87-524: Vril: The Power of the Coming Race , originally published as The Coming Race , is a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton , published anonymously in 1871. Some readers have believed the account of a superior subterranean master race and the energy-form called "Vril", at least in part; some theosophists , notably Helena Blavatsky , William Scott-Elliot , and Rudolf Steiner , accepted the book as based on occult truth, in part. One 1960 book, The Morning of
174-497: A Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies from June 1858 to June 1859, choosing Richard Clement Moody as founder of British Columbia. He was created Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866. Bulwer-Lytton's works were well known in his time. He coined famous phrases like "pursuit of the almighty dollar ", " the pen is mightier than the sword ", " dweller on the threshold ", "the great unwashed", and
261-677: A Vril Society had been founded by General Karl Haushofer , a student of Russian magician and metaphysician Georges Gurdjieff . The book of Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels was published in German with the title: Aufbruch ins dritte Jahrtausend: von der Zukunft der phantastischen Vernunft (literally Departure into the Third Millennium: The Future of the Fantastic Reason ) in 1969. In his book Black Sun , Professor Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke refers to
348-497: A copy of " Captain Claridge 's work on the " Water Cure ", as practised by Priessnitz , at Graefenberg" and, "making allowances for certain exaggerations therein", pondered the option of travelling to Graefenberg, but preferred to find something closer to home, with access to his own doctors in case of failure: "I who scarcely lived through a day without leech or potion!". After reading a pamphlet by Doctor James Wilson, who operated
435-509: A few weeks later after a public outcry. This she chronicled in a memoir, A Blighted Life (1880). She continued attacking her husband's character for several years. The death of Bulwer's mother in 1843 meant his "exhaustion of toil and study had been completed by great anxiety and grief," and by "about the January of 1844, I was thoroughly shattered." In his mother's room at Knebworth House , which he inherited, he "had inscribed above
522-544: A hydropathic establishment with James Manby Gully at Malvern , he stayed there for "some nine or ten weeks", after which he "continued the system some seven weeks longer under Doctor Weiss, at Petersham ", then again at "Doctor Schmidt's magnificent hydropathic establishment at Boppart" (at the former Marienberg Convent at Boppard ), after developing a cold and fever upon his return home. The English Rosicrucian society, founded in 1867 by Robert Wentworth Little , claimed Bulwer-Lytton as their "Grand Patron", but he wrote to
609-449: A living. They had two children, Emily Elizabeth Bulwer-Lytton (1828–1848), and (Edward) Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton (1831–1891) who became Governor-General and Viceroy of British India (1876–1880). His writing and political work strained their marriage and his infidelity embittered Rosina. In 1833, they separated acrimoniously and in 1836 the separation became legal. Three years later, Rosina published Cheveley, or
696-468: A makeshift dictionary during which the narrator unconsciously teaches them the language. The hero discovers that these beings, who call themselves Vril-ya, have great telepathic and other parapsychological abilities, such as being able to transmit information , get rid of pain , and put others to sleep. The narrator is offended by the idea that the Vril-ya are better adapted to learn about him than he
783-534: A mere branch current of the one great fluid pervading all nature. I am by no means, however, wedded to Vril, if you can suggest anything else to carry out this meaning namely, that the coming race, though akin to us, has nevertheless acquired by hereditary transmission, etc., certain distinctions which make it a different species, and contains powers which we could not attain to through a slow growth of time; so that this race would not amalgamate with, but destroy us. [...] Now, as some bodies are charged with electricity like
870-424: A mug of Bovril. The campaign slogan read: The Two Infallible Powers – The Pope & Bovril. Bovril beef tea was the only hot drink that Ernest Shackleton 's team had when they were marooned on Elephant Island during the 1914–1917 Endurance Expedition . In the film In Which We Serve , the officers on the bridge are served "Bovril rather heavily laced with sherry" to warm them up, after being rescued during
957-492: A natural chasm in a mine which has been exposed by an exploratory shaft. The narrator reaches the bottom of the chasm safely, but the rope breaks and his friend is killed. The narrator finds his way into a subterranean world occupied by beings who seem to resemble angels . He befriends the first being he meets, who guides him around a city that is reminiscent of ancient Egyptian architecture. The explorer meets his host's wife, two sons and daughter who learn to speak English by way of
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#17328016760361044-668: A subterranean race waiting to reclaim the surface of the Earth is an early science fiction theme. The book popularised the Hollow Earth theory and may have inspired Nazi mysticism. His term "vril" lent its name to Bovril meat extract. The book was also the theme of a fundraising event held at the Royal Albert Hall in 1891, the Vril-Ya Bazaar and Fete . "Vril" has been adopted by theosophists and occultists since
1131-417: A varied and prolific literary output, sometimes publishing anonymously. Bulwer-Lytton published Falkland in 1827, a novel which was only a moderate success. But Pelham brought him public acclaim in 1828 and established his reputation as a wit and dandy. Its intricate plot and humorous, intimate portrayal of pre-Victorian dandyism kept gossips busy trying to associate public figures with characters in
1218-504: A version of the data, as "This day", above an excerpt from a review in the Daily News (p. 8). In The Observer for 21 May it was "Just published" (p. 1). Bibliography Further reading Edward Bulwer-Lytton Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton , PC (25 May 1803 – 18 January 1873), was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and
1305-451: Is about the size of a walking stick but can be lengthened or shortened according to the user's preferences. The appearance and function of the Vril staff differs according to gender, age, etc. Some staves are more potent for destruction; others, for healing. The staves of children are said to be much simpler than those of sages; in those of wives and mothers, the destructive part is removed while
1392-541: Is associated with football culture . During the winter, British football fans in stadium terraces drink it as a tea from Thermos flasks – or from disposable cups in Scotland, where thermoses are banned from football stadiums. Bovril holds the unusual distinction of having been advertised with a Pope . An advertising campaign of the early 20th century in Britain depicted Pope Leo XIII seated on his throne, bearing
1479-474: Is fact or fiction. Historians have shown that there has been no actual historical foundation for the claims of Pauwels and Bergier, and that the article of Willy Ley has only been a vague inspiration for their own ideas. Nevertheless, Pauwels and Bergier have influenced a whole new literary genre dealing with the alleged occult influences on Nazis which have often been related to the fictional Vril Society. In his book Monsieur Gurdjieff , Louis Pauwels claimed that
1566-528: Is no historical evidence that suggests that Bulwer-Lytton can be seen as an occultist, or that he was a member of any kind of esoteric association. Instead, it has been shown that Bulwer-Lytton has been "esotericized" since the 1870s. In 1870, the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia appointed Bulwer-Lytton as its "Grand Patron". Although Bulwer-Lytton complained about this by letter in 1872, the claim
1653-427: Is not destroyed but merely changes form. The narrator adopts the attire of his hosts and begins also to adopt their customs. The guide's daughter, Zee, falls in love with him and tells her father, who orders Taë to kill him with his staff. Eventually both Taë and Zee conspire against such a command, and Zee leads the narrator through the same chasm which he first descended. Returning to the surface, he warns that in time
1740-609: Is produced by the Bokomo division of Pioneer Foods . Bovril was promoted as a superfood in the early 20th century. Advertisements recommended people to dilute it into a tea or spread it on their morning toast. Some adverts even claimed that Bovril could protect one from influenza . Bovril jars are commonly excavated as part of archaeological assemblages, such as at Knowles Mill in Worcestershire. Since its invention, Bovril has become an icon of British culture . It
1827-610: Is similar to the British Marmite and its Australian equivalent Vegemite . Bovril is owned and distributed by Unilever UK. Bovril can be made into a drink by diluting with hot water or, less commonly, with milk. It can be used as a flavouring for soups, broth, stews or porridge, or as a spread, especially on toast. In 2004 Unilever removed beef ingredients from the Bovril formula, rendering it vegetarian , but in 2006, reversed that decision and reintroduced beef ingredients to
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#17328016760361914-423: Is this fluid that the Vril-ya employ to communicate with the narrator. The powers of the Vril include the ability to heal, change, and destroy beings and things; the destructive powers in particular are immense, allowing a few young Vril-ya children to destroy entire cities if necessary. Men (called An, pronounced "Arn") and women (called Gy, pronounced "Gee") have equal rights. The women are stronger and larger than
2001-488: Is to learn about them. Nevertheless, the guide (who turns out to be a magistrate) and his son Taë behave kindly towards him. The narrator soon discovers that the Vril-ya are descendants of an antediluvian civilization called the Ana, who live in networks of caverns linked by tunnels. Originally surface dwellers, they fled underground thousands of years ago to escape a massive flood and gained greater power by facing and dominating
2088-531: Is used to rend ways through solid matter. Its light is said to be steadier, softer and healthier than that from any flammable material. It can also be used as a power source for animating mechanisms. Vril can be harnessed by use of the Vril staff or mental concentration. A Vril staff is an object in the shape of a wand or a staff which is used as a channel for Vril. The narrator describes it as hollow with "stops", "keys", or "springs" in which Vril can be altered, modified, or directed to either destroy or heal. The staff
2175-584: The British Army emergency field ration during the war. The ration came in the form of a pocket-sized tin can that contained the beef on one half alongside a dried cocoa drink on another half. The dried beef could be eaten alone, or mixed with water to create a beef tea. Bovril continued to function as a "war food" in World War I and was frequently mentioned in the 1930 account Not So Quiet: Stepdaughters of War by Helen Zenna Smith . It describes
2262-497: The Chancellor's Gold Medal for English verse. In the following year he took his BA degree and printed for private circulation a small volume of poems, Weeds and Wild Flowers . He purchased an army commission in 1826, but sold it in 1829 without serving. In August 1827, he married Rosina Doyle Wheeler (1802–1882), a noted Irish beauty, but against the wishes of his mother, who withdrew his allowance, forcing him to work for
2349-671: The Corn Laws , he stood for Hertfordshire as a Conservative . Bulwer-Lytton held that seat until 1866, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lytton of Knebworth in the County of Hertford. In 1858, he entered Lord Derby 's government as Secretary of State for the Colonies , thus serving alongside his old friend Benjamin Disraeli . He was comparatively inactive in the House of Lords . "Just prior to his government's defeat in 1859
2436-750: The Franco-Prussian War , Napoleon III ordered one million cans of beef to feed his troops. The task of providing this went to John Lawson Johnston, a Scottish butcher living in Canada. Large quantities of beef were available across the British Dominions and South America, but transport and storage were problematic. Therefore, Johnston created a product known as 'Johnston's Fluid Beef', later called Bovril, to meet Napoleon's needs. By 1888, over 3,000 UK public houses , grocers and dispensing chemists were selling Bovril. In 1889, Bovril Ltd
2523-784: The Theosophical Society . Scott-Elliot's description of Atlantean aircraft has been identified as an early inspiration for authors who have related the Vril force to UFOs after World War II. George Bernard Shaw read the book and was attracted to the idea of Vril, according to Michael Holroyd 's biography of him. French writer Jules Lermina included a Vril-powered flying machine in his 1910 novel L'Effrayante Aventure (Panic in Paris) . In his 2011 book of correspondences with David Woodard , Swiss writer Christian Kracht discusses his longstanding interest in Vril. David Bowie 's 1971 song " Oh! You Pretty Things " makes reference to
2610-870: The Vienna Circle elaborated an esoteric neo-Nazism that contributed to the circulation of the Vril theme in a new context. In their writings, Vril is associated with Nazi UFOs and the Black Sun concept. Julian Strube wrote that a younger generation related to the Tempelhofgesellschaft, has continued the work of the Vienna Circle and exerts a continuous influence on the most common notions of Vril. Those notions are not only popular in neo-Nazi circles but also in movies or computer games, such as Iron Sky , Wolfenstein , and Call of Duty . Notes Five days later The Scotsman published
2697-818: The 1870s and became closely associated with the ideas of an esoteric neo-Nazism after 1945. His play Money (1840) was first produced at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket , London, on 8 December 1840. The first American production was at the Old Park Theater in New York on 1 February 1841. Subsequent productions include the Prince of Wales's Theatre 's in 1872 and as the inaugural play at the new California Theatre in San Francisco in 1869. Among Bulwer-Lytton's lesser-known contributions to literature
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2784-555: The 1880s, and in Italy until 1910. Harold, the Last of the Saxons (1848) provided character names (but little else) for Verdi's opera Aroldo (1857). Shortly after their first publication, The Last Days of Pompeii , Rienzi , and Ernest Maltravers all received successful stage performances in New York. The plays were written by Louisa Medina, one of the most successful playwrights of
2871-558: The 19th century. The Last Days of Pompeii had the longest continuous stage run in New York at the time with 29 straight performances. In addition to his political and literary work, Bulwer-Lytton became the editor of the New Monthly in 1831, but he resigned the following year. In 1841, he started the Monthly Chronicle , a semi-scientific magazine. During his career he wrote poetry, prose, and stage plays; his last novel
2958-441: The Bovril formula, rendering it vegetarian. This was mainly due to concerns about decreasing sales, particularly from exports due to an export ban on British beef, as a result of the growing popularity of vegetarianism , religious dietary requirements, and public concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy . In 2006, Unilever reversed that decision and reintroduced beef ingredients to their Bovril formula once sales increased and
3045-758: The Crisis . Lord Melbourne , the Prime Minister , offered him a lordship of the Admiralty , which he declined as likely to interfere with his activity as an author. Bulwer was created a baronet , of Knebworth House in the County of Hertford, in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom , in 1838. In 1841, he left Parliament and spent much of his time in travel. He did not return to politics until 1852, when, having differed from Lord John Russell over
3132-918: The Magicians by Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels , suggested that a secret Vril Society existed in Weimar Berlin . The name "Vril" may be based on the word virile , as has repeatedly been suggested. The original (British edition) titled as The Coming Race was published anonymously in May 1871 by Blackwood and Sons of Edinburgh and London. (Blackwood published four more "editions" in 1871.) Anonymous American and Canadian editions were published in August 1871 as The Coming Race or The New Utopia , by Francis B. Felt & Co. in New York and by Copp, Clark & Co. in Toronto, respectively. Erewhon , which
3219-457: The Man of Honour (1839), a near-libellous fiction satirising her husband's alleged hypocrisy. In June 1858, when her husband was standing as parliamentary candidate for Hertfordshire, she denounced him at the hustings . He retaliated by threatening her publishers, withholding her allowance and denying her access to their children. Finally he had her committed to a mental asylum, but she was released
3306-656: The Pacific". Lytton desired to send to the colony "representatives of the best of British culture, not just a police force", sought men who possessed "courtesy, high breeding and urbane knowledge of the world", and decided to send Moody, whom the Government considered to be the archetypal "English gentleman and British Officer" at the head of the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment , to whom he wrote an impassioned letter. The former HBC Fort Dallas at Camchin ,
3393-487: The Power of the Coming Race and Zanoni in her own books. Bulwer-Lytton's name lives on in the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest , in which contestants think up terrible openings for imaginary novels, inspired by the first line of his 1830 novel Paul Clifford : It was a dark and stormy night ; the rain fell in torrents – except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up
3480-509: The Secretary of State for the Colonies, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, notified Sir George Ferguson Bowen of his appointment as Governor of the new colony to be known as 'Queen's Land'." The draft letter was ranked #4 in the 'Top 150: Documenting Queensland' exhibition when it toured to venues around Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010. The exhibition was part of Queensland State Archives ' events and exhibition program which contributed to
3567-731: The Vril power and its attainment by a superhuman elite are worked into a mystical doctrine of race. However, the character of the subterranean people was transformed. Instead of potential conquerors, they were benevolent (if mysterious) spiritual guides. Blavatsky's recurrent homage to Bulwer-Lytton and the Vril force has exerted a lasting influence on other esoteric authors. When the theosophist William Scott-Elliot described life in Atlantis in The Story of Atlantis & The Lost Lemuria (first ed.), 1896 , he mentioned Atlantean aircraft propelled by Vril-force. His books are still published by
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3654-731: The Vril-Society was a secret community of occultists in pre-Nazi Berlin that was a sort of inner circle of the Thule Society . They also thought that it was in close contact with the English group known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn . The Vril information takes up about a tenth of the volume, the remainder of which details other esoteric speculations, but the authors fail to clearly explain whether this section
3741-453: The Vril-ya will run out of habitable space underground and will claim the surface of the Earth, destroying mankind in the process, if necessary. The uses of Vril in the novel amongst the Vril-ya vary from destruction to healing. According to Zee, the daughter of the narrator's host, Vril can be changed into the mightiest agency over all types of matter, both animate and inanimate. It can destroy like lightning or replenish life, heal, or cure. It
3828-513: The Vril: "The next group was literally founded upon a novel. That group which I think called itself 'Wahrheitsgesellschaft' – Society for Truth – and which was more or less localised in Berlin, devoted its spare time looking for Vril." The existence of a Vril Society was alleged in 1960 by Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels . In their book The Morning of the Magicians , they claimed that
3915-529: The West to be translated into Japanese. In Brisbane , Queensland , Australia, the suburb of Lytton , the town of Bulwer on Moreton Island (Moorgumpin) and the neighbourhood (former island) of Bulwer Island are named after him. The township of Lytton, Quebec (today part of Montcerf-Lytton ) was named after him as was Lytton, British Columbia , and Lytton, Iowa . Lytton Road in Gisborne, New Zealand ,
4002-418: The beef export bans were lifted. Unilever now produces Bovril using beef extract and a chicken variety using chicken extract. In November 2020, Forest Green Rovers Football Club announced a collaboration with the makers of Bovril to create a beet -based version of Bovril to be sold at their New Lawn stadium, where meat-based products had been removed from sale some years prior. In South Africa Bovril
4089-536: The book. Pelham resembled Benjamin Disraeli's first novel Vivian Grey (1827). The character of the villainous Richard Crawford in The Disowned , also published in 1828, borrowed much from that of banker and forger Henry Fauntleroy , who was hanged in London in 1824 before a crowd of some 100,000. Bulwer-Lytton admired Disraeli's father Isaac D'Israeli , himself a noted author. They began corresponding in
4176-557: The confluence of the Thompson and the Fraser Rivers , was renamed in his honour by Governor Sir James Douglas in 1858 as Lytton, British Columbia . Bulwer-Lytton's literary career began in 1820 with the publication of a book of poems and spanned much of the 19th century. He wrote in a variety of genres, including historical fiction, mystery, romance, the occult and science fiction. He financed his extravagant way of life with
4263-607: The county of Bedford. Bovril's instant beef stock was launched in 1966 and its "King of Beef" range of instant flavours for stews, casseroles and gravy in 1971. In 1971, James Goldsmith 's Cavenham Foods acquired the Bovril Company but then sold most of its dairies and South American operations to finance further takeovers. The brand is now owned by the Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever , which bought Bovril in 2001. In 2004, Unilever removed beef ingredients from
4350-504: The deluge, to gaze upon the boisterous sea, which foamed and bellowed for admittance into the proud towers and marble palaces. Who would have thought of passions so fierce in that calm water that slumbers all day long? At a slight alabaster stand, trembling beneath the ponderous tomes which it supported, sat the hero of our story. Several of Bulwer-Lytton's novels were made into operas. One of them, Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen (1842) by Richard Wagner , eventually became more famous than
4437-415: The drink being prepared for the casualties at Mons where "the orderlies were just beginning to make Bovril for the wounded, when the bearers and ambulance wagons were shelled as they were bringing the wounded into the hospital". When John Lawson Johnston died, his son George Lawson Johnston inherited and took over the Bovril business. In 1929, George Lawson Johnston was made Baron Luke , of Pavenham, in
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#17328016760364524-452: The formula. The first part of the product's name comes from Latin bovīnus , meaning "pertaining to an ox". Johnston took the -vril suffix from Edward Bulwer-Lytton 's then-popular novel, The Coming Race (1871), the plot of which revolves around a superior race of people, the Vril-ya, who derive their powers from an electromagnetic substance named "Vril". Therefore, Bovril indicates great strength obtained from an ox. In 1870, in
4611-512: The harsh conditions of the Earth. The place where the narrator descended houses 12,000 families, one of the largest groups. Their society is a technologically supported Utopia, chief among their tools being an "all-permeating fluid" called "Vril", a latent source of energy that the spiritually elevated hosts are able to master through training of their will, to a degree that depends on their hereditary constitution. This mastery gives them access to an extraordinary force that can be controlled at will. It
4698-479: The healing aspects are emphasised. The book was quite popular in the late 19th century, and for a time the word "Vril" came to be associated with "life-giving elixirs". The best known use of "Vril" in this context is in the name of Bovril (a blend word of Bovine and Vril). There was even a Vril-ya Bazaar held at the Royal Albert Hall in London in March 1891. The same year a sequel named The Vril Staff: A Romance
4785-543: The horror story The Haunted and the Haunters; or, The House and the Brain (1859). Another novel with a supernatural theme was A Strange Story (1862), which was an influence on Bram Stoker 's Dracula . Bulwer-Lytton wrote many other works, including Vril: The Power of the Coming Race (1871) which drew heavily on his interest in the occult and contributed to the early growth of the science fiction genre. Its story of
4872-440: The late 1820s and met for the first time in March 1830, when Isaac D'Israeli dined at Bulwer-Lytton's house. Also present that evening were Charles Pelham Villiers and Alexander Cockburn . The young Villiers had a long parliamentary career, while Cockburn became Lord Chief Justice of England in 1859. Bulwer-Lytton reached his height of popularity with the publication of England and the English , and Godolphin (1833). This
4959-430: The mantelpiece a request that future generations preserve the room as his beloved mother had used it." It remains hardly changed to this day. On 20 February 1844, in accordance with his mother's will, he changed his surname from Bulwer to Bulwer-Lytton and assumed the arms of Lytton by royal licence. His widowed mother had done the same in 1811. His brothers remained plain "Bulwer". By chance, Bulwer-Lytton encountered
5046-423: The men. The women are also the pursuing party in romantic relationships. They marry for three years, after which the men choose whether to remain married, or be single. The female may then pursue a new husband. However, they seldom make the choice to remarry. Their religion posits the existence of a superior being but does not dwell on his nature. The Vril-ya believe in the permanence of life, which according to them
5133-608: The nomination in view of Moody's military record, his success as Governor of the Falkland Islands, and the distinguished record of his father, Colonel Thomas Moody, Knight at the Colonial Office. Moody was charged to establish British order and transform the newly established Colony of British Columbia into the British Empire's "bulwark in the farthest west" and "found a second England on the shores of
5220-400: The novel. A stage adaptation of the book was written by journalist David Christie Murray and magician Nevil Maskelyne . The production premiered at Saint George's Hall in London on 2 January 1905. Both Nevil Maskelyne and his father John Nevil Maskelyne collaborated on the special effects for the play. The play did not meet with success and closed after a run of eight weeks. Willy Ley
5307-475: The novel. Leonora (1846) by William Henry Fry , the first European-styled "grand" opera composed in the United States, is based on Bulwer-Lytton's play The Lady of Lyons , as is Frederic Cowen 's first opera Pauline (1876). Verdi rival Errico Petrella 's most successful opera, Jone (1858), was based on Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii , and was performed all over the world until
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#17328016760365394-606: The opening phrase " It was a dark and stormy night ." The sardonic Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest , held annually since 1982, claims to seek the "opening sentence of the worst of all possible novels". Bulwer was born on 25 May 1803 to General William Earle Bulwer of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling , Norfolk, and Elizabeth Barbara Lytton , daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth House , Hertfordshire. He had two older brothers, William Earle Lytton Bulwer (1799–1877) and Henry (1801–1872; later Baron Dalling and Bulwer). His father died and his mother moved to London when he
5481-476: The original Craven Cottage , today the site of their stadium. Bulwer-Lytton had long suffered from a disease of the ear, and for the last two or three years of his life lived in Torquay nursing his health. After an operation to cure deafness , an abscess formed in the ear and burst; he endured intense pain for a week and died at 2 am on 18 January 1873, just short of his 70th birthday. The cause of death
5568-662: The pen is mightier than the sword He popularized the phrase "pursuit of the almighty dollar " from his novel The Coming Race , and he is credited with " the great unwashed ", using this disparaging term in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford : He is certainly a man who bathes and "lives cleanly", (two especial charges preferred against him by Messrs. the Great Unwashed). The writers of theosophy were among those influenced by Bulwer-Lytton's work. Annie Besant and especially Helena Blavatsky incorporated his thoughts and ideas, particularly from The Last Days of Pompeii , Vril,
5655-462: The possible natural causes for occult phenomena. In The Coming Race , those ideas are continued in the context of a satirical critique of contemporary philosophical, scientific, and political currents. In a letter to his friend John Forster, Bulwer-Lytton explained his motives: I did not mean Vril for mesmerism, but for electricity, developed into uses as yet only dimly guessed, and including whatever there may be genuine in mesmerism, which I hold to be
5742-543: The post-war invention of the Vril Society, as Pauwels and Bergier have developed their ideas without any knowledge of that actual association. Strube has also shown that the Vril force has been irrelevant to the other members of the "Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft," who were supporters of the theories of the Austrian inventor Karl Schappeller (1875–1947). After World War II, a group referred to by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke as
5829-433: The pseudonym "Johannes Täufer" (German: "John [the] Baptist"). Published by the influential astrological publisher, Otto Wilhelm Barth (whom Bahn believes was "Täufer"), the 60-page pamphlet says little of the group other than that it was founded in 1925 to study the uses of Vril energy. The German historian Julian Strube has argued that the historical existence of the "Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft" can be regarded as irrelevant to
5916-456: The research of the German author Peter Bahn. Bahn writes in his 1996 essay, "Das Geheimnis der Vril-Energie" ("The Secret of Vril Energy"), of his discovery of an obscure esoteric group calling itself the "Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft", which revealed itself in a rare 1930 publication Vril. Die Kosmische Urkraft (Vril, the cosmic elementary power) written by a member of this Berlin-based group, under
6003-473: The society complaining that he was "extremely surprised" by their use of the title, as he had "never sanctioned such." Nevertheless, a number of esoteric groups have continued to claim Bulwer-Lytton as their own, chiefly because some of his writings – such as the 1842 book Zanoni – have included Rosicrucian and other esoteric notions. According to the Fulham Football Club , he once resided in
6090-741: The stars above, sometimes in the heart of unknown continents in Australia or at the Pole, and sometimes below the waters under the earth. The latest effort in this class of fiction is The Time Machine , by H. G. Wells." Recent research has shown that Bulwer-Lytton developed his ideas about "Vril" against the background of his long preoccupation with occult natural forces, which were widely discussed at that time, especially in relation to animal magnetism , or later, spiritualism . In his earlier novels Zanoni (1842) and A Strange Story (1862), Bulwer-Lytton had discussed electricity and other "material agents" as
6177-747: The state's Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales. When news of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush reached London, Bulwer-Lytton, as Secretary of State for the Colonies, requested that the War Office recommend a field officer, "a man of good judgement possessing a knowledge of mankind", to lead a Corps of 150 (later increased to 172) Royal Engineers, who had been selected for their "superior discipline and intelligence". The War Office chose Richard Clement Moody , and Lord Lytton, who described Moody as his "distinguished friend", accepted
6264-459: The streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness. Entrants in the contest seek to capture the rapid changes in point of view, the florid language, and the atmosphere of the full sentence. The opening was popularized by the Peanuts comic strip, in which Snoopy 's sessions on
6351-406: The suburb of Pinner , where the novelist lived, is named after him. Bulwer-Lytton was portrayed by the actor Brett Usher in the 1978 television serial Disraeli . Bovril Bovril is a thick and salty meat extract paste, similar to a yeast extract , developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnston . It is sold in a distinctive bulbous jar and as cubes and granules. Its appearance
6438-714: The torpedo or electric eel, and never can communicate that power to other bodies, so I suppose the existence of a race charged with that electricity and having acquired the art to concentrate and direct it in a word, to be conductors of its lightnings. If you can suggest any other idea of carrying out that idea of a destroying race, I should be glad. Probably even the notion of Vril might be more cleared from mysticism or mesmerism by being simply defined to be electricity and conducted by those staves or rods, omitting all about mesmeric passes, etc. Bulwer-Lytton has been regarded as an "initiate" or "adept" by esotericists, especially because of his Rosicrucian novel Zanoni (1842). However, there
6525-593: The typewriter usually began with " It was a dark and stormy night ". The same words also form the first sentence of Madeleine L'Engle's Newbery Medal –winning novel A Wrinkle in Time . Similar wording appears in Edgar Allan Poe's 1831 short story " The Bargain Lost ", although not at the very beginning. It reads: It was a dark and stormy night. The rain fell in cataracts; and drowsy citizens started, from dreams of
6612-463: Was Kenelm Chillingly , which was in course of publication in Blackwood's Magazine at the time of his death in 1873. Bulwer-Lytton's works of fiction and non-fiction were translated in his day and since then into many languages, including Serbian (by Laza Kostic ), German, Russian, Norwegian, Swedish, French, Finnish, and Spanish. In 1879, his Ernest Maltravers was the first complete novel from
6699-523: Was a German rocket engineer who had immigrated to the United States in 1937. In 1947, he published an article titled "Pseudoscience in Naziland" in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction . He wrote that the high popularity of irrational convictions in Germany at that time explained how Nazism could have fallen on such fertile ground. Among various pseudoscientific groups he mentions one that looked for
6786-723: Was followed by The Pilgrims of the Rhine (1834), The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), Rienzi, Last of the Roman Tribunes about Cola di Rienzo (1835), Ernest Maltravers; or, The Eleusinia (1837), Alice; or, The Mysteries (1838), Leila; or, The Siege of Granada (1838), and Harold, the Last of the Saxons (1848). The Last Days of Pompeii was inspired by Karl Briullov 's painting The Last Day of Pompeii , which Bulwer-Lytton saw in Milan . His New Timon lampooned Tennyson , who responded in kind. Bulwer-Lytton also wrote
6873-504: Was formed to develop Johnston's business further. During the 1900 Siege of Ladysmith in the Second Boer War , a Bovril-like paste was produced from horsemeat within the garrison. Nicknamed Chevril (a portmanteau of cheval , French for horse , and Bovril) it was made by boiling down horse or mule meat to a jelly and serving it as a tea-like mixture. Bovril also produced concentrated, pemmican -like dried beef as part of
6960-513: Was four years old. When he was 15, a tutor named Wallington, who tutored him at Ealing , encouraged him to publish an immature work: Ishmael and Other Poems . Around this time, Bulwer fell in love, but the woman's father induced her to marry another man. She died about the time that Bulwer went to Cambridge and he stated that her loss affected all his subsequent life. In 1822 Bulwer-Lytton entered Trinity College, Cambridge , where he met John Auldjo , but soon moved to Trinity Hall . In 1825 he won
7047-521: Was named after the novelist. Later a state secondary school, Lytton High School , was founded in the road. Also in New Zealand, Bulwer is a small locality in Waihinau Bay in the outer Pelorus Sound, New Zealand. It can be reached by 77 km of winding, mostly unsealed, road from Rai Valley. A weekly mail boat service delivers mail and also offers passenger services. In London, Lytton Road in
7134-693: Was never revoked. Other claims, such as his supposed membership in the German Masonic lodge Zur aufgehenden Morgenröthe , have been proven wrong. Those claims, as well as the recurrent esoteric topics in Bulwer-Lytton's works, convinced some commentators that the fictionalised Vril was based on a real magical force. Helena Blavatsky , the founder of theosophy , endorsed this view in her book Isis Unveiled (1877) and again in The Secret Doctrine (1888). In Blavatsky's writing,
7221-461: Was published anonymously in March 1872, was initially assumed to be a sequel to The Coming Race , which by then Bulwer-Lytton was known to have written. When it was revealed that Samuel Butler was the author of Erewhon in the 25 May 1872 issue of the Athenaeum , sales dropped by 90 percent. A young, independent, wealthy traveller (the narrator) visits a friend, a mining engineer. They explore
7308-448: Was published, written by an unknown author using the pseudonym XYZ. It also had a strong influence on other contemporary authors. When H. G. Wells ' novella The Time Machine was published in 1895, The Guardian wrote in its review: "The influence of the author of The Coming Race is still powerful, and no year passes without the appearance of stories which describe the manners and customs of peoples in imaginary worlds, sometimes in
7395-598: Was returned for Lincoln in 1832, and sat in Parliament for that city for nine years. He spoke in favour of the Reform Bill and took the lead in securing the reduction, after he had vainly supported the repeal, of the newspaper stamp duties . His influence was perhaps most keenly felt after the Whig Party 's dismissal from office in 1834, when he issued a pamphlet entitled A Letter to a Late Cabinet Minister on
7482-422: Was that he convinced Charles Dickens to revise the ending of Great Expectations to make it more palatable to the reading public, as in the original version of the novel, Pip and Estella remain apart. Bulwer-Lytton's works had an influence in a number of fields. Bulwer-Lytton's most famous quotation is " The pen is mightier than the sword " from his play Richelieu : beneath the rule of men entirely great,
7569-497: Was unclear but it was thought the infection had affected his brain and caused a fit. Rosina outlived him by nine years. Against his wishes, Bulwer-Lytton was honoured with a burial in Westminster Abbey . His unfinished history Athens: Its Rise and Fall was published posthumously. Bulwer began his political career as a follower of Jeremy Bentham . In 1831 he was elected member for St Ives , Cornwall, after which he
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