Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN: 9781551115153
ISBN: 1551115158
Label: Broadview Press
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Broadview Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: 2002-08-07
Publisher: Broadview Press
Studio: Broadview Press

As I drew near and nearer to the light, the chasm became wider, and at last I saw, to my unspeakable amaze, a broad level road at the bottom of the abyss, illumined as far as the eye could reach by what seemed artificial gas lamps placed at regular intervals, as in the thoroughfare of a great city; and I heard confusedly at a distance a hum as of human voices . . .

Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming Race was one of the most remarkable and most influential books published in the 1870s. The protagonist, a wealthy American wanderer, accompanies an engineer into the recesses of a mine, and discovers the vast caverns of a well-lit, civilized land in which dwell the Vril-ya. Placid vegetarians and mystics, the Vril-ya are privy to the powerful force of Vril -- a mysterious source of energy that may be used to illuminate, or to destroy. The Vril-ya have built a world without fame and without envy, without poverty and without many of the other extremes that characterize human society. The women are taller and grander than the men, and control everything related to the reproduction of the race. There is little need to work -- and much of what does need to be done is for a novel reason consigned to children.

As the Vril-ya have evolved a society of calm and of contentment, so they have evolved physically. But as it turns out, they are destined one day to emerge from the earth and to destroy human civilization.

Bulwer-Lytton's novel is fascinating for the ideas it expresses about evolution, about gender, and about the ambitions of human society. But it is also an extraordinarily entertaining science fiction novel. Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, one of the great figures of late Victorian literature, may have been overvalued in his time -- but his extraordinarily engaging and readable work is certainly greatly undervalued today. As Brian Aldiss notes in his introduction to this new edition, this utopian science fiction novel first published in 1871 still retains tremendous interest.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Vrillified
Comment: This is a dreadful novel, whose only claim to fame is that it inspired a large bunch of nutters to create the Second World War. It's content though entirely fictional prompted the creation of the Theosiphists, the Vril Society, the Thule Society and ultimately formed the philosophy of the NAZI Party. As entertainmant, its a total loss,a poor version of A Journey To the Center of the Earth. Even Tarzan at tne Earth's Core is a more enjoyable read.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Sci-fi roots -- a captivating page-turner!
Comment: 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.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not as good as H.G. Wells
Comment: The Coming Race is a fine sci-fi novel, of the 1800's variety. For the most part it is quite enjoyable, and Bulwer-Lytton's vision of the Vrilya is quite comprehensive. Still, though, overall the book felt a little too short, and a little too amateurish, when compared against H.G. Wells, or more modernish sci-fi authors. Still, a recommended read by all means!

Regarding the Broadview Press edition, I always get one of these books if I'm reading classic fiction because I love all the extras they have, like essays or other short related stories by the same author or script and newspaper excerpts, however I was sorely disappointed to find none of the above in this book, beyond an introduction that didn't tell me much that Wikipedia hadn't already.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Conflict and change
Comment: Reviewed by Leslie Granier for Reader Views (5/07)

"The Coming Race" is a book that will best appeal to individuals who enjoy studying different civilizations and learning about how their citizens come to behave and believe the way they do. It incorporates aspects of both science fiction and fantasy. This book follows the accounts of a man who has fallen into an underground world that is so different from the world he knows. The author utilizes a very descriptive style to portray the intuitive thoughts of this narrator as he recalls this experience.

The residents of this underground society are known as the Vril-ya. They lead simple and peaceful lives in which there is no war and no crime. In fact, if someone is unhappy in their society, his only recourse is to emigrate to a different tribe. In their world, no individual is considered superior to another individual (including the leaders) in order to ascertain there will be no jealousy among the people. Another major difference is that children are the workers and are entrusted with the toughest jobs such as killing any dangerous creatures that are encountered. In the beginning, the narrator seems impressed with this seemingly perfect civilization. However, he comes to question whether it is a good thing to have such a controlled and stagnant society and worries that this type of advanced civilization may eventually take over the world.

This book started off great and I expected it would be action-packed and full of adventure. However, I was somewhat disappointed that it turned out to be mainly a narrative. I would have preferred more dialogue between the characters. The chapter about the development of their language (Chapter XII) was particularly grueling and contributed to the slow pace. I did enjoy the author's use of lesser known vocabulary words. It is good to know that my high school years were well spent.

Although this book was first published in 1871, there is much that can be learned from it. "The Coming Race" makes some important points about what constitutes a productive and successful society. Having no war and no crime sounds great, as does complete equality among individuals. However, once this type of "perfection" is achieved, life will become extremely dull as there can be no debates or exchanges of ideas to keep things interesting. The world needs conflict and change so there can be progress and growth.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Boring
Comment: I bought this book hoping it would explain the inspiration for the Vril Society. Why would anyone be moved by this book to form a society following the idea of Vril?? Not only is it boring, but it is written like a children's book. Everything is explained like this...the grass was green and everywhere there was light...blah blah.... horrible imagery! I'm being biased only b/c I've read so many things about how the Vril Society influenced Nazism...and now I can't imagine why. This book sucks.

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