Vril From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cover of one 1871 Blackwood “edition”[1]AuthorEdward Bulwer-LyttonCountryUnited KingdomGenreScience fiction novelPublisherWilliam Blackwo…
Articles, Hollow Earth, Inner Earth, VrilVRIL, THE POWER OF THE COMING RACE by Janet Lessinupdated on September 11, 2023April 6, 2022 Vril From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cover of one 1871 Blackwood “edition”[1]AuthorEdward Bulwer-LyttonCountryUnited KingdomGenreScience fiction novelPublisherWilliam Blackwood and SonsPublication dateMay 1871[2]Media typePrint (hardcover)Pages292[3]OCLC7017241Dewey Decimal823.8LC ClassHX811 1871 .L9[3]TextThe Coming Race at Wikisource The Coming Race is a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, published anonymously in 1871. It has also been published as Vril, the Power of the Coming Race. 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.[4] One 1960 book, The Morning of the Magicians by Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels, suggested that a secret Vril Society existed in Weimar Berlin. Vril-Wikipedia Contents 1History 2Plot summary 2.1Vril in the novel 3Literary significance and reception 4Stage adaptation 5Vril Society 5.1Willy Ley 5.2Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels 5.3Publications on the Vril Society in German 5.4Esoteric neo-Nazism 6See also 7References 8External links History The original, British edition of The Coming Race was published anonymously in May 1871, by Blackwood and Sons of Edinburgh and London.[2] (Blackwood published four more “editions” in 1871.)[1] 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.[5][6] Late in 1871 Bulwer-Lytton was known to be the author.[citation needed] 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. Plot summary The novel centers on a young, independent, unnamed, wealthy traveler (the narrator), who visits a friend, a mining engineer. They explore a natural chasm in a mine that 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 a makeshift dictionary during which the narrator unconsciously teaches them the language. His guide comes towards him, and he and his daughter, Zee, explain who they are and how they function. 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 is to learn about them. Nevertheless, the guide (who turns out to be a magistrate) and his son Ta 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 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 can 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 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 the men. The women are also the pursuing party in romantic relationships. They marry for just 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 is not de...