THE LAM NOVELIST AGAIN.
- ■ — •. Some impressions of Marie Corelli, which the Rev H. R. Haweis has contributed to the Temple Magazine, will be of special interest to the admirers of that popular lady. Others, who have never acknowledged the fascination of such works as " Barabbas " and "The Sorrows of Satan," will be glad to learn something of the methods and manner of work of a marvellously successful writer. Mr Haweis's "impressions" are almost entirely personal, and where he attempts to be critical he is anything but convincing. It will require a good deal more than Mr Haweis's ipse dixit, for instance, to establish the fact that "no nobler use could be made of literary talent" than she makes of it, and that "Marie Corelli has always used her great gifts for the purification of society, the branding of vibe, and the exaltation of what is noble and good." The verdict of »the majority of churchmen is, we believe, entirely in the opposite direction. At the English Church Congress held at Shrewsbury recently the tendency of the modern novel was one of the subjects discussed, and the tendency of Marie Corelli's works in particular was very strongly condemned. Politically, according to Mr Haweis, " her sentiments are entirely Republican, and her sympathies are all enlisted on the side of the people versus thrones. She abhors toadyism, sycophancy and panderings to those in powei* ; and it is a great source of vexation to her to find her, sentiments upon such matters totally misunderstood in many quarters." We confess we never suspected Marie Corelli of suffering from the misunderstanding of her political creed or even of possessing any definite creed at/all. Her grievances have been personal in the first place, and her gospel has been social rather than political. Mr Haweis adds that Marie Corelli is a systematic worker, and writes steadily from ten to two every day. She is no recluse, but goes into a great deal of society out of a sincere and conscientious desire to study from the life, and not to be accused of writing about what she does not understand. Her books, it appears, are to be read in ten different languages, and a city in Colorado* has already been named after her "Corelli City." In this last respect her position is imique among novelists hailing from what Americans call "the other side."
THE LAM NOVELIST AGAIN.
Star (Christchurch), Issue 5740, 7 December 1896, Page 3
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