The Soul of Lilith, Volume I

This volume was published in 1892 and is part one of three.From the Introductory Note:The following story does not assume to be what is generally understood by a "novel". It is simply the account of a strangedaring experiment once actualy attempted, ......is offered tothose who are interested in the unseen "possibilities" of theHereafter, merely for what it is,----- a single episode in thelife of a man who voluntarily sacrified...............wholewordly career in a supreme effort by prove the apparentlyunprovable.........................................................................................THREE STAR REVIEW:3.0 out of 5 stars Life After Life, August 19, 2009 By Dave_42 "Dave_42" (Australia) - See all my reviews(TOP 1000 REVIEWER) Marie Corelli published "The Soul of Lilith" in 1892, her sixth novel in just seven years. This novel fits in well with her Heliobas stories, though he is not a character here. There are many similarities, including the main character, El-Râmi Zarânos, who plays the role of the man who needs proof, taking the role that Theos Alwyn played in "Ardath". Many of the speeches made by both sides of the question could easily fit in either book as well. One key difference is that unlike Theos Alwyn, El-Râmi refuses to accept anything on faith until there is a tragic event. Overall this book lacks the wonderfully imaginative second section, but it does contain some interesting points which prevent it from becoming completely redundant. The novel opens with the introduction of El-Râmi who has arrived during a production of "Hamlet". El-Râmi is at the height of his strength at this time, as he pursues the course of science. He demonstrated his ability to logically deduce future events when he tells Sir Frederick Vaughan that he will be introduced to a Miss Idina Chester before the evening is out and that he will propose to her within a month and that they will be married. El-Râmi is a man from the Orient, though in the days in which this novel was written, the Orient referred to the near East and North Africa, and not the far East as it does today. Along with El-Râmi , there is his brother Féraz, an older woman Zaroba, and the body of Lilith, which El-Râmi has kept alive through an elixir he has created scientifically. El-Râmi is able to talk with the spirit of Lilith through the body he has kept alive. Lilith died when she was 12-years old, but the body has aged and is now that of a young woman. The exploration of the divide between the physical and spiritual world is a common theme in Corelli's works, but the use of a being on the edge between the two is a new twist from the territory she has covered before. The first volume shows us the dominance that El-Râmi has over all the character's lives, and it ends with a visit from a monk from Cyprus who plays the role of the all-knowing man of faith, similar to that of Heliobas in some of Corelli's other stories. El-Râmi is on the verge of showing the monk his great experiment with Lilith at the close of the volume.

Reviews

News