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/
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Though I agree with you that we, 21-century-readers, are kind of accustomed to both the idea of other 'human' species and technological advancement, I still see the Vril-ya as 'superior,' at least technologically. They have a power, the Vril, which exceeds everything we have discovered so far. I mean, we do not have any singular substance, power, or whatever that can heal and destroy and hypnotize and serve as an energy source etc. The idea of a people such as the Vril-ya still disturbed and shocked me, especially in the first part of the novel. They seem to be so 'cold' as they lack a lot of emotions (though they still can love, feel sorrow or be jealous), they are detached and so rational in their decisions and behavior (most of the time). And they are highly arrogant, especially when they speak about the "savage" people, the common Ana. In being so "perfect," they lack something human, I think. I fear and pity them at the same time. The most disturbing scene (to me) is the scene when Tish goes with the child Tae to the lake in order to destroy the reptil. One thing is that Tish is used as a decoy against his will, in other words: he is made will-less by Tae. The other aspect is that Tae apparently enjoys using the destructive power of Vril as he says:
ReplyDelete"'I have destroyed larger creatures, but none with so much pleasure.' (...) Then he took up the poor fishes that had flung themselves ashore, and restored them mercifully to their native element" (p. 117, broadview edition).
It is the grotesque combination of the words 'destroy,' 'pleasure,' and 'merciful,' used by a thought-to-be-innocent child, which made me shiver.
I am still indecisive what I should think of this novel. On the one hand, there is this disturbing idea of the Vril-ya. But on the other hand, there are thought-provoking passages, interesting and beautiful ones, and one of my favorite chapters was the chapter about the language, and especially the explanation of the word for poetry:
"Aub is invention; Sila, a tone in music. Glaubsila, as uniting the ideas of invention and of musical intonation, is the classical word for poetry" (p. 72).
What a wonderful idea!
Contrary to some opinions we heard in class today, I do not think that this novel is outdated. You are right in stating that we made progress concerning the role of women in society, but the concept of the stronger Gy-ei first irritated me (but probably not as much as the Victorian reader), so this shows: we still don't have this inversion of gender roles. And there is so much more going on in this novel (not plot-wise, though) which I cannot completely comprehend yet.
A side note: looking for the quotations, I remembered the discussion about the evolution of the Vril-ya and if they know something about the upper world; and I found the following explanation by Zee:
" With our race, therefore, even before the discovery of vril, only the highest organisations were preserved, and there is among our ancient books a legend, once popularly believed, that we were driven from a region that seems to denote the world you come from, in order to perfect our condition and attain to the purest elimination ouf our species (...) and that, when our education shall become finally completed, we are destined to return to the upper world, and supplant all the inferior races now existing therein" (p. 88).
I wonder if they still believe in this "legend"?
The recurring thought I had while reading the novel was in line with your thoughts, Freddie. As a society we are at a point where technology will surpass the ability of the human mind in our lifetimes. However, if we read more carefully the theory of evolution we will see that much of the factors that cause evolution are not at issue in our modern life. Modern health care, clothing, housing, improvements in nutrition all have helped in allowing less than ideal candidates for survival to not only survive but to thrive. We will not evolve out of big toes because there is no genetic or reproductive advantage for either small or big toes and thus they genes for both will continue to get passed down equally. It seems then that since we have come to a point of reduced evolution it will need to be a new "race" or creature that supplants us. That was rather digressive, I apologize.
ReplyDeleteI think also that the idea of the vril is a fascinating and engaging one for readers. There is something fantastic about a force, a power, or whatever you want to call it that is beyond our comprehension. It is impossible to explain what it is in human terms because it is not something familiar to human experience. We can say it is like electricity or like nuclear energy but it is not either of these. There is now as there was then a fascination with the unknown and its potential. Perhaps when our robot masters rise up they will discover the real vril.
I feel like The Coming Race is not outdated, but rather over-relevant. The themes and concepts expressed in this influential text have been completely absorbed into our society. At one time humans with wings still had an aura of magic about them, but we have been exposed to so many examples of this trope and are so intoxicated with the concept of human progress that instead of "HOLY COW WINGS!" our attitude is "Yeah, we can do that. Just give us a few years."
ReplyDeleteJeffrey, I think you're being a little pessimistic. It's true we have to be supplanted by a new race, but I think we've gotten to the point where we can form ourselves into that new race using technology. We've bypassed evolution in one way, in that not only the strongest survive-- why not bypass it in another way and evolve in an entirely new direction? I'm thinking cyborgs and nanobots in bloodstreams, all that fun stuff.
And I do think that the vril-ya are eerily cold. They don't seem to have anything to strive for. They aren't trying to make anything BETTER, they're only trying to keep things the same. This drive, this pushing forward is what has always characterized humanity-- the deliberation involved in our evolution and our conscious striving for something better. I think that when the vril-ya gave that up they lost all claim to being human and became something else entirely. I can't judge whether that thing is better or worse, but I will say I prefer intensity to perfection/stagnation.