Totally Relevant

Because it was OBVIOUSLY done with vril. Yeah.

An Exquisite Clutter of a Novel

Edward Bulwer-Lytton's newest novel The Coming Race presents the reader with a nearly overwhelming number of intellectual topics as the unnamed protagonist journeys into the nether world of the Vril-ya people. As the protagonist encounters the Vril-ya race, which is physically and intellectually superior to the human race, he makes comparisons between his own American society and the utopian one of the Vril-ya on social, political, scientific, religious, linguistic, and sexual issues.

The first half of the novel, though immensely intellectually stimulating, lacks the sort of constant plot development one might expect from a novel. The protagonist consistently bombards the reader with information concerning the Vril-ya people. Consequently, the first half reads more like a historical text rather than a novel.

In the second half, however, the plot generates momentum as the relationship between the protagonist and his physically and intellectually gigantic female friend Zee threatens to become more than Platonic. The plot culminates with the narrow escape of the protagonist and his return to the human world.

Through the Vril-ya people, Bulwer-Lytton challenges the reader to think beyond the American way of life, especially when it comes to gender role issues. The female Vril-ya, the Gy-ei, fill the masculine gender role and dominate the society. Faced with this scenario, the reader has no choice but to look at human society and sexual issues and question the status quo. The Coming Race may not become the first choice of escapist literature seekers, but it has plenty of thought-provoking material to become the hot topic at salons for months to come.

They vs. Us ...

Written almost like a travel journal, "The Coming Race," is one man's journey into a civilization below the crust of our world written by Lord Lytton. The narrator is never named and the date of his travel is not important. What information we do receive as readers about the narrator, is origin of his family and the occupations and status they enjoyed. The text begins with several pages of brief explanation as to why and how the narrator journeyed toward the center of the earth with his companion the engineer. Although a troubling experience ends the life of the petty engineer, our brave narrator continues, having no other option, to explore the land below the Earth's surface. He shares amazing descriptions in long detailed sections about the setting and the "humans" he encounters, painting the most vivid of pictures for his audience. From the moment he meets them, the narrator sets himself apart for the Vril-ya by questioning its human status before settling on the idea that the first one he meets "reminded [him] of symbolical images of Genius or Demon that are seen on Etruscan vases or limmed on the walls of Eastern sepulchres ..." Our narrator acknowledges that the first human-like creature he meets has the face of the sphinx, in all its kind and intelligent beauty. Lord Lytton's tale is similar to Kipling's Jungle Book on many levels, where Mowgli would be likened to our narrator, where they were both placed (albeit accidentally) in a world unlike their own. Where Mowgli was young and impressionable, our narrator appears to be older and able to compare the world above to this world below. Both are taken in by one particular member of the important tribe, Mowgli to Mother Wolf and our narrator to Tae and his father. Both Tae and the Wolves stand against the remainder of their tribe for the safety of their guests, even in the faces of doubt and possible fear. This would place them on a level playing field, by the narrator retains his above world status, seemingly entitled to the information the Vril-ya shared with him, while never volunteering too much about his own world. In all, this near plotless text, about a man finding a world unlike his own and remaining to the learn the customs is a major been there, done that several times idea. Sure, there is a love story and the narrator attempts to teach us all that the Vril-ya, while very different, are similar to us as well. They live in a peaceful world with technology far superior to our own, but seem to draw from an origin similar to our own. That is, however, the point; they are not us and the narrator does a good job of remaining an outsider despite all attempts to bring him in. The texts ends sadly, in my opinion, with our guide having to return back to the surface without his lady love. On the bright side, the society around him can benefit from knowing that although the people from other countries and, possibly, other worlds may seem different from us because of how far away they live, we are all cut from the same cloth and stand to learn from them.

The Coming Race Here? Bulwer-Lytton's Novel May be One Before its Time.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming Race is a novel that expresses the inspirations and fears that resulted from the Industrial Revolution, Darwin's theory of evolution, and other rapid growths that occurred during Victorian England. The protagonist of the story (unnamed, for "confidential" reasons)falls down a mine shaft into the subterranean world of a superior, humanoid race. These people, the Vril-ya, have mastered the world around them by obtaining a substance called Vril. Vril seems to be the substance that heals, destroys, connects, and controls all living things. As a result, the Vril-ya live in the "perfect" society without any conflicts, wars, or ambitions to entertain. It seems that even laughter (as surface-dwelling humans recognize) and other emotional qualities have been erased from this "perfect" race. The society in which the Vril-ya live is completely different than the one our Victorian protagonist is accustomed to. The narrator attempts to explain to the reader the language, religion, government, and social aspects of the Vril-ya, never forgetting to compare and contrast their ways to the ways of the surface world (present and past; ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome are mentioned frequently.) It isn't until much of the Vril-ya's ways are (attempted to be) clarified for the reader that the actual plot of the story continues. Our protagonist appears to enjoy most of the Vril-ya's ways of life (except for flying, which he is just not prepared for, evolutionarily,) and
he becomes rather close to some of these people. Eventually, all things must come to an end-- especially if one is wrapped up in interracial love triangles with the local females-- and our protagonist is returned to his surface world by his main love interest. Although the protagonist appears to assimilate back into the surface world, he writes about his adventures with the Vril-ya and to warn the human race on the surface of the earth about "the coming race" below.

I found it very hard to do a review on this novel as if I were living in Victorian England. Most of the "advanced" ways of the Vril-ya seemed second-nature to me. Modern humans can control technology with a simple touch (as the Vril-ya control their technology and Vril,) can shock enemies with electric rods (DON'T TASE ME, BRO!) and can even fly (though not with wings, but I'm sure there will be technology similar to that in the near future. Jet packs, anyone?) Even the Gy being the superior sex to the Ana is supported by modern feminists and pop culture. The fact that the Gy-ei propose to the Ana does not seem entirely out of place (does (Mean Girls ring any bells?)Even the notion of single Gy-ei, such as Zee, being the scholars does not seem alien to modern times. Female undergraduates outnumber males in universities.* The Coming Raceis a novel to which modern people can relate. The plot of the unnamed protagonist falling down a mine shaft to discover a race (far superior to his own) living underneath the earth's crust seems like the trailer to a summer blockbuster to be seen in IMAX 3-D. The inventions of the Vril-Ya (the subterranean, yet superior, race) do not completely stand out in the mind of a modern reader as it would in the Victorian reader. I can only imagine how the customs of the Vril-ya would not only shock but frighten the Victorian society. In a world where patriarchal, imperialism reigned supreme the idea of a society where everyone shares the wealth and women are sexually superior would seem inconceivable. Perhaps this is why the Vril-ya seem too good to be true, even to the protagonist. They are too perfect. I wonder what Bulwer-Lytton would think of the world above the surface in 2010? Would he liken us to his coming race?

*information confirmed at http://chronicle.com/article/Female-Undergraduates-Continue/63726/

In Pursuit of the Almighty Dollar

In Pursuit of the Almighty Dollar ...

Born of "blue blood," and super good looks, Lord Lytton comes from a long line of notables, from knights to captains of Queen Elizabeth's bodyguards and on to members of the Long Parliament. It was only accepted for our Lord Edward George Lytton Bulwer to become a spectacular as those of his heritage. Quickly, he learned to read and write due to the near intense teachings of his mother. By the age of 5, he was already writing his first verses. At 15, Edward was the author of "Ismael: an Oriental tale," (1820). From here forward, pressured, perhaps by his lineage, but more so by his mother, Edward went on to become a prolific novelist. His lavish lifestyle, which needed to be paid, for was also a factor in his needed a career. Edward wrote several more texts, became a member of the House of Commons and later the House of Lords, was a playwright and embarked on a successful in politics and was even driven into a Byronic melancholy from losing a lover from his youth (in 1820) to a another man before his death in 1873. Before his painful death and the separation from his wife, Edward was involved in several extramarital affairs and even Edward's friendship with Edgar Allen Poe has been studied by scholars. Considered an inspiration, Poe highly regarded Lord Lytton and often reviewed his work. It was the years before his death, when he was becoming ill that Edward became to write the anonymously published "Coming Race." Given how Edward dappled in different genres, from crime to history to fashion and all in between, it seems only fitting that he write a science fiction novel. This may have been one of his final published works, but it was also considered the opening to the world of science-fiction. His inspiration for the largely feminist text, however, may have come from his mother's overwhelming influence on his life.

=> Even Lil Wayne drew from Lord Lytton in his song "A Mili," writing "Cuz my seconds, minutes, hours go to the all mighty dollar and the all mighty power ..." To me, this obviously means that Edward George Lytton-Bulwer made it.

It was a dark and stormy night...

When Edward Bulwer-Lytton died in 1873 he was one of the most revered and respected writers in England with several best selling novels and a considerable fortune. History, however, has not been kind to Lord Bulwer-Lytton. By the turn of the century his overly romantic style, called “Bulwerese” was regarded as overly florid and thought to detract from his novels. Bulwer-Lytton was regarded as little more than an opportunist preying on the desires of the public by feeding them a precursor to pulp fiction. Today, unfortunately, much of the same holds true. It seems that the most enduring legacy of Edward Bulwer-Lytton is a writing contest parodying the famous opening of his novel, “Paul Clifford,” which begins “It was a dark and stormy night”. The point of the contest is to write the most terrible opening sentence to an imaginary novel. Past winners have tapped in to Bulwer-Lytton’s use of rapid changes in point of view, diffuse language and false sentimentality. Here are the winners from the past. Besides this one sentence Bulwer-Lytton also is credited with having coined the phrases “the pen is mightier than the sword”; “the unwashed mass”; and “pursuit of the almighty dollar”.
To limit our knowledge of Edward Bulwer-Lytton to a handful of quotations would be to gravely error in recognizing one of the most popular and certainly most prolific writers of the Victorian era.
Bulwer was born the 25 May 1803 the youngest of three sons to Elizabeth Barbara Lytton and General William Earle Bulwer. His father passed away in 1807 and his mother moved him and his brothers to London. Edward was a sickly child and so rather than follow his brothers he remained at home with his mother who educated him from an early age. In 1819 after a distinguished childhood of education Edward attended Trinity College at Cambridge but shortly transferred to Trinity Hall in order to avoid attending lectures. Although Bulwer-Lytton had published several volumes of poetry it wasn’t until he met and married Rosina Doyle Wheeler that his work lost its Byronic and derivative qualities. With the marriage of Rosina, Edward’s mother retracted his allowance and he was forced for the first time to work for a living. Edward worked tirelessly and turned out a prodigious amount of works between 1827 and 1837. He published thirteen novels, two long poems, one political pamphlet, four plays, a social history of England, a three-volume history of Athens, and all the tales collected in “The Student” as well as writing for the Edinburgh Review, the Westminster Review, the Monthly Chronicle, the Examiner, and the Literary Gazette. He also edited the New Monthly Magazine for two years. One beneficial result of all this work is that it allowed the young couple to engage in the fashionable world of high living, masquerades and glamour, prestige and politics, fops and dandies that his wife was accustomed to. This world that he moved in was a source for some of Bulwer-Lytton’s early fiction. Unfortunately, given how hard Edward worked there was no room in his life for Rosina and their marriage fell apart and in 1836 they officially separated. To fill the void left by the loss of his wife and children Bulwer-Lytton embarked on a career in Parliament which he continued off and on throughout the rest of his life. When Bulwer-Lytton died he had written some 32 novels and countless other plays, pamphlets, poems, and anonymous treatises. He was one of the most read authors of his time probably second only to Dickens.