Vril, The Power of the Coming Race [Paperback]

Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2002

Bulwer-Lytton is legend nowadays for the qualities of his prose: but we find his prose attractive, in its languid way; and certainly the man was a profound thinker. "Vril" is a mysterious energy used by Lytton's subterranean race -- refugees from the deluge that submerged Atlantis -- to power their advanced civilization. Generations of occultists have mistaken this bit of business for something other than fiction; and still more generations of science fiction writers have recycled the novel's plot. Vril is a book of strong interest to anyone doing a scholarly study of the evolution of SF; it's also a novel well worth reading in its own right.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The great Victorian novelist Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton has left his mark on Western culture in numerous ways. His many novels continue to be enjoyed over a hundred years after they were first released to the public. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Borgo Press (August 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592248861
• ISBN-13: 978-1592248865
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,394,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science Fiction roots -- a captivating and brilliant page-turner!, August 5, 2008

By 

Patrick W. Crabtree "The Old Grottomaster" (Lucasville, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vril: The Power Of The Coming Race (Paperback)

In this 1871 work, Lytton presents the reader with an early science fiction tale about an American adventurer whom we come to know only as "Tish". The author wrote the story near the end of his own life in 1873; however, he exposes his protagonist to vignettes of technology and ethical concepts which would not actualize until the 20th Century!

At the outset of the story Tish accompanies an associate deep into the bowels of a mine, presumably somewhere in Europe. It is therein that the two enter a subterranean world. The associate is killed almost immediately by a "krek," a creature with, "...a vast and terrible head with open jaws and dull, ghastly, hungry eyes -- the head of the monstrous reptile resembling that of a crocodile or alligator, but infinitely larger than the largest creature of that kind I had ever beheld in my travels."

From this point to almost the end of the work Tish is exposed to, and made the dubious guest of, a highly advanced culture in terms of technology: the Vril-ya. They represent the futuristic, powerful faction of the larger underworld race which is referred to as the "Ana". The non-Vril-ya were regarded as barbarians by the Vril-ya and were kept on the fringes of the technologically superior Vril-ya regions, (a situation which I regard as symbolism of the Jewish People of Europe during this era).

The author presents the Vril-ya as having aspired to social and civil preeminence; however, the excellence of their political systems and their philosophies, while devoid of conflagration and dispute, were shrewdly left for the reader to appraise.

Vril-ya society, in a nutshell, was static. They had no desire for wealth since each person could have anything s/he wanted by way of "Vril". Their diet was pseudo-vegetarian, milk being their singular non-vegetarian indulgence. A lazy society by nature, they considered Democracy to be primitive and thus perceived to be found only in barbarous cultures. Their own form of government was classified as "benevolent autocracy," except that the benevolence extended neither to the non-Vril-ya subterranean who shared their geography nor to any other. The most significant cultural divergence from surface dwelling humans hinged upon the fact that Vril-ya women were not only larger than males, they were also the assertive and dominant gender in their society.

Lytton was quite clever in his approach to analogizing Vril-ya Society to contemporaneous European events and attitudes. The technique is reminiscent of a later work by a fellow Englishman, J.R.R. Tolkien, author of "the Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings". It's also clear that Lytton was brilliantly intuitive in regard to his vision of futuristic technology.

The work is quite provocative in this regard: Lytton leaves the fate of mankind as an open issue with his Hitchcockian conclusion. Hence, do the Vril-ya exemplify God's [first] "unsuccessful experiment" in creating mankind? We He nullify the power of Vril in the event that the Vril-ya and the surface dwellers come into conflict? Or do the Vril-ya represent God's success story... and will humankind thus be purged from the Earth's surface as part of a "Master plan"? The latter appears to be the author's rendition and interpretation of "The Revelation to John" (in "The Holy Bible").

This is a superb yarn and seizes upon much of the "Hollow Earth" to-do of the period. This terrific book is timeless literature, expressed in the sci-fi genre and is just as compelling today as the day it was originally published. My highest recommendation even for non-science fiction enthusiasts.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pulpy goodness, July 5, 2011

By 

Brett Alister Redden "bubs the pup" (San Antonio) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vril, The Power of the Coming Race (Forgotten Books) (Paperback)

Pulp fiction before there was such a thing. This book strangely is some what "prophetic" in its writing in that it creates a convincing allegory of the nuclear age and its natural consequences. It's a creative look into a fantastical world of under world citizens and their lifestyles, very reminiscent of "Gulliver's Travels" though not as well written nor as lengthy.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic, December 10, 2007

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P. Chapman (ITHACA, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vril, The Power of the Coming Race (Paperback)

This book was better than I had imagined. It provides a wonderful model for harmonious living and is honest and kind in its assessment of how our civilization has gone awry.