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Bulwer-Lytton's Mystic Novels : on the Margins of the Invisible

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Bulwer-Lytton's Mystic Novels : on the Margins of the Invisible L-V Ti BULWER-LYTTON'S MYSTIC NOVELS: IY'Nc)L__ r-ir0 ON THE MARGINS OF THE INVISIBLE by JOHN HENRY MONTGOMERY DISSERTATION submitted in the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS in ENGLISH in the FACULTY OF ARTS at the RAND AFRIKAANS UNIVERSITY SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR R RYAN NOVEMBER 2000 2 Table of Contents Oorsig / Abstract 3 Introduction 7 Chapter 1 — Bulwer-Lytton: the unpopular, intelligent occultist 12 Chapter 2 — The occult works of Bulwer-Lytton: an eclectic philosophy of magic 26 Chapter 3 — The Science-Religion-Occult Paradigm 89 Conclusion 130 Bibliography 136 3 Oorsig Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803 - 1873) het baie geskryf, in baie verskillende genres. Hierdie verhandeling bespreek die werke van sy okkulte genre en ondersoek hulle teen die agtergrond van die wetenskaplike en religieuse paradigmas wat die Midde- Viktoriaanse leserspubliek beinvloed het. Gewilde Viktoriaanse skrywers coos Dickens en Thackeray het in 'n realistiese styl geskryf, deels as 'n reaksie teen toenemende materialisme van hulle tyd. Bulwer-Lytton het gevind dat die style nie gepas was om uiting te gee aan sy mistiese idees nie. Hy het dus instede gebruik gemaak van die metafisiese roman — 'n sub-genre van die ridderroman — wat uitstekend aan sy doel beantwoord het, maar wat nie so geredelik deur kritici, wat nie bereid was om nuwe gebiede te betree nie, aanvaar is nie. Ofskoon Bulwer-Lytton altyd tred gehou het met verwikkelinge in die Spiritualisme, was sy lewenslange belangstelling die studie van die okkulte en geheime genootskappe. Die werke wat in hierdie verhandeling bespreek word dui aan hou deurdringbaar die grenslyne tussen die wetenskap, religie en die okkulte is, en hoe hierdie drie diskoerse saamsmelt eerder as om kunsmatig apart gehou te word. Sy passie vir die mistieke bring Bulwer-Lytton nader aan die Romantiek as die Viktoriaanse tydsgees. As gevolg van 'n hegte vriendskap met John Varley (1778 - 1842), 'n vriend uit William Blake se binnekring, het Bulwer-Lytton vertroud geraak met aspekte van Blake wat veral in A Strange Story vergestalt word. W B Yeates en Rider Haggard, beide bewonderaars van Bulwer-Lytton, het weer op hulle beurt sy idees in hulle werke beliggaam, en Madame Blavatsky het haar van skaamtelose letterdiewery teenoor horn skuldig gemaak in haar boek Isis Unveiled. En ewe ontwetend, sou Bulwer-Lytton se fiktiewe roman The Coming Race vir Hitler as `bewys' dien dat 'n gehieme meestersras wel bestaan! Afgesien van hierdie toe-eienings, beide negatief en positief, is Bulwer-Lytton onbekend aan moderne lesers, teensy daar met sy argaIese skryfstel gehekel word. Die doel van hierdie verhandeling is om verby sy styl na die idees van hierdie geleerde romanskrywer te kyk. Sodoende word 'n bietjie meer lig gewerp op die redes hoekom dit so belangrik is, om op sosiale en wetenskaplike gebied, kennis te neem van die okkulte. Deur die samelewing vanuit die oogpunt van geheime of esoteriese randgemeenskappe te beskou, kry ons 'n nuwe blik op die hoofstroom-samelewing en 4 hoe die okkulte die bestaande grenslyne van die samelewing bevraagteken. Die geskiedenis van die okkulte is 'n studie van die langsame proses van sosiale verandering en die herbepaling van morele, wettenskaplike en religieuse grense. 'n Negering van die uitwerking van die okkulte op die samelewing, het tot gevolg gehad dat 'n gebrekkige geskiedsbeskouing ontstaan het. Om die negentiende-eeuse herlewing in die okkulte te verontagsaam, is om 'n groot stuk van ons moderne intellektuele ontwikkeling mis te kyk. 'n Insig in die okkulte geestesprosesse kan lig werp op baie dinge wat geskiedkundiges al lank aan die raai het. Bulwer-Lytton het deur sy okkulte werke, met hulle klem op die mag van die verbeelding, die positiewe aspekte van die Romantiek as teenvoeter tot materialisme weereens onder die aandag van sy samelewing gebring. Dit is dan ook in die opsig veral dat by 'n bydrae lewer tot die Engelse letterkunde. Sy vermod om die negentiende-eeuse paradoks, naamlik om die mistieke vanuit 'n rationele oogpunt te ondersoek, te konfronteer is waarskynlik uniek onder die Engelse skrywers van sy tyd. Dit sou ook moeilik wees om nog 'n Engelese skrywer te vind wat so aktief navorsing gedoen het, of wat met soveel onbevooroordeeldheid die veld van die mistieke betree het. Bulwer-Lytton het inderdaad sy kuns op 'n hoe eerder as 'n lae vlak bedryf. 5 Abstract Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803 - 1873) was a prolific writer in many genres. This dissertation takes the major works of his occult genre and examines them in the backdrop of the scientific and religious paradigms informing the mid-Victorian reading public. In response partly to the increase in materialism, popular Victorian novelists such as Dickens and Thackeray were writing in a realistic style which Bulwer-Lytton found not suited to convey his mystical ideas. Instead, he made use of the metaphysical novel — a sub-genre of the romance novel — well-suited for his purposes but antithetical to critics often not willing to explore new territory. Although always alive to developments in Spiritualism, Bulwer-Lytton's life-long interest lay in the study of the occult and secret societies. The works chosen for this dissertation indicate how the boundaries between science, religion and the occult are permeable. In his works, these three discourses conflate instead of being kept discrete by artificial means. His passion for the mystical aligns Bulwer-Lytton more with the Romantics than the Victorians. Through a close friendship with John Varley (1778 - 1842), an inner-circle friend of William Blake, Bulwer-Lytton came to learn of aspects of Blake which reflect particularly in A Strange Story. W B Yeates and Rider Haggard, both admirers of Bulwer-Lytton, would incorporate his ideas into their works, and Madame Blavatsky would shamelessly plagiarise him in her Isis Unveiled. Unwittingly, Bulwer-Lytton's wholly-fictional novel, The Coming Race, would serve as 'proof' to Hitler that a secret master race actually existed. Apart from these appropriations, good and bad, Bulwer-Lytton is unfamiliar to modern readers, except perhaps to lampoon him for his archaic style of writing. The aim of this dissertation is to look beyond the style to the ideas of this scholarly novelist. In doing so, a little more light is shed as to why an understanding of the occult is scientifically and socially important, why viewing society from the marginal perspective of esoteric groups allows us to view mainstream society in fresh ways, and how the occult challenges the existing moral boundaries of a society. The history of the occult is a study of the lengthy process of social change and the redefinition of moral, social, scientific, and religious boundaries. Neglect of the impact of the occult has led to a partial view of history. To ignore the occult revival of the nineteenth century is to ignore a large slice of modern intellectual development. An 6 understanding of the workings of the occult mind explains much which has been puzzling historians. Bulwer-Lytton, through his occult works with their emphasis on the power of the imagination, re-introduced into his society the positive aspects of Romanticism as an antidote to materialism. It is in this capacity that he particularly contributes to English literature. His ability to confront the nineteenth-century paradox of investigating the mystical from a vantage point of rationality is probably unique among English writers of the period, nor is it easy to find another English writer who embarked on such active investigation as Bulwer-Lytton or who displayed such an open mind and such commitment in the field of mysticism. Bulwer-Lytton created in the higher, rather than the lower, register of his craft. 7 Introduction Many see the merit in studying traditional science and religion, but not many consider the untraditional and unconventional aspects of human social life — not being a neutral area of study — as suitable for serious study. The result is that those with views dedicated to the pursuit of the esoteric and occult' have suffered scholarly neglect. This dissertation challenges that position and aims to demonstrate that the occult is a legitimate and important area of investigation in its own right and as an avenue leading to a greater understanding of the society of which it is a part. Discussions on science, religion and the occult often turn into arid academic debates but if they are referenced by disciplines such as English literature, outside of those areas interested in them only for their intrinsic knowledge, then science, religion and the occult yield to rich comparative and historical investigations "about modes of thought and social practices" (Neusner and Flesher 1989:261). Why is an understanding of the occult scientifically and socially important? Not being placed within the establishment, the occult is a dislocated entity. When attention is drawn to this "extraneous phenomenon, it acts as a possible index of fluctuations in ... social dislocation" (Lehmann and Myers 1985:352). Rather than create the,;e dislocations in society, occult beliefs are more "symptomatic of dislocating social trends than causal of them" (Lehmann and Myers 1985:351). In other words, understanding the covert aspects of the occult furthers our understanding of non- occult, overt systems "explicitly constructed to compensate for the cognitive shortcomings which characterize many occult beliefs" (Lehmann and Myers 1985:353). The occult is so uncharacteristic of everyday life yet to a greater or lesser extent there is "a near universality of belief" in it (Lehmann and Myers 1985:353, and below). If occult beliefs are so prevalent it might, perhaps, constitute "part of what it means to be human". If that is so, then there is justification in speculating on "the basic quirks inherent in human psychological structure that supports such beliefs" (Lehmann and Myers 1985:354).
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