Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron LyttonBesprekingen

489 / 24 - Δεν ήταν κάτι ιδιαίτερο . Λες και διάβαζες σενάριο ταινία

It tells the story of the virtuous Greeks Glaucus and Ione, their escape from Pompeii amid the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 ce, and their eventual conversion to Christianity, against a background of Roman decadence and corrupt Eastern religion.

This is a very effective short ghost story about a haunted house in the middle of London, the typical place where no tenant has served out their term and all quitted after a day or two. The author builds up an atmosphere of thick horror and oppression very well within a few pages - "I felt as if some strange and ghastly exhalation were rising up from the chinks of that rugged floor, and filling the atmosphere with a venomous influence hostile to human life". The narrator is determined to find the true rational explanation for the hauntings as he refuses to believe in the supernatural and, in the end, he does identify the source, but it is based on a Medieval monkish curse. A gripping piece of writing.

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This is a richly written early 19th century novel. While the setting is suitably dramatic as per the title, the actual events of the impending eruption of Vesuvius and destruction of Pompeii are very much in the background, against the central plot of the rivalry between the Egyptian priest Arbaces and the Greek Glaucus over the same woman, Ione. Another priest Apaceides (who has converted to Christianity) is murdered by Arbaces and Glaucus is framed it. About to face a hungry lion in the arena, he is only saved by the apocalypse itself. This novel is very melodramatic and theatrical to the modern reader, but I enjoyed its richness, despite some occasional overlong digressions - though even these had their poignancy when compared to the ruins found in recent times.

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خمس مسرحيات إنجليزية بترجمة إبراهيم رمزي وتحقيق د. نجوى عانوس.
رحلة خلال مسرحيات تراثية إنجليزية بعضها مستلهم من قصص "ألف ليلة وليلة" والبعض الآخر يعتبر معالجة لشخصيات تاريخية لتمثل صراعات في عصرهم أو لتنتقد ما كانت تمثله تلك الشخصيات.
الترجمة إلى حد ما جيدة. المسرحيات بتتحسن بشكل تصاعدي من الاسوء للأفضل، مسرحية "غادة ليون" و "ريشيليو" مشتركين في البداية الواعدة ثم التوهان والنهاية المحبطة.
المسرحيات الأخيرة "لو أني ملك": فكرة وشخصيات رئيسية مثيرة للاهتمام، "القلب الميت"، و"بيزارو" هم من وجهة نظري الأفضل في المجموعة.

El narrador de esta desasosegante fábula de fantasmas, desoyendo los consejos de sus allegados, decide pasar una noche, junto con su criado y su perro, en una casa encantada situada en Londres, de la que todos los demás huyen despavoridos. Allí tal y como él esperaba, asiste a una serie de apariciones espeluznantes y descubre, a través de unas cartas, que la casa, muchos años atrás, fue el escenario de unos horribles crímenes. El secreto de todo parece encerrarse en una habitación vacía. Conectada a esta, la voluntad de un ser inmortal y perverso, uno de los que tuvo que ver con la casa en el pasado, ha creado y gobernado a distancia los extraños fenómenos.

La colonia romana, aristocrática y mercantil, de influencia griega y etrusca, exhibía su prosperidad en sus palacios, mercados, termas y teatros. En el año 79 una erupción del Vesubio la destruyó por completo. Unos pocos habitantes pudieron escapar, los demás murieron bajo varios metros de cenizas y piedras, asfixiados por los gases o abrasados por la lava. El amor entre Iona y Glauco es el centro de la historia magistralmente construida, donde el reflejo de costumbres, juegos y espectáculos de la ciudad es tan vivo como el de la psicología de los personajes o la destructiva furia del volcán.

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Not a story so much about the Pompeii volcanic event, but a love story set in Pompeii in the months leading up to the eruption and eventual destruction of Pompeii.
Long rambling soliloquys concerning religions, personal feelings, descriptions of the busy life of the times in that city.
For a modern reader, can be very boring (I merely scanned much of these passages that often ran two or more pages). The love story itself in interesting and there is great flavor of the times.
Dialogue is Shakespearean... thee, thow, dost....
I recommend based on the historic interest of the. book.½

A romance about an immortal. Elements of almost lovecraftian horror. Takes a long time to draw its female protagonist before the main elements start. Mixes in some real historical characters and events. Didn't like the ending but not because its not well written more because i was so invested in the story by then, i was hoping things would turn out differently. Overall just a really good supernatural/romance story. I'm pretty sure this was adapted into the film 'Hancock' with Will Smith.

Elements of this book were used to create a nazi cult to which most of the top nazis's were members. But thats not the authors fault, except that he wrote something way ahead of its time. I mean consider the fact that it was written in 1871 and at times i felt like i was watching an episode of startrek. I'd break it down into 3 parts, the start is decent the middle drags a bit as the author goes into too much detail concerning languages and other boring stuff but the last third is great. The main character starts having delusions of grandeur which are quite funny, then finds himself in a deadly if also somewhat amusing state of peril.

See my review of Zanoni here, and the discussion of The Haunted and the Haunters here.

Bulwer-Lytton’s novel Zanoni romanticized Rosicrucianism for 19th-century readers, and it became a staple of occultist bookshelves. It tells the story of a Rosicrucian adept in the 18th century whose use of the elixir of life has sustained him since the ancient Babylonian empire, and who ultimately sacrifices his magical immortality.

Zanoni refers to the adept’s Holy Guardian Angel or personal genius as “Adonai,” a usage later adopted by both Anna Kingsford and Aleister Crowley, among others. Golden Dawn founder MacGregor Mathers first became interested in the occult after reading Zanoni. He used “Zanoni” as a nickname; his wife and close friends called him “Zan” in conversation.

Zanoni also depicts an ordeal involving “The Guardian of the Threshold.” Madame Blavatsky would evolve this phrase into “the Dweller of the Threshold,” specifically citing Zanoni, and she affirmed the reality of the phenomenon, also referencing “Porphyry and other philosophers” regarding its nature. Blavatsky was so taken with the occult descriptions in Zanoni that the first volume of her Isis Unveiled quotes the novel for more than a full page. “Such,” she writes, “is the insufficient sketch of elemental beings void of divine spirit, given by one whom many with reason believed to know more than he was prepared to admit in the face of an incredulous public” (IU, I, 286).

Crowley later took up this thread in Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente, chapter IV, verse 34: “On the threshold stood the fulminant figure of Evil … .” In his commentary, he relates this figure explicitly to Zanoni’s exposition of “the Evil Persona, the Dweller on the Threshold, portrayed sensationally for the trade by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton.”

It is hard to overestimate the influence of Zanoni on occultists in the late 19th century, and the extent to which it was credited as an informed representation of magical adeptship.

Fragile condition

Well worth a read. The superior race, the real "terrestrials" who live underground are discovered by a man who is welcomed into their society and learns about their language, religions, social structure, politics, achievements, history, sex, and death. I found myself wondering what the Anas did regarding differing aspects of living and Bulwer-Lytton seemed to answer all my thoughts! I believe my reading of many H G Wells' stories before I read this helped as it followed the same sort of structure as a Wells story, and was set in the same time as most Wells' stories. I was very glad to have read this and glad it had a happy ending too - for the protagonist (though bleak for our humankind survival).

I believe this ghost story may be the first to convey the idea that belief is necessary to be harmed by apparitions.

*Partial spoilers ahead*

Essentially Pliny the Younger's "restless spirit" ghost story in a (relatively) modern setting, this 1859 novelette is one of the greatest haunted house tales in all of Western literature. M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft admired it, and the story's influence is palpable in virtually every haunted house yarn written since. It's also a masterpiece of mood and atmosphere, Lord Bulwer-Lytton's description of the ghostly phenomena encountered by the narrator retaining much of its potency despite the passage of 160 years.

It appears that there were two published versions of "The House and the Brain": A.) one ending with the solution of the haunted house mystery and B.) the slightly longer version I read, in which the narrator confronts the villain of the piece (the man whose mesmeric spell was responsible for all the trouble to begin with). Some critics feel that this last scene is an unnecessary appendage, but I enjoyed it. It lends some weight and reality to a character who would otherwise have been no more than a spectral presence in the story, and I think the Comte de Saint Germain would have gotten a kick out of it, too.

SUPER BOVRIL

Published anonymously in 1871 this novel follows in the traditions of a hollow earth theory already explored in [Niels Klim's Journey Under the ground] in 1741 and [Symzonia] in 1820. Like the previous two novels the protagonist describes a utopian society living someway below the earths surface, which is hollowed out and contains it's own atmosphere. Jules Verne also described a hollowed out earth in his Journey to the Centre of the earth (1864) but his hero's did not encounter any utopian societies. As in the previous two utopian novels the book is a first person account by a man who penetrates beneath the surface of the Earth and discovers a race of humanoids (the Vril-ya). Their life style, culture and society is one of harmony and ease compared with the life on the surface of the earth, but of course utopia is not for everyone and like the hero's of the previous books our man risks his life to get back to the civilization that he knows.

Bulwer-Lytton spends most of his energies describing the society of the Vril-ya. There are 29 chapters and the first five describe the circumstances of the narrators descent and reception by the Vril-ya and it is not until chapter 25 that the story starts up again with the narrator planning his escape. This is not an adventure novel, but a description of a utopian society and although the narrator is never entirely comfortable, for the most part he is on a voyage of discovery. He cannot of course help but compare his own society (he is an American by birth) with what he finds in the underground world. In this respect it is quite similar to Thomas More's Utopia from the early sixteenth century, but the difference here is the substance from which the race takes it's name: vril. It strikes the narrator as being like electricity, but in the form of an all permeating liquid that can do almost anything once properly handled and understood. It lights the underworld, it provides power, it can be harnessed as a death ray by almost anybody, it powers airboats, and individual wings for flight, it runs the automatons that do much of the menial work, it heals and cures, and gives the powers of mind reading and telepathy. This unique substance has enabled the Vril-ya to become masters of their environment and has taken away the need for striving and competition. There is no need for war, there is no crime and the city is run for the benefit of all, with the motto of

"A poor man's need is a rich man's shame"

However our narrator is not convinced:

"I longed for a change, even to winter, or storm, or darkness. I began to feel that, whatever our dreams of perfectibility, our restless aspirations towards a better, and higher, and calmer, sphere of being, we, the mortals of the upper world, are not trained or fitted to enjoy for long the very happiness of which we dream or to which we aspire."

Generally speaking the females are better at controlling the Vril and they have developed into the most powerful sex, but choose to live in harmony with the males. The females make all the moves in choosing a mate, but once married they settle into domesticity and hang up their wings. Much of the energy in the society comes from a youth culture dominated by the females.

Bulwer-lytton paints the society as completely alien to the surface world with the threat once mentioned by the Vril-ya almost in passing that when the time is right they will go up to the surface. The narrator sees a coldness behind the harmony of the Vril-ya and is in no doubt that they see themselves as the master race. His unease even when he is shown kindness and friendship keeps the reader in suspense for what may happen. The majority of the book is however a description of an alien culture, and Bulwer-Lytton seems to be indulging his own interests when he spends a chapter on the development of their language. This may be fascinating to those readers interested in linguistics, but for others that want to get on with the story then it might feel a bit like a cul-de-sac. The story does eventually pick up and the uneasiness felt by the narrator is well justified, but of course we know that he lived to tell his tale. This short novel does have its longueurs, but it is well written and deserves its place in the canon of proto science fiction. It was quite popular in the nineteenth century and the word vril became associated with life giving elixirs. There was a Vril-ya Bazaar held at the Royal Albert Hall in 1891. 3.5 stars (I prefer Marmite)½

ZANONI O EL SECRETO DE LOS INMORTALES

Edward Bulwer Lytton,
el célebre autor de «Los últimos dias de Pompeya
realizó algunas sobresalientes incursiones
en la literatura fantástica,
como «Zanoniv o ca Strange Story»
La larga sombra del vampiro ha oscurecido
a los demás inmortales góticos, como Fausto
el Judio Errante, o Zanoni, el cual pertenece
a una sociedad secreta -más antigua que los Rosac
que utilizaba el poder de la vida eterma
para buenos propósitos.

El personaje central de la narración
es un ser misterioso, de origen desconocido
de quien se cuentan cosas extraordinarias
que vive consagrado a sus estudios herméticos
hasta que se enamora de la bella Viola Pisani,
ídolo de la ópera de Nápoles.
Desde ese momento, los amantes estarán sometidos
a toda suerte de vicisitudes; un drama mágico
que concluye durante los días del Terror,
bajo el imperio de Robespierre y la sombra
ominosa de la guillotina.

ZANONI O EL SECRETO DE LOS INMORTALES

EDWARD BULWER LYTTON
el célebre autor de Los últimos dias de Pompeya,
realizó algunas sobresalientes incursiones en la literatura
fantástica, como Zanoni o A Strange Story. La larga
sombra del vampiro ha oscurecido a los demás inmortales
góticos, como Fausto, el Judío Errante, o
Zanoni, el cual pertenece a una sociedad secreta
más antigua que los Rosacruces- que utilizaba el
poder de la vida eterna para buenos propósitos.

El personaje central de la narración es un ser misterioso,
de origen desconocido y de quien se cuentan
cosas extraordinarias, que vive consagrado a sus
estudios herméticos hasta que se enamora de la bella
Viola Pisani, ídolo de la ópera de Nápoles. Desde
ese momento, los amantes estarán sometidos a toda
suerte de vicisitudes. Un drama mágico que concluye
durante los días del Terror, bajo el imperio de
Robespierre y la sombra ominosa de la guillotina

LA RAZA VENIDERA

La Raza venidera es una obra maestra de la sátira
utópica y un extraordinario logro de la imaginación
profética. Anticipa con extraordinaria precisión el moderno
surgimiento de la mujer, los desarrollos de la
energía nuclear y la tecnología láser, y los terribles
genocidios étnicos que llevarían a cabo pretendidas
razas superiores. Una de las primeras novelas de
ciencia ficción de la literatura inglesa.

«En La Raza venidera, lord Lytton representa a un
vulgar hombre de nuestro tiempo atrapado por
accidente en un país subterráneo habitado por una raza
varios cientos de años por delante de nosotros en la
evolución. Y, esta teoría de la evolución, introduce
algo así como un método científico en la novela
moderna.»

George Bernard Shaw

«Hace ya bastante tiempo que hemos aprendido a
reverenciar el fino intelecto de Bulwer. Podemos coger
una cualquiera de las producciones de su pluma con
la seguridad de que, al leerla, las más salvajes pasiones
de nuestra naturaleza, nuestros más profundos
pensamientos, las más brillantes visiones de nuestra
fantasía y las más ennoblecedoras y elevadas de nuestras
aspiraciones serán, a su debido turno, encendidas en
nuestro interior.»

Edgar Allan Poe

LA RAZA FUTURA

La novela La Raza Futura, cuya traducción al castellano
ofrecemos a nuestros lectores, es una exploración
del porvenir; tanto más sorprendente cuanto
fue escrita en 1871, en una época en que la ciencia,
la mecánica y la electricidad se encontraban
en un estado casi embrionario. Lord Lytton
se revela como escritor de clara intuición, rayana
en clarividencia; de otra manera no hubiera
podido desplegar ante el lector un panorama del
desenvolvimiento humano tan avanzado; el cual,
si cuando escribió la obra pudo considerarse
como fantasía irrealizable, hoy, ante los progresos
de las ciencias, de la mecánica, de la electricidad
aplicada y, sobre todo, de la aeronáutica, nos
ha de parecer no sólo realizable, sino en curso
de realización.

El hecho mismo de situar en el centro
de la tierra el escenario y el medio ambiente
del relato es, en clerto modo, simbólico;
parece como si el autor quisiera indicar
que la humanidad, para alcanzar el grado de
perfección de la raza futura y más avanzada,
cuyo cuadro nos presenta, tendrá que adentrarse
más en sí misma.