The Coming Race

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", the name of which is a shortened version of "virile". 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 the Magicians by Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels, suggested that a secret Vril Society existed in Weimar Berlin.



The original, British edition of 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, as The Coming Race, or The New Utopia, by Francis B. Felt & Co. in New York and by Copp, Clark & Co. in Toronto. Late in 1871 Bulwer-Lytton was known to be the author. Erewhon, which was also published anonymously in March 1872, was initially assumed to be a Coming Race sequel by Bulwer-Lytton. When it was revealed that Samuel Butler was the writer in the 25 May 1872 issue of the Athenaeum; sales dropped by 90 percent. (wikipedia.org)



About the Author:

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 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 declined the Crown of Greece in 1862 after King Otto abdicated. 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 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-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 a varied and prolific literary output, sometimes publishing anonymously.



Bulwer-Lytton was portrayed by the actor Brett Usher in the 1978 television serial Disraeli. (wikipedia.org)