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Ardath: The Story of a Dead Self
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This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
564 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1889
13 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
Marie Corelli
449 books185 followersMarie Corelli (born Mary Mackay) was a best-selling British novelist of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, whose controversial works of the time often label her as an early advocate of the New Age movement.
In the 1890’s Marie Corelli’s novels were eagerly devoured by millions in England, America and the colonies. Her readers ranged from Queen Victoria and Gladstone, to the poorest of shop girls. In all she wrote thirty books, the majority of which were phenomenal best sellers. Despite the fact that her novels were either ignored or belittled by the critics, at the height of her success she was the best selling and most highly paid author in England.
She was the daughter of poet, journalist, author, anthologist, novelist, and songwriter Charles Mackay. Her brother was the poet Eric Mackay.
In the 1890’s Marie Corelli’s novels were eagerly devoured by millions in England, America and the colonies. Her readers ranged from Queen Victoria and Gladstone, to the poorest of shop girls. In all she wrote thirty books, the majority of which were phenomenal best sellers. Despite the fact that her novels were either ignored or belittled by the critics, at the height of her success she was the best selling and most highly paid author in England.
She was the daughter of poet, journalist, author, anthologist, novelist, and songwriter Charles Mackay. Her brother was the poet Eric Mackay.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 25, 2013
Sunday mornings are my days of reflection, a day of rest and away from any worries of work (although admittedly they do tend to lurk in the background) and to recharge and rediscover my own self. In the latter context I thought of this book for some obscure reason.
How I acquired this book in the first place is still a joy for me. Before I was married I used to have a very dear friend Edna, very much older than me, who lived in Great Bardfield in Essex. We used to meet on a Sunday at her house. We had three things in common: books, eating in restaurants and going to garden centres. We would try to fit them all in but not necessarily in that order.
Well, one particular Sunday we went to a Saffron Walden bookshop (I love browsing around second-hand bookshops as you never know what you’re going to find) and I saw a series of books by Marie Corelli who I’d never heard of. I guess that I must be an awkward cuss because Edna didn’t recommend these at all. Well, I didn’t just buy one of Corelli’s hardbacks but four and I loved the sound of the stories and the appearance of all the books, but especially “Ardath, The Story of a Dead Self”, which was published in 1889. But when I returned home, I couldn’t make up my mind which one to read first. I quickly browsed through them all and decided, I really don’t know why, upon “Ardath”.
As I’m feeling somewhat lazy, I’m enclosing a review that is written about Corelli as it puts everything into perspective about her work:
“The oddness & passion of her works made her, like William Beckford of Vathek fame, a thoroughly original writer. Her weirdest & most baroque novel, Ardath, was called by George Bentley "a magnificent dream," & was a major influence on Lord Dunsany's imaginary-world vignettes. The hero, in love with a supernal angel but not yet worthy of union with her, travels back in time 7,000 years to a sweepingly fantastic world, undergoing transformative adventures. It was immediately compared to Vathek, a keystone of arabesque fantasy. Corelli herself liked Ardath more than most of her books, but admitted it sold fewer copies, & Mr. Bentley said he thought it might have been above the heads of the public.”
The first chapter sets the scene:
“Deep in the heart of the Caucasus mountains a wild storm was gathering” where one finds “the Monastery of Lars far up among the crags crowning the ravine” in the Pass of Dariel.
Can’t you just envisage this? Upon entering the monastery, there’s a lot of chanting from the monks and when the stranger (Mr Theos Alwyn) enters and appears to recognize one of them, he goes up to this individual and touches his arm, questioning whether he is in fact the monk Heliobas. And the chapter ends in the library with:
“Now, my friend, I am at your disposal! In what way can Heliobas, who is dead to the world, serve one for whom surely as yet the world is everything?”
I then knew shortly afterwards I had to read the book for Mr Alwyn has a fascinating story to recount. And then before he can get well and truly underway, he collapses and appears to have died. It transpires that Mr Alwyn is gifted with a great power and then he wakes up where he has returned from a fabulous dream about “her”. He had entered in the Field of Ardath. And then the book takes off. I really mustn’t read this again, even though I’m sorely tempted but there are so many other books to read and they keep on piling up. But this indeed remains a favourite book of mine, perhaps to be reread when I have another decent hardcover.
Corelli was indeed a very unusual writer but I loved this book. My only complaint is that it is far too long with 602 pages. Also I had someone lost my original copy (I think that I lent it to someone but I cannot remember who) and could only replace it at the time with a dreadful copy by Kessinger Publishing in the USA. The quality of the print in this book is dreadful and the cover is bright pink and I’ll certainly toss this shortly as I see that Corelli is readily available again.
An aside into Corelli’s personality: “Corelli's eccentricity became well-known. She would boat on the Avon in a gondola, complete with a gondolier that she had brought over from Venice. True or hearsay?
Yes, this book is somewhat dated in writing style but nevertheless it’s a super, lyrical, philosophical, religious, with questions upon the soul and a magical read, and there’s a monastery thrown in for good measure, which I always enjoy reading about.
How I acquired this book in the first place is still a joy for me. Before I was married I used to have a very dear friend Edna, very much older than me, who lived in Great Bardfield in Essex. We used to meet on a Sunday at her house. We had three things in common: books, eating in restaurants and going to garden centres. We would try to fit them all in but not necessarily in that order.
Well, one particular Sunday we went to a Saffron Walden bookshop (I love browsing around second-hand bookshops as you never know what you’re going to find) and I saw a series of books by Marie Corelli who I’d never heard of. I guess that I must be an awkward cuss because Edna didn’t recommend these at all. Well, I didn’t just buy one of Corelli’s hardbacks but four and I loved the sound of the stories and the appearance of all the books, but especially “Ardath, The Story of a Dead Self”, which was published in 1889. But when I returned home, I couldn’t make up my mind which one to read first. I quickly browsed through them all and decided, I really don’t know why, upon “Ardath”.
As I’m feeling somewhat lazy, I’m enclosing a review that is written about Corelli as it puts everything into perspective about her work:
“The oddness & passion of her works made her, like William Beckford of Vathek fame, a thoroughly original writer. Her weirdest & most baroque novel, Ardath, was called by George Bentley "a magnificent dream," & was a major influence on Lord Dunsany's imaginary-world vignettes. The hero, in love with a supernal angel but not yet worthy of union with her, travels back in time 7,000 years to a sweepingly fantastic world, undergoing transformative adventures. It was immediately compared to Vathek, a keystone of arabesque fantasy. Corelli herself liked Ardath more than most of her books, but admitted it sold fewer copies, & Mr. Bentley said he thought it might have been above the heads of the public.”
The first chapter sets the scene:
“Deep in the heart of the Caucasus mountains a wild storm was gathering” where one finds “the Monastery of Lars far up among the crags crowning the ravine” in the Pass of Dariel.
Can’t you just envisage this? Upon entering the monastery, there’s a lot of chanting from the monks and when the stranger (Mr Theos Alwyn) enters and appears to recognize one of them, he goes up to this individual and touches his arm, questioning whether he is in fact the monk Heliobas. And the chapter ends in the library with:
“Now, my friend, I am at your disposal! In what way can Heliobas, who is dead to the world, serve one for whom surely as yet the world is everything?”
I then knew shortly afterwards I had to read the book for Mr Alwyn has a fascinating story to recount. And then before he can get well and truly underway, he collapses and appears to have died. It transpires that Mr Alwyn is gifted with a great power and then he wakes up where he has returned from a fabulous dream about “her”. He had entered in the Field of Ardath. And then the book takes off. I really mustn’t read this again, even though I’m sorely tempted but there are so many other books to read and they keep on piling up. But this indeed remains a favourite book of mine, perhaps to be reread when I have another decent hardcover.
Corelli was indeed a very unusual writer but I loved this book. My only complaint is that it is far too long with 602 pages. Also I had someone lost my original copy (I think that I lent it to someone but I cannot remember who) and could only replace it at the time with a dreadful copy by Kessinger Publishing in the USA. The quality of the print in this book is dreadful and the cover is bright pink and I’ll certainly toss this shortly as I see that Corelli is readily available again.
An aside into Corelli’s personality: “Corelli's eccentricity became well-known. She would boat on the Avon in a gondola, complete with a gondolier that she had brought over from Venice. True or hearsay?
Yes, this book is somewhat dated in writing style but nevertheless it’s a super, lyrical, philosophical, religious, with questions upon the soul and a magical read, and there’s a monastery thrown in for good measure, which I always enjoy reading about.
November 9, 2014
This book is like every crazy late-nineteenth-century symbolist trope thrown into a blender and set on high. It's WILD. It's essentially a high-concept Orientalist fantasy smothered in the author's own blend of artist-as-priest Christian mysticism. AND it's free on kindle and Project Gutenberg, WHAT A BARGAIN
What to expect:
-Ridiculously florid writing
-Long descriptions of how beautiful everyone is
-TONS of weird religious posturing.
An important note about the religious stuff—the version of Christianity this book peddles is the mystic, occult variety that was very fashionable during Corelli's time, and I can see how it could simultaneously discomfit both devoutly religious readers and atheist readers allergic to any kind of sermonizing.
I strongly advise not giving that much of a crap either way. It will serve you well.
Overall, this book is best approached as a fascinating specimen. It's an enthrallingly bizarre product of its time period, not to be taken too seriously but also pretty charming in its own right. For all of Corelli's indulgences, the book really does have a beautiful, dreamlike quality to it, though it only holds as long as you're willing to buy into her particular brand of weirdness for the duration.
And it's interesting to remember while reading that Corelli was one the best-selling popular authors of her time, and also one of the most controversial—any charge you want to level at her work for being overly florid, preachy, and pretentious, was being leveled at her by yesterday's critics, too. And of course, she has mostly faded into obscurity. It's intriguing to think about the Marie Corellis of today (NOT NAMING ANY NAMES) and how their work might hold up to readers a century from now.
What to expect:
-Ridiculously florid writing
-Long descriptions of how beautiful everyone is
-TONS of weird religious posturing.
An important note about the religious stuff—the version of Christianity this book peddles is the mystic, occult variety that was very fashionable during Corelli's time, and I can see how it could simultaneously discomfit both devoutly religious readers and atheist readers allergic to any kind of sermonizing.
I strongly advise not giving that much of a crap either way. It will serve you well.
Overall, this book is best approached as a fascinating specimen. It's an enthrallingly bizarre product of its time period, not to be taken too seriously but also pretty charming in its own right. For all of Corelli's indulgences, the book really does have a beautiful, dreamlike quality to it, though it only holds as long as you're willing to buy into her particular brand of weirdness for the duration.
And it's interesting to remember while reading that Corelli was one the best-selling popular authors of her time, and also one of the most controversial—any charge you want to level at her work for being overly florid, preachy, and pretentious, was being leveled at her by yesterday's critics, too. And of course, she has mostly faded into obscurity. It's intriguing to think about the Marie Corellis of today (NOT NAMING ANY NAMES) and how their work might hold up to readers a century from now.
February 4, 2008
This guy, a pretty famous writer in England, at the turn of the last century, was pretty uninspired. He wasn't a religious man--far from it--but he ended up at an isolated monastery, where he was a guest during some rough weather for a night. He stood by and watched vespers. He ended up talking with the senior authority in the place, one of the monks, an austere yet cheerful man, a man very wise, who counseled this non-believing poet. The poet, while eloquently arguing against the supremacy, or even existence, of a God, nevertheless had heard of the senior monk's reputation as a mesmerizer, as someone who had long studied and could prompt some pretty severe changes of consciousness in people. He begged him for some help, while dismissing the monk's very avowal of his source of power.
Nevertheless, the protagonist had a pretty mesmerizing transformative experience, wrote during his stay the poem of his life--but still thirsted for more. It ended up he would get more than he bargained for.
In a vision he was sent to the fields of Ardath, which is referred to in the bible as a pretty desolate stretch of land (in a part of what is now Iraq) in which, while things seemed drab and uninteresting, to spend the night there would open one up to earth-shattering changes.
He ended up awaking in a very strange place, Al-Kyris, and in short order attaching himself to the Poet Laureate of this strange land, Sah-luma. Theos, our protaganist, ends up a "visitor" in a society at least 5000 years old. He's there as if in a dream, able to use his mental facilities to the fullest, but unaware of any details of a past, except that there was one. But he's never brought to think about these things except to note, in a flurry of events, how much he does not know and cannot remember, and he finds the strangest similarities--indeed, some uncanny resemblances--regarding his new poet-friend. In fact the poems Sah-luma rattles off at various official functions are the very stanzas--word-for-word--Theos himself had written--including the great one at the monastery. Strange--chilling--but completely inexplicable.
There's an extraordinarily alluring High Priestess of Al-Kyris, Lysia, who, adorned with bejeweled snakes and precious armbands, and lording over her palace full of dedicated and strange servants, is, at turns devastatingly tempting and bitterly cruel, using all her charms to try to, on the one hand, seduce Theos, and on the other,to get him to kill her alleged love, Sah-luma.
The plot is building towards the prophesied destruction of the whole city, which is ringed with a river darkening in crimson each day.
Nevertheless, the protagonist had a pretty mesmerizing transformative experience, wrote during his stay the poem of his life--but still thirsted for more. It ended up he would get more than he bargained for.
In a vision he was sent to the fields of Ardath, which is referred to in the bible as a pretty desolate stretch of land (in a part of what is now Iraq) in which, while things seemed drab and uninteresting, to spend the night there would open one up to earth-shattering changes.
He ended up awaking in a very strange place, Al-Kyris, and in short order attaching himself to the Poet Laureate of this strange land, Sah-luma. Theos, our protaganist, ends up a "visitor" in a society at least 5000 years old. He's there as if in a dream, able to use his mental facilities to the fullest, but unaware of any details of a past, except that there was one. But he's never brought to think about these things except to note, in a flurry of events, how much he does not know and cannot remember, and he finds the strangest similarities--indeed, some uncanny resemblances--regarding his new poet-friend. In fact the poems Sah-luma rattles off at various official functions are the very stanzas--word-for-word--Theos himself had written--including the great one at the monastery. Strange--chilling--but completely inexplicable.
There's an extraordinarily alluring High Priestess of Al-Kyris, Lysia, who, adorned with bejeweled snakes and precious armbands, and lording over her palace full of dedicated and strange servants, is, at turns devastatingly tempting and bitterly cruel, using all her charms to try to, on the one hand, seduce Theos, and on the other,to get him to kill her alleged love, Sah-luma.
The plot is building towards the prophesied destruction of the whole city, which is ringed with a river darkening in crimson each day.
June 9, 2009
In 1889, Marie Corelli published “Ardath: The Story of a Dead Self”. It was her fourth novel and a sequel of sorts to her first book “A Romance of Two Worlds”. Many of the weaknesses of her first three books are still evident in this one. There are the almost endless paragraphs which carry on for pages; the long speeches by characters voicing, quite often, the views of Corelli on society and religion; the characters who are flawlessly good, though admittedly there are fewer of them evident in this novel and very few of their opposites who are without some positive characteristics. As with her third novel, “Thelma: A Norwegian Princess”, Corelli divides this novel into three books.
The novel opens with the book “Saint and Skeptic” which introduces us to the narrator and main character Theos Alwyn. A poet who has lost his muse, and suffers as so many of Corelli’s characters do from a loss of faith. Alwyn has spent his life chasing fame and seeks, and finds in the very first chapter the renowned Heliobas, whom he believes can help him gain fame and fortune. The method he desires is the out-of-body experience detailed in Corelli’s first book. Heliobas tries to correct Alwyn’s opinion of himself (as a mesmerer) and address his lack of faith, but Alwyn is resolute, both in his beliefs as well as his demands of Heliobas. As a result Heliobas tries to refuse, but is surprised when Alwyn has such power within him to force it to happen. When Alwyn returns, he writes a poem in a trance like state before gaining full consciousness. Heliobas helps him to learn about what he experienced and what it means and to nurture Alwyn’s new faith. However, even before Alwyn sets out to find the field of Ardath where his Angel has told him to come, his faith has started to fade to his long-time skepticism. By the time Alwyn gets to Ardath, he is very skeptical of all, including his fair Edris when he meets her in human form and his lack of faith drives her away. When he realizes what he has done, he falls to the ground among the flowers of Ardath.
The second section is “In Al-Kyris”, and for me it is this section which elevates this work above Corelli’s previous writings. Alwyn awakes in a field outside a great city, with very little of his memory available, though able to speak the language of those who live there. He is forced to enter the city, and there he becomes a great friend to Sah-luma, the greatest poet of Al-Kyris and one who saves his life from a crowd who is about to kill him for disrespecting their priestess. Through the course of this section, the largest of the book, the reader clues into Alwyn having been transported back in time around 7,000 years. He has a connection to Sah-luma, as he believes that Sah-luma’s poems are his own, but then starts to question his own belief. The reader will often be ahead of the story, but that is not an issue because it is an enjoyable ride. Where Corelli hinted at fantasy in her previous works, this section it comes into full bloom, along with the occult and her Christian beliefs. This section also includes at the end another meeting between Alwyn and Edris, and this time it is a much more harmonious reunion. Alwyn’s faith has been fully restored, he has become what he should have been, and no longer pursues fame and riches for he now has found something much more important.
The third section is “Poet and Angel”, a much shorter section than the second one, it brings Alwyn back to his old world, and easily shows how he has changed through the reactions of his long time friend, Francis Villiers. Fame has come to Alwyn in his absence, but he is not interested in it, and when society tries to demand his attention, he sets it on its ear with his open declarations of faith. Well in evidence in this section are Corelli’s beliefs, as she puts them into the words spoken by Alwyn, Villiers, and Heliobas, who turns up on his way to Mexico. There does not seem to be much purpose to this section of the book, other than to pontificate a bit, though there is a story-line about Alwyn not wanting to ask Edris to become mortal and share his life on Earth. So Alwyn is determined to perform as best he can in trying to enlighten people and liberate them from the confines of the organized religions while looking forward to his departure after his life is over. Once again the reader is well ahead of the story, and so it is no surprise how the book ends.
While the first book is about on par with her other writings, and the last book I could have done without, overall the meat of this novel is in the second book and because of that it is easy to rate this novel above the others she wrote previously. The strong fantasy and occult elements work well and it is easy to see why Marie Corelli considered this as one of her best works.
The novel opens with the book “Saint and Skeptic” which introduces us to the narrator and main character Theos Alwyn. A poet who has lost his muse, and suffers as so many of Corelli’s characters do from a loss of faith. Alwyn has spent his life chasing fame and seeks, and finds in the very first chapter the renowned Heliobas, whom he believes can help him gain fame and fortune. The method he desires is the out-of-body experience detailed in Corelli’s first book. Heliobas tries to correct Alwyn’s opinion of himself (as a mesmerer) and address his lack of faith, but Alwyn is resolute, both in his beliefs as well as his demands of Heliobas. As a result Heliobas tries to refuse, but is surprised when Alwyn has such power within him to force it to happen. When Alwyn returns, he writes a poem in a trance like state before gaining full consciousness. Heliobas helps him to learn about what he experienced and what it means and to nurture Alwyn’s new faith. However, even before Alwyn sets out to find the field of Ardath where his Angel has told him to come, his faith has started to fade to his long-time skepticism. By the time Alwyn gets to Ardath, he is very skeptical of all, including his fair Edris when he meets her in human form and his lack of faith drives her away. When he realizes what he has done, he falls to the ground among the flowers of Ardath.
The second section is “In Al-Kyris”, and for me it is this section which elevates this work above Corelli’s previous writings. Alwyn awakes in a field outside a great city, with very little of his memory available, though able to speak the language of those who live there. He is forced to enter the city, and there he becomes a great friend to Sah-luma, the greatest poet of Al-Kyris and one who saves his life from a crowd who is about to kill him for disrespecting their priestess. Through the course of this section, the largest of the book, the reader clues into Alwyn having been transported back in time around 7,000 years. He has a connection to Sah-luma, as he believes that Sah-luma’s poems are his own, but then starts to question his own belief. The reader will often be ahead of the story, but that is not an issue because it is an enjoyable ride. Where Corelli hinted at fantasy in her previous works, this section it comes into full bloom, along with the occult and her Christian beliefs. This section also includes at the end another meeting between Alwyn and Edris, and this time it is a much more harmonious reunion. Alwyn’s faith has been fully restored, he has become what he should have been, and no longer pursues fame and riches for he now has found something much more important.
The third section is “Poet and Angel”, a much shorter section than the second one, it brings Alwyn back to his old world, and easily shows how he has changed through the reactions of his long time friend, Francis Villiers. Fame has come to Alwyn in his absence, but he is not interested in it, and when society tries to demand his attention, he sets it on its ear with his open declarations of faith. Well in evidence in this section are Corelli’s beliefs, as she puts them into the words spoken by Alwyn, Villiers, and Heliobas, who turns up on his way to Mexico. There does not seem to be much purpose to this section of the book, other than to pontificate a bit, though there is a story-line about Alwyn not wanting to ask Edris to become mortal and share his life on Earth. So Alwyn is determined to perform as best he can in trying to enlighten people and liberate them from the confines of the organized religions while looking forward to his departure after his life is over. Once again the reader is well ahead of the story, and so it is no surprise how the book ends.
While the first book is about on par with her other writings, and the last book I could have done without, overall the meat of this novel is in the second book and because of that it is easy to rate this novel above the others she wrote previously. The strong fantasy and occult elements work well and it is easy to see why Marie Corelli considered this as one of her best works.
September 10, 2011
I realised it had been quite a few months since I'd read any Marie Corelli and I thought I should fix that. I find Marie Corelli in many ways the opposite to HG Wells, when Wells gets all philosophical and spends ages talking about how the world is and how it should be I totally love it, but when Corelli does it I find her overly preachy and annoying. That said despite the over zealousness of her bizarre take on Christianity I did really enjoy this book. It was a wonderful gothic romance (in the traditional meaning of those words - not a teenage vampire love story!). The atheist who meets the mystic and decides to follow a dream. He goes back in time to this strange world where a poet and a priestess seem to rule. It's all very wonderful and dramatic and there are lots of interesting conversations. This part of the book (which makes up about 400 of the 500 pages) is totally brilliant. Exotic and interesting and the villans are wonderful. Unfortunately when the main character returns to the real world it gets a bit preachy again. But overall it was a very enjoyable read and I will continue to read more of her books despite being one of her villans instead of her protagonists.
Want to read
June 17, 2015Read this book for free through Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...
May 30, 2016
Theos Alwyn, poet and lost man, travels to an isolated monastery searching for a man who can take away his soul. He finds him in Heliobas, a seer who gave up drawing room seances for the isolation and worship of god. A night of reflection and talk leads to Alwyn free writing an epic poem that he packs up and sends off to his publisher. He also meets an angel named Edris who tells him to search for Ardath.
In the morning he heads off to the possible location of the fields of Ardath. He finds it and then seems to transport back to a previous time, where he can speak the language, understands what people say to him, and is the double of the local famous poet, Sah-Luma who clearly loves himself.
These two are so caught up in each other they don’t notice any women. (snorts - wait does that make it narcissism?)
They go to meet the king and the poet sings, but Theos freaks - it is his song. He wrote it in his youth. This to me, is more evidence that this is some kind of dream.
A man Khosrul, is brought before the king. He’s old and seems a lot mad. He says the king will kill Sah-Luma and makes a few other prophecies. They all laugh at him, but Theos is unnerved. In a rage, the king goes to slaughter him himself, but the lights go out and when they come back up Khosrul is gone.
The two men attend a late night bacchanalia of the goddess Lysia. One man who speaks out of turn is told ‘his time has come’. Lysia hands him a poisoned goblet. His body is weighted and tossed out into the lake. Then Lysia tries to seduce Theos and encourages him to kill Sah-Luma. (Everyone wants this guy dead…) he refuses of course, and throws the dagger out into the lake. She threatens to kill Theos and he says he is dead already.
Ah. The subtitle is ‘The Story of a Dead Self’; dead to the world? Asleep? Or actually dead? Sah-Luma is his double as well. Is he another version of Theos? The dead one? The dead self? He carries another poem, four stanzas that Theos knows he wrote years ago and never published. Now, he isn’t worried by this. But dragging his drunk friend home, he thinks he sees the King. Sah-Luma runs off and Theos ends up in a weird temple underground with skeleton warriors. Hidden by Zuriel, he sees two tortured people.
Ooh… she slaughters lovers? And as Theos argues, she’s supposed to be a vestal virgin and she most assuredly isn’t. She’s broken her own rules and he rails against injustice. But then he notices that the man Zuriel, wears a simple Christian cross. He is so pleased to see it, he voices all the blessings, and Zuriel tells him it is a faith that will exist in 5,000 years time.
Ooh. So he’s gone back in time?
Khosrul is the cult leader and has made a prophecy that sounds very much like that of the life of Jesus but they don’t know his name. Zuriel also tells him the city of Al-Kyris is twelve thousand years old.
The next morning, the sea is red, matching Khosrul’s blood prophecy.
Bwahaha
***
I find the whole book a bit too long. There are entire pages of verbose speech and florid description. Being a godless heathen some days, I prefer the earlier Al-Kyris parts to the later preachy bits. I do like Heliobas.
There are skeleton warriors and prophecies and bacchanalian parties and snake goddesses and cities that worship poets on the same level as kings. That is all awesome Gothic romance stuff. And for a woman at the time, it’s groundbreaking. She is credited with being the basis for the new-age religion. Here she says Theos was reincarnated and loved by an angel - wild stuff for the time.
She wrote a pile of works and Corelli's novels sold more copies than the combined sales of popular contemporaries, including Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, and Rudyard Kipling, although critics often derided her work as "the favourite of the common multitude.”
She hated the press and the critics - both of whom are flayed in this work. I have no idea whom the repulsive journalist is based upon, but I’ll bet readers at the time knew.
Rather interesting and some parts are still spot on. This is published in 1889 (probably written earlier) and light-bulbs are very new science. She also talks of batteries that store the energy and telephones to pass messages. (I think phones came to England in 1878 but still.) Lysia’s priests use something that sounds like a gramophone record to record information. And I love that she has the city falling, in an apparent act of god, as one science sceptic gives a reasonable and accurate geological explanation of why the earthquakes happen and the river is red. Too funny. And geology was a brand new science in the 1880’s so Ms Corelli was way ahead of her time with all this.
4 stars
In the morning he heads off to the possible location of the fields of Ardath. He finds it and then seems to transport back to a previous time, where he can speak the language, understands what people say to him, and is the double of the local famous poet, Sah-Luma who clearly loves himself.
"I love Myself! I see naught that contents me more than my own Personality,—and with all my heart I admire the miracle and beauty of my own existence! There is nothing even in the completest fairness of womanhood that satisfies me so much as the contemplation of my own genius,— realizing as I do its wondrous power and perfect charm! The life of a poet such as I am is a perpetual marvel!—the whole Universe ministers to my needs,—Humanity becomes the merest bound slave to the caprice of my imperial imagination,—with a thought I scale the stars,—with a wish I float in highest ether among spheres undiscovered yet familiar to my fancy—I converse with the spirits of flowers and fountains,—and the love of women is a mere drop in the deep ocean of my unfathomed delight! Yes,—I adore my own Identity! … and of a truth Self-worship is the only Creed the world has ever followed faithfully to the end!" (location 1897)
These two are so caught up in each other they don’t notice any women. (snorts - wait does that make it narcissism?)
As they left the garden the night fell, or appeared to fall, with almost startling suddenness, and at the same time, in swift defiance of the darkness, Sah-luma's palace was illuminated from end to end by thousands of colored lamps, all apparently lit at once by a single flash of electricity.
They go to meet the king and the poet sings, but Theos freaks - it is his song. He wrote it in his youth. This to me, is more evidence that this is some kind of dream.
A man Khosrul, is brought before the king. He’s old and seems a lot mad. He says the king will kill Sah-Luma and makes a few other prophecies. They all laugh at him, but Theos is unnerved. In a rage, the king goes to slaughter him himself, but the lights go out and when they come back up Khosrul is gone.
The two men attend a late night bacchanalia of the goddess Lysia. One man who speaks out of turn is told ‘his time has come’. Lysia hands him a poisoned goblet. His body is weighted and tossed out into the lake. Then Lysia tries to seduce Theos and encourages him to kill Sah-Luma. (Everyone wants this guy dead…) he refuses of course, and throws the dagger out into the lake. She threatens to kill Theos and he says he is dead already.
Ah. The subtitle is ‘The Story of a Dead Self’; dead to the world? Asleep? Or actually dead? Sah-Luma is his double as well. Is he another version of Theos? The dead one? The dead self? He carries another poem, four stanzas that Theos knows he wrote years ago and never published. Now, he isn’t worried by this. But dragging his drunk friend home, he thinks he sees the King. Sah-Luma runs off and Theos ends up in a weird temple underground with skeleton warriors. Hidden by Zuriel, he sees two tortured people.
For the unlawful communion of love between a vestal virgin and an anointed priest cannot be too utterly abhorred and condemned,—and these twain, who thus did foully violate their vows, have perished far too easily. The sanctity of the Temple has been outraged, . . Lysia will not be satisfied,…
Ooh… she slaughters lovers? And as Theos argues, she’s supposed to be a vestal virgin and she most assuredly isn’t. She’s broken her own rules and he rails against injustice. But then he notices that the man Zuriel, wears a simple Christian cross. He is so pleased to see it, he voices all the blessings, and Zuriel tells him it is a faith that will exist in 5,000 years time.
Ooh. So he’s gone back in time?
Khosrul is the cult leader and has made a prophecy that sounds very much like that of the life of Jesus but they don’t know his name. Zuriel also tells him the city of Al-Kyris is twelve thousand years old.
The next morning, the sea is red, matching Khosrul’s blood prophecy.
That is how the 'liberty, equality, fraternity' system always begins—first among street- boys who think they ought to be gentlemen,—then among shopkeepers who persuade themselves that they deserve to be peers,—then comes a time of topsey-turveydom and fierce contention and by and by everything gets shaken together again in the form of a Republic, wherein the street-boys and shopkeepers are not a whit better off than they were under a monarchy—they become neither peers nor gentlemen, but stay exactly in their original places, with the disadvantage of finding their trade decidedly damaged by the change that has occurred in the national economy!
Bwahaha
***
I find the whole book a bit too long. There are entire pages of verbose speech and florid description. Being a godless heathen some days, I prefer the earlier Al-Kyris parts to the later preachy bits. I do like Heliobas.
There are skeleton warriors and prophecies and bacchanalian parties and snake goddesses and cities that worship poets on the same level as kings. That is all awesome Gothic romance stuff. And for a woman at the time, it’s groundbreaking. She is credited with being the basis for the new-age religion. Here she says Theos was reincarnated and loved by an angel - wild stuff for the time.
She wrote a pile of works and Corelli's novels sold more copies than the combined sales of popular contemporaries, including Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, and Rudyard Kipling, although critics often derided her work as "the favourite of the common multitude.”
She hated the press and the critics - both of whom are flayed in this work. I have no idea whom the repulsive journalist is based upon, but I’ll bet readers at the time knew.
Rather interesting and some parts are still spot on. This is published in 1889 (probably written earlier) and light-bulbs are very new science. She also talks of batteries that store the energy and telephones to pass messages. (I think phones came to England in 1878 but still.) Lysia’s priests use something that sounds like a gramophone record to record information. And I love that she has the city falling, in an apparent act of god, as one science sceptic gives a reasonable and accurate geological explanation of why the earthquakes happen and the river is red. Too funny. And geology was a brand new science in the 1880’s so Ms Corelli was way ahead of her time with all this.
4 stars
July 2, 2022
I don’t know if I’ve been so surprised by how much I enjoyed this story. The way it starts with Alwyn getting humbled by Heliobas is just fantastic, and the fantasy realm was incredibly thoughtful, and reminded me of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia.
Except that in Lysia’s kingdom, she administers her queenly duties while naked. 😂
Except that in Lysia’s kingdom, she administers her queenly duties while naked. 😂
December 1, 2013
Sigh. I'm not sure where to start. I don't want my prejudice to bleed through too much. As a pagan, this book was difficult for me, but I will give Corelli credit, in that, she kept me reading the whole way through, and while I don't share her passion for the the Christian religion, and found myself scowling at some of the pages, she at least made me see the appeal of that faith.
The book is quite opinionated, and I unfortunately read it, right after I read Goodkind's Confessor, which is altogether a different bread of book, but equally as opinionated, and almost presenting the opposite view. This book idealizes the abnegation of Self, and veneration of the needs of others, while Confessor seams to indicate that without value for one's personal self, generosity is impossible.
I must admit that it might have been somewhat fortuitous reading both books in succession, because it caused a sort of debate in my head.
I did wonder at the motives of the High Priestess, in that she occasionally came out with insights and aphorisms which seemed to rival that of the other characters, and yet her ultimate intentions were cruel and ignorant. This left me somewhat dissatisfied with Morelli's description of her. Without understanding her, how can we dismiss her values completely in favour of the Christian faith? The Priestess rightly points out the shortcomings of the male gender in that they continually pursue desire, without learning from disappointment. But what she does with this knowledge seems to belie her understanding.
Later, when the hero returns to his own time, The Duchess expresses similar sentiments to the High Priestess. Praising the hero she says, "What a gift it would be for women, if all men were like you." The hero himself says that the world is lost, if women have lost their faith.
I suspect that Corelli was a kind of early feminist, who was also devoutly religious. Given that Jesus Christ himself was reputed to be an advocate of women's rights (let us leave aside for a moment that the religion which followed, mostly undid his efforts), I could easily see why she would devote herself so earnestly to Christ, in spite of the fact that, on the surface, Christianity is hardly the first religion which springs to mind when contemplating feminism or women's rights.
The descriptions in the ancient city of Al Kyris were absolutely ravishing, and Morelli's characterization of the narcissistic poet Sa Luma almost causes one to fall in love with him. Indeed, he seems to outshine the main character Theos.
I wouldn't say that I heartily enjoyed this book, but I would say that it was very well written, and gave me food for thought.
The book is quite opinionated, and I unfortunately read it, right after I read Goodkind's Confessor, which is altogether a different bread of book, but equally as opinionated, and almost presenting the opposite view. This book idealizes the abnegation of Self, and veneration of the needs of others, while Confessor seams to indicate that without value for one's personal self, generosity is impossible.
I must admit that it might have been somewhat fortuitous reading both books in succession, because it caused a sort of debate in my head.
I did wonder at the motives of the High Priestess, in that she occasionally came out with insights and aphorisms which seemed to rival that of the other characters, and yet her ultimate intentions were cruel and ignorant. This left me somewhat dissatisfied with Morelli's description of her. Without understanding her, how can we dismiss her values completely in favour of the Christian faith? The Priestess rightly points out the shortcomings of the male gender in that they continually pursue desire, without learning from disappointment. But what she does with this knowledge seems to belie her understanding.
Later, when the hero returns to his own time, The Duchess expresses similar sentiments to the High Priestess. Praising the hero she says, "What a gift it would be for women, if all men were like you." The hero himself says that the world is lost, if women have lost their faith.
I suspect that Corelli was a kind of early feminist, who was also devoutly religious. Given that Jesus Christ himself was reputed to be an advocate of women's rights (let us leave aside for a moment that the religion which followed, mostly undid his efforts), I could easily see why she would devote herself so earnestly to Christ, in spite of the fact that, on the surface, Christianity is hardly the first religion which springs to mind when contemplating feminism or women's rights.
The descriptions in the ancient city of Al Kyris were absolutely ravishing, and Morelli's characterization of the narcissistic poet Sa Luma almost causes one to fall in love with him. Indeed, he seems to outshine the main character Theos.
I wouldn't say that I heartily enjoyed this book, but I would say that it was very well written, and gave me food for thought.
June 11, 2012
What can I say about this strange book? The theme is very Christian, which isn't a problem, of course, unless it is.
Anyway.
The beginning was reasonable enough, leading into a sort of quest by the main character to locate the field of Ardath of the title. Not to give too much away, but what immediately follows is a sprt of time travel dream sequence which is the best and most interesting part of the book, and the author really should have tied up the loose ends very quickly after it finished.
However, instead, there is a much larger part of the book after this that is basically one very very long sermon (or is it a very very long series of sermons?) in the form of conversations with other characters. Really, if you have to resort to using more than half of the book in this way, you aren't telling a story, or at least you aren't telling a story well.
I jumped whole tens of pages skipping over these sermons to find the few bits of action because I just can't stomach that much sermonising (and I doubt many people can).
The end was what you would expect.
So, the beginning was ok, the "meat" was great fantasy, and the rest was just awful.
Anyway.
The beginning was reasonable enough, leading into a sort of quest by the main character to locate the field of Ardath of the title. Not to give too much away, but what immediately follows is a sprt of time travel dream sequence which is the best and most interesting part of the book, and the author really should have tied up the loose ends very quickly after it finished.
However, instead, there is a much larger part of the book after this that is basically one very very long sermon (or is it a very very long series of sermons?) in the form of conversations with other characters. Really, if you have to resort to using more than half of the book in this way, you aren't telling a story, or at least you aren't telling a story well.
I jumped whole tens of pages skipping over these sermons to find the few bits of action because I just can't stomach that much sermonising (and I doubt many people can).
The end was what you would expect.
So, the beginning was ok, the "meat" was great fantasy, and the rest was just awful.
August 12, 2012
I have mixed feelings about Ardath. It was intense, no doubt about it. But I'm having a hard time organizing my thoughts about it, so I'm just going to throw them all out, in no particular order, the good with the bad.
-The writing style is wildly florid and melodramatic.
-The author is very good at conveying an epic scope
-The book could have been about 1/3rd shorter
-Ardath is a very self-righteous book in regards to religion and literary matters, particularly criticism and literary merit in the public's eye
-This book contains the sexiest descriptions of female beauty that I have ever come across
-Nothing is subtle in this story, especially emotions.
-It's written in the 3rd person past tense but it feels like it's written in the 1st person present tense
-Way too much talking and not enough action
So there you have it. My jumbled, garbled review of Ardath. It's interesting to note that according to Wikipedia, Marie Corelli was one of the most widely read authors in England during her career, but she is virtually unknown today. Perhaps the critics' words do carry some weight after all.
-The writing style is wildly florid and melodramatic.
-The author is very good at conveying an epic scope
-The book could have been about 1/3rd shorter
-Ardath is a very self-righteous book in regards to religion and literary matters, particularly criticism and literary merit in the public's eye
-This book contains the sexiest descriptions of female beauty that I have ever come across
-Nothing is subtle in this story, especially emotions.
-It's written in the 3rd person past tense but it feels like it's written in the 1st person present tense
-Way too much talking and not enough action
So there you have it. My jumbled, garbled review of Ardath. It's interesting to note that according to Wikipedia, Marie Corelli was one of the most widely read authors in England during her career, but she is virtually unknown today. Perhaps the critics' words do carry some weight after all.
July 6, 2009
Hard to read, but very poetic and spiritual.
June 18, 2013
Stalled out. The story begins appealingly, but gets tedious after a while.
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