Description

Finally acquired one of my all time grails for my High Strangeness collection!

*The Coming Race*, written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1871, is a pioneering work of science fiction that had a tremendous influence on nonfiction alternative history and occult ideology over the last hundred and fifty years. More recently, it could be said to be a forerunner of the concept of the "breakaway civilization," which is currently one of the popular models behind the UFO/UAP Phenomenon.

The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1871 and was an immediate success. It went through multiple printings within the first few months, of which this is the 4th printing (it says "fourth edition" but British publishers back then used edition they way we would use printing or impression). It was published in the United States shortly thereafter and was a sensation there as well. It was first published anonymously, because Bulwer-Lytton was a well-known respected novelist, best known for writing *The Last Days of Pompeii* and was hesitant to have his name associated with such a speculative work. After its initial success however, he finally revealed that he was the author and it's now considered one of the foundational works of science fiction.

Here is the digital version:
https://archive.org/details/comingrace00lytt

*The Coming Race* revolves around the discovery of a subterranean society known as the Vril-ya. This advanced civilization had been forced underground by a great cataclysm thousands of years ago. They possessed extraordinary powers and used a mystical energy source called Vril. The Vril-ya's society is portrayed as an idealistic utopia, characterized by intellectual development, communal harmony, and gender equality—a vision far ahead of its time.

Probably one of the best remembered elements of the novel (due to its association with Nazi occult lore) is the concept of Vril, an omnipotent energy force harnessed by the Vril-ya. This energy source is used to power advanced technology, as well as to heal, and to give the Vril-ya what we would call psychic abilities. It's very much like the Force in *Star Wars*.

The novel had a significant influence on Helena Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society. Blavatsky, a prominent occultist and philosopher of the 19th century, drew inspiration (some say plagiarized) from various sources, and Bulwer-Lytton's novel played a crucial role in shaping her ideas and teachings.

The concept of the Vril-ya civilization and in particular the mystical energy source Vril presented in *The Coming Race* resonated deeply with Blavatsky's beliefs. She incorporated these ideas into her own writings, particularly in her seminal work *The Secret Doctrine*. Blavatsky expanded upon the notion of a hidden subterranean world inhabited by an advanced race, connecting it to her larger cosmological framework and spiritual teachings.

Blavatsky embraced the concept of Vril as a representation of a universal life force or energy that permeates all aspects of existence. In her teachings, she described it as a vital, creative power that underlies the universe and enables the manifestation of physical and spiritual phenomena.

Blavatsky's admiration for *The Coming Race* extended beyond its thematic elements. She held Bulwer-Lytton in high regard as a novelist and credited him with having genuine occult knowledge, suggesting that he may have been drawing from hidden esoteric traditions in his writings. Blavatsky saw Bulwer-Lytton as an author who could communicate hidden truths through fiction, a sentiment that aligned with her belief in the existence of esoteric teachings encoded in various works of literature.

Through the importance of the Theosophical Society on occult and esoteric teachings over the next century and a half the basic premises behind the novel continue to have influence on what we would today call New Age thought. Even today when you hear Graham Hancock talking about his proposed lost ancient civilization having the ability to levitate megalithic stones and the like, it has its ultimate origins with *The Coming Race* (though Graham probably isn't even aware of that). And of course Vril was supposedly the power source for the Nazi UFOs, though much of that lore was likely fabricated in the sixties and seventies.

Much of the modern outlook on alternative history from Atlantis to Ancient Aliens was shaped in the late 1800s by the intersection of esoteric teachings, non-fiction alternative archaeology, and early science fiction. And the three works that are the pillars of this intersection were *The Secret Doctrine* by Blavatsky, *Atlantis: The Antediluvian World* by Ignatius Donnelly, and this book, *The Coming Race* by Bulwer-Lytton.