Wormwood

Though 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.

Acknowledgements

7

(2)

Introduction

9

(47)

A Brief Chronology

56

(3)

Marie Corelli

A Note on the Text

59

(2)

Corelli's Introductory Note

61

(4)

Wormwood: A Drama of Paris

65

(302)

Appendix A: Translations of French Poems and Songs in Wormwood

367

(3)

1. Charles Cros, ``L'Archet'' (1873)

367

(1)

2. Anonymous, ``Le Pauvre Clerc''

368

(2)

Appendix B: Letters from Corelli to George Bentley about Wormwood

370

(7)

Appendix C: Reviews of Wormwood

377

(7)

1. From The Athenaeum (15 November 1890)

377

(1)

2. From the Pall Mall Gazette (27 November 1890)

377

(1)

3. From The Graphic (29 November 1890)

378

(1)

4. From The Academy (29 November 1890)

379

(1)

5. From Kensington Society, qtd. in Academy (13 December 1890)

379

(1)

6. From Literary World (17 January 1891)

379

(2)

7. From The Times (23 January 1891)

381

(1)

8. From The Spectator (28 February 1891)

382

(1)

9. From County Gentlewoman, qtd. in Academy (11 July 1891)

383

(1)

10. From Kent Carr, Miss Marie Corelli (1901)

383

(1)

Appendix D: Corelli on Literature and Art

384

(7)

1. Letter to George Bentley, 11 March 1887

384

(1)

2. Letter to George Bentley, 6 April 1887

385

(1)

3. From ``'Imaginary Love''' (1905)

385

(1)

4. From ``The 'Strong' Book of the Ishbosheth'' (1905)

386

(5)

Appendix E: British Views of Naturalism

391

(7)

1. From W.S. Lilly, ``The New Naturalism'' (1885)

391

(3)

2. From H. Rider Haggard, ``About Fiction'' (1887)

394

(1)

3. From the National Vigilance Association, Pernicious Literature (1889)

395

(3)

Appendix F: Nineteenth-Century Degeneration Theories

398

(4)

1. From E. Ray Lankester, Degeneration: A Chapter in Darwinism (1880)

398

(2)

2. From Gina Lombroso-Ferrero, Criminal Man (1911)

400

(2)

Appendix G: Clinical and Artistic Views of Absinthe

402

(4)

1. Findings of Dr. Legrand, The Times (4 May 1869)

402

(1)

2. From the New York Times (12 December 1880)

403

(1)

3. Charles Cros, ``Lendemain'' (1873)

403

(1)

4. Arthur Symons, ``The Absinthe-Drinker'' (1892)

404

(1)

5. Ernest Dowson, ``Absinthia Taetra'' (1899)

405

(1)

Select Bibliography

406

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