The Young Diana: An Experiment of the Future
by Marie Corelli
On the surface, this book bears a strong resemblance to Black Oxen. Like that novel's author, Gertrude Atherton, Corelli seemingly had a passing interest in rejuvenation experiments.
However, their two works on the subject are quite different.
The central character in Atherton's story (an aged aristocrat) is already young when we meet her. The storyline of the Black Oxen could probably have had this fantastic element removed and still be coherent.
SPOILERS
That is not true of The Young Diana. Diana May ("The Young Diana") is a spurned London "lady bachelor" who feigns her own death to leave her unloving and uncaring parents. (However, she is a character that the reader * can * "care about".)
Answering a strange advertisement, Diana undergoes a year-long series of experiments which make her as youthful and even more beautiful as ever. These are performed by the flawed but not totally evil Dr. Dimitrius.
Upon completion of the process in Geneva, she returns home and seeks vengeance upon her former suitor, Reginald Cleeve. She also coldly revisits her parents' home.
The story ends with her living a presumed eternal life but drastically changed inside.
Using a synopsis in Strickland's "Science Fiction Films" volume I, the filmed plot varies from the book. Dimitrius uses mental telepathy to lure Diana's Cleeve away from the altar. He then performs his experiments on her. Years later, she meets Cleeve again. Outwardly young, her aging heart suffers an attack and she dies.
The 1922 film, starring Marion Davies ("friend", shall we say, of William Randolf Hearst) is lost according to FJA's 1993 Wonderama. A shame. The one still in Strickland makes me think it might have been a spectacle.
In any event, we still have this recommended novel.
written: 11/11/2001