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Although written in the 19th Century this book remains original (not surprising) and gripping. It is very thought provoking about what would it be like to live in a society where individuals had extraordinary personal power. An interesting exploration of a concept - for the coming race perhaps?
Verdict: A soporifically dull albeit uniquely demeaning utopian travelogue from the Victorian mind that brought you ‘It was a dark and stormy night’
Though I’ve always had a soft spot for Bulwer-Lytton's infamous opener (on account of the joint influences of L’Engle and Snoopy) I can’t say I went into this with the highest of expectations. I’ve read enough public domain by now to know that Victorian authors can be a mixed bag, the general rule being if you’ve never heard of a certain work there might be a reason for it. I was further disheartened when the story began in America, the land where literature goes to die. Still, the author was English and I was promised subterranean neo-humans so optimism remained and I dove into The Coming Race.
The subterranean utopia proved excessively easy to find (hint: it’s just below you. Verne this aint.) and the chapters came short and swift which was a good move on the part of Bulwer-Lytton's as it gave a sense of progress to a narrative which was stultifyingly boring. The Coming Race (The Aun) were boring. They were calm and perfect and zen. Everything was wonderful because they all had magic wands which ran on some (ostensibly) natural energy call vril, but nevertheless they acted all superior about it. Yeah, you know what, Aun? If we had magic powers we’d all live in an idyllic utopia with no poverty, unemployment or unhappiness too. That or we’d wreak Godzilla-esq destruction upon the surface world in bitchin wizard duels. Come to think of it, it would definitely be the latter and it would make for a much better story.
Why you would invent a culture so bhuddistically bland they spurn art and literature and then write for pages on end about them is beyond me. They live in total harmony with the world as they control it. All their animals are small and cute and the ones that aren’t are instantly disintegrated. They don’t drink, they don’t eat meat and they can fly but somehow make it dull. Personal distinction is considered in bad taste and their religion is so vague it makes Shinto shrines look like Notre Dame. Additionally, the narrator, in some sort of anti-journalistic impulse, takes it upon himself to really dig deep and document the dullest aspects of life imaginable. Halfway through a chapter about Aun vowel conjugations I literally passed out onto my keyboard and learnt a valuable lesson about reading at work.
The only whispers of a plot come in the form of an inscrutable romantic entanglement seeped in a completely unique future-chauvinism. That might not be the right word, but there might not be a right word. Let me explain. You see, the female Aun (the Gy) are the physically superior sex in this, the coming race. Rather than turning the tables on the surface world and making men the second sex, this attribute combines with a sort of Victorian “Be nice to the silly woman, it’s just that dammed wandering uterus of hers getting her all crazy-like,” condescension. The result is that the Gy must woo the Aun, promising them favours and not to interfere in their hobbies in exchange for marriage AND be the silly sensitive sex which needs to be protected from its own stupidity. For example, while the men dare not interfere with a Gy courting whomever she wants, should this partner prove offensive to the men they have no trouble killing him later with their magic death wands.
This, you see, was the predicament our narrator found himself in after winning the affections of not one but two virginal Gy. Naturally, as these women were tall and intelligent, he was repulsed. This mattered not to their fathers who told him very serenely he must die if he threatens to pollute their vegan gene pool. One of the ladies thinks she’s found a way around this and proposes that only their souls marry to which our narrator diplomatically replies he could not live with the disgrace of being a husband and never a father. Rawr. Unfortunately that’s as titillating as our story gets. It’s a shame too because, as far as I can tell, the Gy and the Aun are equally ambivalent about sex so I would have appreciated some explanation as to why this coming race hasn’t exterminated itself through procreative lethargy.
I’m not sure why this book made my 1000 books list. Maybe its awkward stabbings at women’s lib were scandalous for its time, I duuno. All I can say is I found it dull and befuddling. Like The Trial(hateful) and the The Man Who Was Thursday(glorious), I have decided that this too is part of a set of diametric twins. Namely, The Coming Race is the evil twin of Wells’ The Time Machine, taking the same elements and structure and corrupting them into literary stodge. The Time Machine got a 5 so this gets a 1. Them’s the rules.
#33
Title The Coming Race by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
When March 2012
Why It was written by mister ‘dark and stormy night’ himself
Rating 1
Though I’ve always had a soft spot for Bulwer-Lytton's infamous opener (on account of the joint influences of L’Engle and Snoopy) I can’t say I went into this with the highest of expectations. I’ve read enough public domain by now to know that Victorian authors can be a mixed bag, the general rule being if you’ve never heard of a certain work there might be a reason for it. I was further disheartened when the story began in America, the land where literature goes to die. Still, the author was English and I was promised subterranean neo-humans so optimism remained and I dove into The Coming Race.
The subterranean utopia proved excessively easy to find (hint: it’s just below you. Verne this aint.) and the chapters came short and swift which was a good move on the part of Bulwer-Lytton's as it gave a sense of progress to a narrative which was stultifyingly boring. The Coming Race (The Aun) were boring. They were calm and perfect and zen. Everything was wonderful because they all had magic wands which ran on some (ostensibly) natural energy call vril, but nevertheless they acted all superior about it. Yeah, you know what, Aun? If we had magic powers we’d all live in an idyllic utopia with no poverty, unemployment or unhappiness too. That or we’d wreak Godzilla-esq destruction upon the surface world in bitchin wizard duels. Come to think of it, it would definitely be the latter and it would make for a much better story.
Why you would invent a culture so bhuddistically bland they spurn art and literature and then write for pages on end about them is beyond me. They live in total harmony with the world as they control it. All their animals are small and cute and the ones that aren’t are instantly disintegrated. They don’t drink, they don’t eat meat and they can fly but somehow make it dull. Personal distinction is considered in bad taste and their religion is so vague it makes Shinto shrines look like Notre Dame. Additionally, the narrator, in some sort of anti-journalistic impulse, takes it upon himself to really dig deep and document the dullest aspects of life imaginable. Halfway through a chapter about Aun vowel conjugations I literally passed out onto my keyboard and learnt a valuable lesson about reading at work.
The only whispers of a plot come in the form of an inscrutable romantic entanglement seeped in a completely unique future-chauvinism. That might not be the right word, but there might not be a right word. Let me explain. You see, the female Aun (the Gy) are the physically superior sex in this, the coming race. Rather than turning the tables on the surface world and making men the second sex, this attribute combines with a sort of Victorian “Be nice to the silly woman, it’s just that dammed wandering uterus of hers getting her all crazy-like,” condescension. The result is that the Gy must woo the Aun, promising them favours and not to interfere in their hobbies in exchange for marriage AND be the silly sensitive sex which needs to be protected from its own stupidity. For example, while the men dare not interfere with a Gy courting whomever she wants, should this partner prove offensive to the men they have no trouble killing him later with their magic death wands.
This, you see, was the predicament our narrator found himself in after winning the affections of not one but two virginal Gy. Naturally, as these women were tall and intelligent, he was repulsed. This mattered not to their fathers who told him very serenely he must die if he threatens to pollute their vegan gene pool. One of the ladies thinks she’s found a way around this and proposes that only their souls marry to which our narrator diplomatically replies he could not live with the disgrace of being a husband and never a father. Rawr. Unfortunately that’s as titillating as our story gets. It’s a shame too because, as far as I can tell, the Gy and the Aun are equally ambivalent about sex so I would have appreciated some explanation as to why this coming race hasn’t exterminated itself through procreative lethargy.
I’m not sure why this book made my 1000 books list. Maybe its awkward stabbings at women’s lib were scandalous for its time, I duuno. All I can say is I found it dull and befuddling. Like The Trial(hateful) and the The Man Who Was Thursday(glorious), I have decided that this too is part of a set of diametric twins. Namely, The Coming Race is the evil twin of Wells’ The Time Machine, taking the same elements and structure and corrupting them into literary stodge. The Time Machine got a 5 so this gets a 1. Them’s the rules.
#33
Title The Coming Race by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
When March 2012
Why It was written by mister ‘dark and stormy night’ himself
Rating 1
It first appeared promising, but then the narrator went into lengthy descriptions. He tells instead of shows for the most part. It's more explaining than exploring. I don't know if this continues after where I left off at 47%.
I loved the idea of there being another group of people underground with customs and norms different from what we know on Earth. However, this was explored in a way that made me feel like I was studying for a test.
Read if you like heavy description. None of it is purple prose. It's flat, in my opinion.
I loved the idea of there being another group of people underground with customs and norms different from what we know on Earth. However, this was explored in a way that made me feel like I was studying for a test.
Read if you like heavy description. None of it is purple prose. It's flat, in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death
I just finished the story and it's not at all what I expected. But it was interesting. Except for the passages that droned on about their language. I have a lot of thoughts about the views on women and social customs. But, whoa, he should've stayed away from that Aryan racial stuff. I mean, hindsight and all from more than a hundred years later... But I think at the end of the book he'd throw away all the racial stuff.
My prof warned us that this was bad before I started reading and she was right! Inexcusably boring.
As a proto-SF novel it fails, but I did find it interesting as an utopian document penned by an esotericist.
The Coming Race -- I must have heard this title somewhere (quite probably Ancient Aliens) and downloaded it. I was not sure what to expect, all I knew is that it was on my Kindle and I should read it. I gave it a shot and it turned out to be a decent book that was written in 1871; which by all means is quite incredible. The concepts within this story are fantastic, full of detail and what we would consider today - steam-punk-esk mechanisms. Bulwer-Lytton writes with such detail, such tenacity, that one would actually believe that he indeed discover a hidden world beneath the surface of the Earth. If there was some portion of the community you would question, it's as if almost immediately he answers you. He covers: death rituals/practices, marriage customs, agriculture, architecture, energy usage (the almighty VRIL), time, community, government, careers, other cultures below the Earth besides the one he resides with and more. There is almost no stone left un-turned. It deserves a second read I think, so I may do that sometime in the future. Males vs. Females is a prevalent topic in this book. He consistently mentions how males are the shy species and females are slightly larger and pursue greater knowledge than the males in this world. He also compares females quite often to those 'back home', and claims to have a couple females (at least) desire him and almost instantly offer marriage to him. He also said how females will, when married 'hang up their wings' and pursue whatever it is the husband is devoted to, but never BE better than him at it (even if she is). Females also change the color of their attire to show their relationship status. What I did find interesting is that males still hold government/community positions of power? I feel as though if females were supposed to be the more dominant species here, that they would hold some offices as well? Maybe he went over that and I missed it... Other than that, a great book full of fascinating ideas for the 'future' and I'll be sure to watch for any frog-like people coming out of the earth.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I would recommend this book to those Steampunk aficionados of my acquaintance who wish to emulate the overblown prose of the age of steam. Because DAYUM. This boy never saw a flower but he put some gilding on it.
Enjoyable in its way, it was refreshing for its time, with some nuance - the utopia under the earth is not without price, though I question his reasoning that a peaceful mankind would stop making literature for its own sake, I accept it as I accept that the angelic women of the Vril-ya have slight mustaches.
Oh! The gender role reversal! It's not complete, which makes it more interesting. He has recourse to "try to look pretty" as women compliment him in a society where women are the wooers and men the wooed, though his only descriptions of married women about the Vril-ya are housekeepers who, he continually emphasizes, are the most submissive wives ever. This underground utopia, we are told, had complete gender equality - any job can be done by either sex, but we are never shown a female administrator or engineer. There's volumes that could be written about his nascent feminism and gender-role assumptions. It's downright quaint, honestly, much like the author's repeated references to a wholly incorrect understanding of evolution, wherein parents can acquire traits and pass them on. CUTE. Outdated. But... as valid as our modern science fiction, working within the constraints of knowledge as it stood then. Overall I am glad I read it, though there are a few painfully pedantic parts.
Enjoyable in its way, it was refreshing for its time, with some nuance - the utopia under the earth is not without price, though I question his reasoning that a peaceful mankind would stop making literature for its own sake, I accept it as I accept that the angelic women of the Vril-ya have slight mustaches.
Oh! The gender role reversal! It's not complete, which makes it more interesting. He has recourse to "try to look pretty" as women compliment him in a society where women are the wooers and men the wooed, though his only descriptions of married women about the Vril-ya are housekeepers who, he continually emphasizes, are the most submissive wives ever. This underground utopia, we are told, had complete gender equality - any job can be done by either sex, but we are never shown a female administrator or engineer. There's volumes that could be written about his nascent feminism and gender-role assumptions. It's downright quaint, honestly, much like the author's repeated references to a wholly incorrect understanding of evolution, wherein parents can acquire traits and pass them on. CUTE. Outdated. But... as valid as our modern science fiction, working within the constraints of knowledge as it stood then. Overall I am glad I read it, though there are a few painfully pedantic parts.
A pleasant read although I definitely would change the decision made by the protagonist regarding his betrothing with Zee. I felt the author could have made a very interesting sequel if Zee and him were to run away to the surface of the Earth to live out there lives together.