Marie Corelli
Marie Corelli was a British novelist born in either April or May 1855 in London. She was likely the daughter of Scottish writer Charles Mackay and a servant named Mary Elizabeth Mills. Corelli's early life included education at a convent school, although the exact location remains uncertain. After her mother's death in the mid-1870s, she continued to live with her father and a companion, Bertha Vyver. Initially aspiring to be a pianist, Corelli shifted to writing due to financial constraints and published her first novel, "A Romance of Two Worlds," in 1886. Despite being dismissed by critics, the novel gained a significant following among the British public, leading her to publish many more works, including historical romances. Corelli's flamboyant style and extravagant public persona, often paraded with Vyver in Stratford-upon-Avon, contributed to her celebrity status. Although her literary reputation was mixed, she was one of the best-selling novelists of her time and garnered admiration from notable figures, including Queen Victoria. Corelli passed away in 1924, leaving behind a legacy as a popular, albeit controversial, figure in literature.
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Marie Corelli
Author
- Born: May 1, 1855
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: April 21, 1924
Biography
Marie Corelli, a popular British novelist, often lied about her background and age, which makes it difficult to trace her origins. She most probably was born in London, England, in either April or May, 1855. She apparently was the daughter of Charles Mackay, a Scottish writer and musician, and Mary Elizabeth Mills, a servant who worked in the Mackay household and who married Mackay after the death of his wife. Mackay adopted the young woman and subsequently moved the family to a house near the village of Mickleham in the county of Surrey. Corelli attended convent school from 1866 to 1870, and although she variously described the convent as being in Italy or France, it probably was in her native England.
Corelli’s mother died about 1876, at which time a second young woman moved into the Mackay household. This woman, Bertha Vyver, was to remain Corelli’s companion until the writer’s death. When Corelli’s father was paralyzed by a heart attack in 1884, he, Corelli, her older stepbrother Eric, and Vyver returned to London to live. Corelli hoped to pursue a career as a pianist and adopted the name by which she would become famous. Her family was unable to afford the necessary music lessons, however, and encouraged her to turn to writing as a means of making a living.
Corelli published her first novel, a melodramatic fantasy entitled A Romance of Two Worlds, in 1886. The story of a woman endowed by a reincarnated Chaldean mystic with an added measure of “human electricity” and thus cured of her spiritual and physical enervation, it was dismissed by most critics, as it had been by her publisher’s readers. Nevertheless, it found a large and enthusiastic readership among the British public. The novel was followed by dozens of similarly extravagant works, including two sequels and such historical romances as Barabbas: A Dream of the World’s Tragedy. All were couched in heated, overblown prose that inflated their already considerable length and suggested to skeptical readers a measure of thwarted passion.
Corelli moved to the birthplace of famed English playwright William Shakespeare, Stratford- upon-Avon, around the end of the nineteenth century, apparently hoping to conflate her reputation with his. Diminutive in stature, she paraded the streets of the town with Vyver in a small cart pulled by two Shetland ponies. She and Vyver also were poled up and down the Avon River in a Venetian gondola. She died in 1924.
Although her critical reputation was never high, Corelli was the best-selling novelist in the world for several decades. Her admirers included such disparate figures as Queen Victoria and maverick American writer Henry Miller, but she is better considered as a celebrity rather than as a writer.