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It is hard to imagine that
A Second Coming (1900) by Richard Marsh, a heartfelt, thought-provoking, and haunting novel about the second coming of The Christ, was written by the same man who gave us the forgettable Gothic-Horror of
The Beetle (1897). Where
The Beetle was bland, tame, and crudely written, A Second Coming is philosophically challenging, often fiery, and even sporadically elegant.
Marsh takes a fascinating concept, the second coming of Jesus Christ in Victorian England, and uses it as a launching pad to tackle - with searing intelligence and compassion - hypocrisy, corruption, injustice, socialism, and the failure of organized religion. Christ, or The Stranger, as Marsh calls him in the book, arrives suddenly and quietly in London, and soon after, begins to perform one miracle after another, quickly gathering a few disciples. But his arrival, like the last time he came to Man, produces shock waves through British society, as The Stranger's actions and words challenge the way things are, highlighting the hypocrisy and cruelty at the heart of the modern world.
Marsh's take is passionate and angry. He takes Victorian society, and modern society in general, to task, showcasing the contradictory way many people view religion; the arrogance of religious hierarchy; and the anger and selfishness at the heart of almost all ideologies, especially socialism and anarchism, which Marsh skewers.
One wonders why this book, with its timeless philosophical musings and its focus on compassion, isn't more well-known. That's not to say that this is a great novel. It's not. Marsh's almost impressionistic descriptions are too sparse for their own good, with the writing often coming off as myopic, and his tendency to focus on dialogue, gives the book a stagy quality that can be unappealing to some readers. But the novel's strength lies in its readability, its passionate heart, and its affecting portrayal of The Stranger/Jesus Christ.
From its captivating opening chapter to its somber final scene, A Second Coming is an unforgettable, well-told tale, and more timely than ever. Highly recommended.
Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.
Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer
