The Coming Race
After reading The Moon Pool, I decided to read Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming Race, which served as partial inspiration for The Moon Pool. Narrator travels underground, finds an advanced society. The book is half the length of The Moon Pool, but took a lot longer to read; it's tough slogging, perhaps because of the legendary Bulwer-Lytton writing style, although I haven't read any other Bulwer-Lytton books to compare. It's slow reading mostly because it's not an adventure story, like Merritt's book; it's from the tradition of social and political commentary disguised as a travel tale. I think his intent was to focus on gender and class questions, but because his underground race has access to a near-magical force known as vril, and suggests at the end that the advanced race might be expanding into the upper world next (hence, the "Coming" Race,) the book became a legend in the occult and crackpot communities. Richard Shaver thought the book was a true story and wound up spinning his own, similar tale about the subterranean Dero. Nazis thought the subterraneans were Aryans and wanted to communicate with them. Conspiracy theorists thought the Nazis succeeded.
The Coming Race is also famous for inventing the phrase "the almighty dollar". And perhaps should be famous for referring to some people as "twats". In 1871! And he didn't think it was part of a nun's habit! Scandal!
The Coming Race is also famous for inventing the phrase "the almighty dollar". And perhaps should be famous for referring to some people as "twats". In 1871! And he didn't think it was part of a nun's habit! Scandal!