Romance of Two Worlds
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| A Romance of Two Worlds | |
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| Author | Marie Corelli |
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| Language | English |
| Publisher | Bentley |
| Publication date | 1886 |
| Media type | hardback, paperback |
| Followed by | Ardath |
The Romance of Two Worlds is Marie Corelli's first novel, published in 1886.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
A Romance of Two Worlds starts with a young heroine, in first person, telling her story of a debilitating illnesses that includes depression and thoughts of suicide. Her doctor is unable to help her and sends her off on a holiday where she meets a mystical character by the name of Raffello Cellini, a famous Italian artist. Cellini offers her a strange potion which immediately puts her into a tranquil slumber, in which she experiences divine visions. Upon wakening, she craves more. Later, she meets her guardian angel named Heliobas, the hero of the story, who whisks her through infinite solar systems faster than a shooting star while human spirits fly by like gossamer silk. He shares the truth of religion and the secret of human destiny, but still she longs for more. She comes to understand God as pure light and pure love, but it's not enough that she should see and hear these things from the touch of an angel. She wants to master this ability on her own and seeks a oneness with God through a series of meditative disciplines while locked away in a monastery.
[edit] Reception
The novel was rejected for publication by Hall Caine -- an act that began a life-long feud between Caine and Corelli. After hearing of Caine's harsh criticism, George Bentley suspected that the novel might have commercial appeal and published Corelli's first novel.[1]
Marie Corelli did not expect that A Romance of Two Worlds would be so well received. She claims, in the introduction to the second printing in 1887, that, "It was not only read, but loved."[2]
Her scripture, "The Electric Principle of Christianity," included in the novel, is presented as something factual and after the publication of the book, generated a cult following, in which readers sought more information about her experience.
[edit] Themes
In A Romance of Two Worlds, Marie Corelli takes on an old argument between the creationists and the evolutionists. However, her insights are futuristic, including ideas about electricity, solar power, and the properties of the atom.
She explains in the introduction,
"in this cultivated age a wall of skepticism and cynicism is gradually being built up by intellectual thinkers of every nation against all the treats of the Supernatural and Unseen, I am aware that my narration of the events I have recently experienced will be read with incredulity. At a time when the great empire of the Christian Religion is being assailed, or politely ignored by governments and public speakers and teachers, I realize to the fullest extent how daring is any attempt to prove, even by a plain history of strange occurrences happening to one's self, the actual existence of the Supernatural around us; and the absolute certainty of a future state of being, after the passage through that brief soul-topor in which the body perishes, known to us as Death."[3]
The book is scattered with Pantheism. She also argues that Christ did not come to us as a sacrifice because God is a creator of love and beauty and could not desire "a bleeding victim as sacrifice to appease His Anger [...]."[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Salmonson, Jessica Amanda. "Marie Corelli's Occult Tales"
- ^ Introduction: Romance of Two Worlds, Second Printing 1887
- ^ Introduction: Romance of Two Worlds, Second Printing 1887
- ^ Introduction: Romance of Two Worlds, Second Printing 1887
[edit] External Links
- Romance of Two Worlds, available at Project Gutenberg.
