The Beetle

by Richard Marsh

Overview

The Beetle (1897) is a novel by Richard Marsh. Immensely popular upon publication, The Beetle was an instant bestseller and went on to inspire a 1919 silent film adaptation starring Maudie Dunham. Despite its success, the novel was largely forgotten until scholarly attention in the late-20th century highlighted its importance to the fields of gothic fiction, postcolonial criticism, and women and gender studies. “To have tramped about all day looking for work; to have begged even for a job which would give me money enough to buy a little food; and to have tramped and to have begged in vain,—that was bad. But, sick at heart, depressed in mind and in body, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, to have been compelled to pocket any little pride I might have left, […] and to solicit it in vain!—that was worse. Much worse.” Down on his luck, Robert Holt wanders the streets of London in search of food, a job, and shelter. Turned away from a Fulham workhouse, he finds himself standing before a seemingly abandoned house and, with nowhere to go, cautiously enters. There, he comes face to face with the mysterious Beetle, a figure from ancient Egypt who controls his subjects with mesmerism. Soon, Robert is used to commit a series of crimes against Paul Lessingham, a powerful member of the House of Commons. As the plot unfolds, a love triangle involving Lessingham, the beautiful Marjorie Lindon, and a vindictive chemist named Sydney Atherton falls victim to the scheming Beetle. This edition of Richard Marsh’s The Beetle is a classic work of British horror fiction reimagined for modern readers.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789357270083
Publisher:	Double 9 Booksllp
Publication date:	04/22/2022
Pages:	338
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.76(d)

About the Author

Richard Marsh (1857-1915) was the pseudonym of bestselling English author Richard Bernard Heldmann. Born in North London to Jewish parents, he began publishing adventure stories for boys in 1880. He soon found work as co-editor of Union Jack, a weekly boy’s magazine, but this arrangement ended by June 1883 with his arrest for cheque forgery. Sentenced to eighteen months of hard labor, Heldmann emerged from prison and began using his pseudonym by 1888. The Beetle (1897), his most commercially successful work, is a classic of the horror genre that draws on the tradition of the sensation novel to investigate such concerns of late-Victorian England as poverty, the New Woman, homosexuality, and empire. Published the same year as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Beetle was initially far more popular and sold out on its first printing almost immediately. His other works, though less successful, include The Goddess: A Demon (1900) and A Spoiler of Men (1905), both pioneering works of horror and science fiction. A prolific short story writer, he was published in Cornhill Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Belgravia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Richard Marsh: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text

The Beetle

Appendix A: London in the fin de siècle

1. From Walter Besant, All Sorts and Conditions of Men (1882)
2. From Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)
3. From Henry James, “London” (1888)
4. From Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four (1890)
5. From Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)
6. From Arthur Machen, The Three Impostors (1895)
7. From Arthur Morrison, A Child of the Jago (1896)

Appendix B: The New Woman

1. From Ouida, “The New Woman,” North American Review (May 1894)
2. From Sarah Grand, “The New Aspect of the Woman Question,” North American Review (March 1894)
3. From Nat Arling, “What is the Rôle of the ‘New Woman?’,” Westminster Review (November 1898)
4. From Kathleen Caffe, “A Reply from Daughters,” The Nineteenth Century (March 1894)

Appendix C: English Interest and Involvement in Egypt

1. From Georgia Louise Leonard, “The Occult Sciences in the Temples of Ancient Egypt,” The Open Court (1887)
2. From J.Norman Lockyer, “The Astronomy and Mythology of the Ancient Egyptians,” The Nineteenth Century (July 1892)
3. From “Egypt,” London Quarterly Review (April 1884)
4. From “Our Position in Egypt,” The Speaker (19 October 1891)

Appendix D: Mesmerism and Animal Magnetism

1. From Joseph W. Haddock, Somnolism & Psycheism; or, the Science of the Soul and the Phenomena of Nervation, as Revealed by Vital Magnetism or Mesmerism, Considered Physiologically and Philosophically, with Notes of Mesmeric and Psychical Experience (1851)
2. From James Esdaile, Natural and Mesmeric Clairvoyance, with the Practical Application of Mesmerism in Surgery and Medicine (1852)
3. From “Magic and Mesmerism,” Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine, 50 (1843)
4. From Romulus Katscher, “Mesmerism, Spiritualism and Hypnotism,” The Literary Digest (21 February 1891)

Works Cited and Recommended Reading

Editorial Reviews

…a weird and gripping tale…

The New York Times Book Review - Danielle Trussoni

12/02/2019

Ripe with melodrama and purple prose, this ripping horror classic from Marsh, first published in 1897, epitomizes the style of the Victorian penny dreadful. Four sections, each narrated by a different character, interlock to relate the tale of an ancient Egyptian entity known as the child of Isis, who has traveled to London to torment Paul Lessingham, a member of Parliament, and his fiancée, Marjorie Lindon, as revenge for an indiscretion Paul committed during his travels in Egypt two decades earlier. Marsh creates an eerie atmosphere by keeping his story’s supernaturalism tantalizingly ambiguous; it’s never clear whether the occasional transformations of the child of Isis into the insect of the title are genuine or illusory. An overly chatty cast slows the tale’s pace to a crawl and their penchant for conveniently fainting or falling into gibbering incoherence during dramatic moments reduces the novel to a clump of sensational set pieces. Though some readers will enjoy this novel’s maximalist gothic flourishes, others will find the tale a bit over the top. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

The Beetle has it all: it’s at once a ripping gothic yarn, a fin de siècle melodrama, and a document of the fears and obsessions of late imperial culture. Julian Wolfreys’ introduction is excellent, bringing lots of fascinating material to bear on the novel and doing so clearly and persuasively. He makes you want to read it.” — Jonathan Dollimore, author of Sexual Dissidence and Death, Desire and Loss in Western Culture

“The Beetle is a great read. As Julian Wolfreys’ admirably learned, perceptive, and comprehensive introduction, appendices, and notes show, it is also a wonderful assemblage of many motifs from popular culture at the fin de siècle. I enthusiastically recommend this book.” — J. Hillis Miller, University of California, Irvine

“For far too long we have had to do without an edition of one of the key best-selling novels of the fin de siècle, Richard Marsh’s The Beetle. Broadview has once again come to the rescue with a new edition of this lurid classic that at one time outsold Dracula. Featuring useful appendices and with an extensive introduction by Julian Wolfreys, this edition will be coveted by everyone interested in late Victorian fiction.” — Nicholas Daly, Trinity College, Dublin

From the Publisher

03/01/2022

Marsh's tale of an ancient Egyptian shape-shifting creature—the titular Beetle—seeking revenge against a British politician may not be widely known today, but when it was released in 1897, it substantially outsold Bram Stoker's Dracula, which was published the same year. The plot unfolds from the point of view of four people. Robert Holt is a clerk who meets the Beetle on a dark and stormy night and is mind-controlled by him into stealing letters from a politician named Paul Lessingham. Sydney Atherton agrees to help the Beetle, in exchange for the love of Marjorie Lindon and later for the creature's help in saving his friend's life. Marjorie Lindon is a politician's daughter who has romantic connections to both Lessingham and Atherton and is eventually captured by the Beetle. The story's final section is told from the point of view of Augustus Champnell, a detective who takes Lessingham's confession about his involvement in a cult devoted to Isis, which has led to the Beetle's obsession with him. Gunnar Cauthery, Jonathan Aris, Natalie Simpson, and Andrew Wincott provide resonant, compelling narration. VERDICT Fans of gothic novels and 19th-century horror shouldn't miss this excellent production.—Stephanie Klose

Library Journal - Audio

01/01/2020

Originally published the same year as Bram Stoker's Dracula, in 1897, Marsh's chilling story was more popular than the classic vampire novel during its time. This reissue includes broader historical context, lists of further reading, and discussion questions. Drawing on a Victorian fascination with the dark powers of the Egyptian scarab, the tale begins with Holt, a homeless man, who enters a deserted building. He sees an insect transform into a deformed man. The man then commands Holt to break into the home of a member of Parliament, setting the stage for a tale of intrigue, love, and revenge told through four narrators, each describing their personal encounters with the mysterious, shape-shifting Beetle, all while a visceral threat to the whole of England emerges. The plot itself, while bordering on silly at times, nevertheless manages to tackle some serious issues of class, gender, sexual, and ethnic identity while still providing plenty of satisfying chills. VERDICT Like many Victorian-era gothic tales, this will appeal to a wide range of readers. The universal ick factor of creepy crawlies additionally ensures that this crowdpleaser from the past will continue to strike fear in the hearts and minds of 21st-century readers.

Library Journal

Although largely unknown to American audiobook listeners, all five of these rich, distinctive voices demonstrate extensive experience in British theater and television. Together they evoke the atmosphere of Victorian privilege and decorum that defines this forgotten gothic thriller. A series of four proper Britishers recount their struggles against an ancient Egyptian cult. A fifth voice, John Foley, announces the chapter titles and serves to link both the narrative and the narrators. The plot may be a bit dated, but that's part of its genre appeal, and its prevailing creepiness. This fine ensemble delivers the maximum wallop out of its antique thrills and builds a sense of menace that's hard to shake. Those with entomophobia would be wise to pass on this title. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2023 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2023 - AudioFile

Although largely unknown to American audiobook listeners, all five of these rich, distinctive voices demonstrate extensive experience in British theater and television. Together they evoke the atmosphere of Victorian privilege and decorum that defines this forgotten gothic thriller. A series of four proper Britishers recount their struggles against an ancient Egyptian cult. A fifth voice, John Foley, announces the chapter titles and serves to link both the narrative and the narrators. The plot may be a bit dated, but that's part of its genre appeal, and its prevailing creepiness. This fine ensemble delivers the maximum wallop out of its antique thrills and builds a sense of menace that's hard to shake. Those with entomophobia would be wise to pass on this title. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2023 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2023 - AudioFile