History Literature / Ardath

* OneHundredPercentAdorationRating: What Sah-luma has. He is not just respected and admired, but deeply loved by all. In fact, the Poet Laureate actually ranks equal or higher with the King.

* HaveAGayOldTime: The door to Lysia's banquet hall looks like a solid wall. Theos is wondering how they'll proceed past the "huge erection". Lysia, we've been told, is an unbelievably beautiful woman who inspires desperate lust in every man she gazes upon. Draw your own conclusions as to whether Corelli was having a little fun there. (Hint: She was a huge fan of [[CountryMatters Shakespeare]].)

* SecretCircleOfSecrets: The Mystic Brethren. A rare good version, they are aware of the corruption in Al-Kyris. Theos is overjoyed to see that they wear a cross emblem, even though it's just to show they believe Khosrul's prophecy.

* [[spoiler:SelfPlagiarism]]: Theos, unwittingly. Most of his poems, especially the most beautiful and well received [[spoiler: were originally written by Sah-luma]].

* VirginPower: Traditionally, the High Priestess must be a maiden so she can have this. However, Lysia broke her VowOfChastity long ago and has had many lovers. The fact that she is now having it off with the King seals the doom of Al-Kyris.

* RecurringCharacter: Heliobas, who made his debut in ''Literature/ARomanceOfTwoWorlds'' as a holistic medical practitioner. He'll be back in ''The Soul of Lilith''.

Creator/MarieCorelli's ''Ardath'' (1889) is a Victorian fantasy about Theos Alwyn, a Creator/LordByron {{Expy}} with WritersBlock. At a mysterious [[ShangriLa monastery]] he seeks help from the master Heliobas[[note]]his second appearance in her work -- the first was in ''Literature/ARomanceOfTwoWorlds''[[/note]], whom he's been told can induce AstralProjection in willing subjects. When Heliobas refuses to do this, Theos exerts his own considerable PsychicPowers (which he's unaware he has) and puts himself into this state. Upon waking he writes a new poem, ''Nourhalma'', and says he has met an angelic woman, Edris, who asks him to meet her at "Ardath"[[note]]An open field close to Babylon, in the [[Literature/TheBible Apocryphal Book of Esdras]].[[/note]]. He feels he's known and loved her since before the beginning, but once he gets there she ascends to heaven before his eyes. Bereft, he passes out in the middle of the field, and this is where the story really starts.

* HaveAGayOldTime: The door to Lysia's banquet hall looks like a solid wall. Theos is wondering how they'll proceed past the "huge erection". Lysia, we've been told, is an unbelievably beautiful woman who inspires desperate lust in every man she gazes upon. Draw your own conclusions as to whether Corelli was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar having a little fun there]]. (Hint: She was a huge fan of [[CountryMatters Shakespeare]].)

* SpoiledSweet: Sah-luma. A bit more on the spoiled side, which ends up costing him dearly.

Jessica Amanda Salmonson calls ''Ardath'' Corelli's "weirdest and most baroque novel". Among other things, it was a major influence on Creator/LordDunsany's dreamworld stories, and is thus part of the ancestral lineage of HPLovecraft's dream cycle. It has often been compared with ''Literature/{{Vathek}}''.

* RecurringCharacter: Heliobas, who made his debut in ''Literature/ARomanceOfTwoWorlds'' as a holistic medical practitioner.

Creator/MarieCorelli's ''Ardath'' (1889) is a Victorian fantasy about Theos Alwyn, a Creator/LordByron {{Expy}} with WritersBlock. At a mysterious [[ShangriLa monastery]] he seeks help from the master Heliobas, whom he's been told can induce AstralProjection in willing subjects. When Heliobas refuses to do this, Theos exerts his own considerable PsychicPowers (which he's unaware he has) and puts himself into this state. Upon waking he writes a new poem, ''Nourhalma'', and says he has met an angelic woman, Edris, who asks him to meet her at "Ardath"[[note]]An open field close to Babylon, in the [[Literature/TheBible Apocryphal Book of Esdras]].[[/note]]. He feels he's known and loved her since before the beginning, but once he gets there she ascends to heaven before his eyes. Bereft, he passes out in the middle of the field, and this is where the story really starts.

* SceneryPorn: Corelli is at her best with her lush descriptions of wild storms over stern forbidding mountains, peaceful gardens and exquisite palaces and shrines. Like all her writing, it's extremely cinematic.

[[http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/corelli/index.html Marie Corelli]]'s ''Ardath'' (1889) is a Victorian fantasy about Theos Alwyn, a Creator/LordByron {{Expy}} with WritersBlock. At a mysterious [[ShangriLa monastery]] he seeks help from the master Heliobas, whom he's been told can induce AstralProjection in willing subjects. When Heliobas refuses to do this, Theos exerts his own considerable PsychicPowers (which he's unaware he has) and puts himself into this state. Upon waking he writes a new poem, ''Nourhalma'', and says he has met an angelic woman, Edris, who asks him to meet her at "Ardath"[[note]]An open field close to Babylon, in the [[Literature/TheBible Apocryphal Book of Esdras]].[[/note]]. He feels he's known and loved her since before the beginning, but once he gets there she ascends to heaven before his eyes. Bereft, he passes out in the middle of the field, and this is where the story really starts.

Marie Corelli was a Christian mystic/spiritualist and the author of many other Victorian fantasy-romances including ''Literature/ARomanceOfTwoWorlds''. Her stories often had strong [[AnAesop Aesops]] about the hypocrisy of society, unfairness towards women, and cold rationality without compassion or spirituality. She believed in universal health care and women's right to vote. She wrote of drug addiction in ''Wormwood'', illegitimacy in ''Innocent'', child suicide in ''The Mighty Atom'', internal combustion engines in ''The Devil's Motor''[[note]]this didn't stop her from buying a Daimler[[/note]], the benefits of atomic energy in ''The Secret Power'', and adapted the Theatre/{{Faust}} legend in ''The Sorrows of Satan'', which was made into a film. She was a friend of Creator/{{Ouida}}.