Glorious vulgarity

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This study re-evaluates the work of Marie Corelli (1855-1924), the first English bestselling author of the one-volume novel, challenging the notion that her novels are mere popular fiction unworthy of critical analysis. It reassesses a selection of her fictional works, theoretical writings, and correspondence, aiming to understand the aesthetic of the popular through three themes: poetics, romance, and religion. The analysis employs various theoretical models, including genre theory, theories of the sublime, Frankfurt School theories, gender theory, and contemporary psychoanalytical models. Building on Rita Felski’s concept of Corelli as a writer of the "popular sublime," the introduction posits that Corelli instinctively develops a feminine sublime, characterized by a desire to merge with the sublime rather than dominate it through reason. This feminine sublime manifests in a non-rational rhetoric, reflecting the subject’s struggle to communicate experience. Expressed through the romance genre, it embodies a yearning for the metaphysical and a mode of excess. Three chapters delve into Corelli’s main themes—Aesthetics, Love, and Religion—analyzing how she adapts these transcendental ideas for a populist audience. Additionally, the book explores the proto-modernist elements in Corelli’s work, revealing surprising connections between her turn-of-the-century populism and the modernist movement.