Underground aliens and the future of humanity in 1871

I am delighted to bring you another guest post by Anna McCullough. Anna is an expert in Victorian literature and its relationship to scientific ideas. Here is Anna’s St. Andrews profile. Here are her published papers. Today, Anna has written about Edward Bulwer Lytton’s 1871 novel The Coming Race, which is about an underground alien race called the Vril-ya, who control a mysterious force called vril, an energy that gives them incredible telepathic and telekinetic powers.

Politician and sensational novelist

Edward Bulwer Lytton was one of those Victorian man-of-letters whose talents were wide-ranging and who turned up in unexpected parts of history. He was a prominent British politician and the Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1858-1859. Right before his government was defeated, he appointed Richard Clement Moody to found the Colony of British Columbia.

Bulwer was as successful in the literary world as in the political world. He coined some of literature’s most famous phrases, such as “the pen is mightier than the sword” (Richelieu, 1839) and “it was a dark and stormy night” (Paul Clifford, 1830). The latter may cast doubt on his literary quality, but his work was nonetheless significant in both scope and influence.

The Last Days of Pompeii, published in 1834, was a bestseller for decades, was adapted for the stage numerous times, and was translated into ten languages before the end of the century. His gothic and scientific romances paved the way for later fantastical works like Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) and H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds (1898).

You may not have read or even heard of his books, which fell into disrepute in the 20th century (partly due to their sensationalism), but you are probably familiar with another of his achievements: he persuaded Charles Dickens to change the end of Great Expectations (1861) so that Pip and Estella reunite at the end of the novel.

In fact, during the Victorian era only Dickens outsold Bulwer.

Bovril, anthropology, and progress

In 1871, Bulwer published The Coming Race, a novel about an underground alien race called the Vril-ya, who are far more powerful than humanity. They control a mysterious force called vril, an energy that gives them incredible telepathic and telekinetic powers.

The Coming Race had an imaginative appeal