marie Corelli was one of the most popular novelists of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods.
Wormwood (1890) is a lurid tale of unrequited love, betrayal, vengeance, murder, suicide, and addiction. The novel recounts the degeneration of Gaston Beauvais, a promising young Parisian man who, betrayed by his fiancée and his best friend, falls prey to the seductive powers of absinthe. The impact of Gaston's debauchery and addiction on himself, his family, and his friends is graphically recounted in this important contribution to the literature of
fin de siècle decadence.
This Broadview edition includes a critical introduction and a generous selection of contextualizing documents, including excerpts from Corelli's writings on art and literature, nineteenth-century degeneration theories, and clinical and artistic views on absinthe.
Trade ReviewMarie Corelli's novels are breathtakingly inventive, often defiant interjections in the late-Victorian literary scene, one-of-a-kind mixtures of romance, decadence, aestheticism, naturalism, and the New Woman fiction. This Broadview edition of
Wormwood, Corelli's attack on Paris absintheurs, provides an able introduction to the author's life, helpful glosses on Corelli's creative use of many French words and phrases, and extensive background on bohemian Paris, British francophobia, and contemporary controversies surrounding naturalism and degeneration theory. The appendices contextualize the novel's fascination with addiction and art, passion and pathology. This edition is the most thorough and responsible treatment of Corelli's work to date." - Annette R. Federico, James Madison University
This edition makes
Wormwood, arguably Marie Corelli's most controversial novel, available once again. Kirsten MacLeod's astutely selected appendicesincluding materials about degeneration theory and naturalism, translations of cited French poems and songs, contemporary reviews, and epistolary extracts conveying Corelli's aesthetic philosophyserve well to culturally contextualize this work, making this edition the obvious choice. - Carol Margaret Davison, University of Windsor
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Introduction
Marie Corelli: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
Corelli’s Introductory Note
Wormwood: A Drama of Paris
Appendix A: Translations of French Poems and Songs in Wormwood
- Charles Cros, “L’Archet” (1873)
- Anonymous, “Le Pauvre Clerc”
Appendix B: Letters from Corelli to George Bentley about Wormwood
Appendix C: Reviews of Wormwood
- From The Athenaeum (15 November 1890)
- From the Pall Mall Gazette (27 November 1890)
- From The Graphic (29 November 1890)
- From The Academy (29 November 1890)
- From Kensington Society, qtd. in Academy (13 December 1890)
- From Literary World (17 January 1891)
- From The Times (23 January 1891)
- From The Spectator (28 February 1891)
- From County Gentlewoman, qtd. in Academy(11 July 1891)
- From Kent Carr, Miss Marie Corelli (1901)
Appendix D: Corelli on Literature and Art
- Letter to George Bentley, 11 March 1877
- Letter to George Bentley, 6 April 1877
- From “‘Imaginary Love’” (1905)
- From “The ‘Strong’ Book of the Ishbosheth” (1905)
Appendix E: British Views of Naturalism
- From W.S. Lilly, “The New Naturalism” (1885)
- From H. Rider Haggard, “About Fiction” (1887)
- From the National Vigilance Association, Pernicious Literature (1889)
Appendix F: Nineteenth-Century Degeneration Theories
- From E. Ray Lankester, Degeneration: A Chapter in Darwinism (1880)
- From Gina Lombroso-Ferrero, Criminal Man (1911)
Appendix G: Clinical and Artistic Views of Absinthe
- Findings of Dr. Legrand, The Times (4 May 1869)
- From the New York Times (12 December 1880)
- Charles Cros, “Lendemain” (1873)
- Arthur Symons, “The Absinthe-Drinker” (1892)
- Ernest Dowson, “Absinthia Taetra” (1899)
Select Bibliography
