What do you think?
Rate this book
Zanoni: Die Geschichte eines Magiers
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1842
199 people are currently reading
2643 people want to read
About the author
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
4,457 books223 followersEdward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC, was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. Lord Lytton was a florid, popular writer of his day, who coined such phrases as "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", and the infamous incipit "It was a dark and stormy night."
He was the youngest son of General William Earle Bulwer of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling, Norfolk and Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth, Hertfordshire. He had two brothers, William Earle Lytton Bulwer (1799–1877) and Henry, afterwards Lord Dalling and Bulwer.
Lord Lytton's original surname was Bulwer, the names 'Earle' and 'Lytton' were middle names. On 20 February 1844 he assumed the name and arms of Lytton by royal licence and his surname then became 'Bulwer-Lytton'. His widowed mother had done the same in 1811. His brothers were always simply surnamed 'Bulwer'.
He was the youngest son of General William Earle Bulwer of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling, Norfolk and Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth, Hertfordshire. He had two brothers, William Earle Lytton Bulwer (1799–1877) and Henry, afterwards Lord Dalling and Bulwer.
Lord Lytton's original surname was Bulwer, the names 'Earle' and 'Lytton' were middle names. On 20 February 1844 he assumed the name and arms of Lytton by royal licence and his surname then became 'Bulwer-Lytton'. His widowed mother had done the same in 1811. His brothers were always simply surnamed 'Bulwer'.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
November 1, 2021
It is easier to add to our read list here at Goodreads and a couple years ago if I found a book while reading or listening to an OTR (Old Time Radio), I started putting a note in my comment section. Edward Bulwer Lytton's Zanoni was a find many years before I started Goodreads and taking notes. I wish I could remember exactly what book mentioned this story but I am guessing probably Mary Elizabeth Braddon's "Charlotte's Inheritance" or "Bird of Prey". Besides those books being wonderful, the author would list books when appropriate; hence "Zanoni". It has taken me a long time to finally pick up this story and all I can say in a few words, this story speaks to my soul! It lifts me up higher in my thoughts of life and The Almighty! Is this a religious read? It depends on what one considers that realm. There are no scriptures quoted but the good/evil element of humanity and Faith or lack of in God is apparent. This is an ultimate favorite and wonderful find for me. I read with a Kindle, so with that device you can highlight a name/thing and search the book. The reason I bring that up is a name I did this to showed up in another story in my Delphi Collection of his works. So in my curiosity, I came up with a story that is shorter, written earlier with some of the same characters, "Zicci". Many older stories are not always talked about on the Internet and "Zicci" was that sort. So of course I will read that next and compare.
Edward Bulwer Lytton was an interesting character and writer. I will be putting some quotes here from my edition.
"One of the peculiarities of Bulwer was his passion for occult studies. They had a charm for him early in life, and he pursued them with the earnestness which characterised his pursuit of other studies. He became absorbed in wizard lore; he equipped himself with magical implements, — with rods for transmitting influence, and crystal balls in which to discern coming scenes and persons; and communed with spiritualists and mediums."
This is a kind of historical fiction story. Its center is of Robespierre and The French Revolution Reign of Terror. Before the author goes into that history, he talks of the men of Enlightenment. After reading this book, I come away with knowing more history and the men of The Enlightenment Age. The lack of belief in God is quite profuse and it is always interesting when some men about to die look for God who they denied exist. I come away after reading this with a stronger faith in God. Can one believe in God and science? Yes, there are so many wonders and unknowns that may never be explained and having a Faith in God does not make one any less of intelligent because one believes. We have a free choice to believe or not believe, I chose to have Faith.
"It has been justly said that the present half century has witnessed the rise and triumphs of science, the extent and marvels of which even Bacon’s fancy never conceived, simultaneously with superstitions grosser than any which Bacon’s age believed. “The one is, in fact, the natural reaction from the other. The more science seeks to exclude the miraculous, and reduce all nature, animate and inanimate, to an invariable law of sequences, the more does the natural instinct of man rebel, and seek an outlet for those obstinate questionings, those ‘blank misgivings of a creature moving about in worlds not realised,’ taking refuge in delusions as degrading as any of the so-called Dark Ages.” It was the revolt from the chilling materialism of the age which inspired the mystic creations of “Zanoni” and “A Strange Story."
When writing this story, Lytton had some help from a friend who after he died left some manuscripts of the unknown and the author chose to unite this with his ideas and a story line. Two quotes below are from that gentleman talking to the author and Lytton giving a history of his friend.
"I will believe him to have been a very respectable man, who only spoke the truth when he boasted of his power to be in two places at the same time.” “Is that so difficult?” said the old gentleman; “if so, you have never dreamed!”
"He seemed to have seen much of the world, and to have been an eye-witness of the first French Revolution, a subject upon which he was equally eloquent and instructive. At the same time he did not regard the crimes of that stormy period with the philosophical leniency with which enlightened writers (their heads safe upon their shoulders) are, in the present day, inclined to treat the massacres of the past: he spoke not as a student who had read and reasoned, but as a man who had seen and suffered."
Lytton writes to the readers.
"This confession leads me to the sentence with which I shall conclude: If, reader, in this book there be anything that pleases you, it is certainly mine; but whenever you come to something you dislike, — lay the blame upon the old gentleman! London, January, 1842."
The editor writes.
"As a work of art the romance is one of great power. It is original in its conception, and pervaded by one central idea; but it would have been improved, we think, by a more sparing use of the supernatural. The inevitable effect of so much hackneyed diablerie — of such an accumulation of wonder upon wonder — is to deaden the impression they would naturally make upon us. In Hawthorne’s tales we see with what ease a great imaginative artist can produce a deeper thrill by a far slighter use of the weird and the mysterious."
I disagree wholeheartedly! I think the supernatural element is an important part of the story for so many reasons. It gives more of a good verses evil; the meaning of life and would one really like to live forever on Earth or look for everlasting life in Heaven.
You see many characters which at the end of the story, the editor explains, though he says the reader will come away with their own ideas. One character has no care but science for science's sake without a care for humanity. Another sees humanity and science and the need to uplift others. A character of passion and desires that does not think of consequences and not a bad person. A person with superstition that lurks in the mind and is afraid of things unknown not having Faith in what is good. I could go on and on but will rap my thoughts up soon.
In the explanation of the story at the end, they say this is really not a romance especially on Viola's part but I disagree again. This is romance from start to finish. I loved Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities but to me this exceeds that book in so many ways. I never knew what twist and turns this book would take; the ending was all that in grandeur.
In my edition the story described-
"Zanoni was published in 1842 and is often considered to be the first modern British novel of occult fantasy. The book was hugely influential on theosophists and other similar groups during the nineteenth century. Bulwer-Lytton confessed that in his younger years he took a great interest in the secret philosophical society Rosicrucianism, wishing to truly understand its theory and doctrine. The sect was founded during the medieval period in Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz and was centred on the idea of discovering ancient truths and understanding nature and the spiritual realm that are beyond the reach of the average man. The central characters of the novel are the eponymous Zanoni, his spiritual master Mejnour, and the young aspiring opera singer Viola. Bulwer-Lytton sets the novel in two worlds; the physical and material one, and the transcendent realm, which can only be accessed by those of the brotherhood. When the novel opens, Zanoni has already undergone the initiation into the sect and trained enough to reach the highest level of the order and become immortal."
Story in short- Zanoni meets a young Italian girl, Viola and her English suitor, Clarence Glyndon and seeing their future wants to help them.
If interested, I have a lot of highlights and some notes; look on my Edward Bulwer Lytton shelf for that collection.
"Oh, when shall men learn, at last, that if the Great Religion inculcates so rigidly the necessity of FAITH, it is not alone that FAITH leads to the world to be; but that without faith there is no excellence in this, — faith in something wiser, happier, diviner, than we see on earth! — the artist calls it the Ideal, — the priest, Faith. The Ideal and Faith are one and the same. Return, O wanderer, return! Feel what beauty and holiness dwell in the Customary and the Old. Back to thy gateway glide, thou Horror! and calm, on the childlike heart, smile again, O azure Heaven, with thy night and thy morning star but as one, though under its double name of Memory and Hope!”
I loved every page of this story and it will not be easily forgotten! 💖💖 When a reader finds a book it talks to them and when one finds one that touches their heart, that is a masterpiece in their mind!
🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻 spoiler alert🔻🔻🔻🔻
I was happy that Zanoni married Viola; because Found in did not deserve her. I was glad that Zanoni was able to help him with the demons and one wonders if he will truly live a better life or just average. After his sister died, how could he tell Viola, who has such superstitions and basically tell her to kill her baby so the part of what he thinks fiend of Zanoni will not trouble the baby. Her lack of knowledge and no interest but love prevents from her learning what Zanoni knows. Zanoni, I loved this character, so intelligent on reading people and very loving to help. He wonders forever and finds that everlasting life on earth is nothing to the life of heaven. Death is the beginning for the believer and his not being like Mejnour who does not care and does not help his friend but God shows him the way to save his baby and Viola. Did Glyndon look for them or did he just leave without knowing he had oar t in their death too by convincing Viola to leave her husband. Filide only concern for not putting Found in to death but the virtues brought him down but he was a huge part. He is not that much better than she. Nicky of thinking only for himself but is seen for his falseness and dies. Zanoni dying for his and when Viola is found dead from what has happened to her husband was too hard to take. Knowing leaving her husband brought this great peril and death to him. Her child was safe with him but she doubted and did not believe in his science or have faith. The ending extremely sad and poignant. The child will be an orphan to fend for himself with hopefully kind people and the grace of God.
Gaetano Pisani is a composer that is too wild for the times and he makes money playing the violin with a group but must be kept from going off course in a reverie. He is married to an English girl from noble family and he is kind but a devout to his wildness of his art. They have a daughter, Viola who like her father is much to the excitement of imagination and her singing art. She is mostly alone except Dame Giaonetta who fills her head with fantasy and other things. The family lives in Naples. Viola is 16 and the cardinal tries different engagements but she refuses to act and is dubbed silly like her father. Viola is to sing an opera but she will not sing unless it is her choice which is refused but later received. Pisani questions his daughter who says the opera is a secret. He arrives at the theatre and hears his Siren sung by his daughter. When the audience thought they were being fooled by with Pisani when they wanted the composer of their liking, Viola goes pale and voiceless until a man of much providence quiets the crowds and gives Viola strength by his smiles. Viola and Pisani are successful but she remembers the man of the theatre which gave her voice and wonders about him. Pisani who plays his emotions on his violin but sadness not joy. The next morning Viola is alone and she sees the man from last night. He stops and talks to her to get more of her feelings of last night and he warns her of staying away from evil to come and he is to go way from Naples. Viola sees him go but the touch of his hand; she yearns for him to come back. Men are talking outside a gambling house about this so called rich man called Zanoni which is one in the same that just talked to Viola. Cetexa had told the men that Zanoni is his friend and after having a wonderful time at the opera for the box, Cetexa let him have, he gave him a diamond. An old man told his story of having heard a man of 70 knowing Zanoni as a boy and not looking any different; and from and old men them he was then to another. They laugh the old man off who told them he went by another name. Zanoni goes to another time of past and can travel but has a fondness for beings on earth. The brilliant thinkers of French Enlightenment talk of no longer kings and priest so that philosophy of life an take them forward. A stranger in Paris pre revolution and old man who has denied God praying to a God when his adopted son who tied to poison him but for the stranger looks to kill and take the gold with him; again the stranger stops this. Our stranger who has saved the unbelieving old man from the adopted son of lower birth and ideas who he brought up in all good with no belief in God. The relative lawyer from Nancy, France who s a lawyer who agrees with the old man about Revolution, whose ideas are not so pure asks about the old man's money. The old man looked for the boy after leaving a family who he could not accept the unbelief. The stranger knows what all will bring and tries to tell them but is scoffed. Pisani becomes ill and his wife catches it and dies. Viola nurses both but keeps the news of her mother's death. When Pisani is starting to recover, Viola seeks the doctor and alone he wanders and finds out she died and soon after he dies too. Viola is back at her house with Gionetta because she missed it. Back to singing with admirers especially an Englishman but she dreams of the stranger, it has been two years since seeing him. Glyndon is the Englishman that has been friendly with Viola. He looks for a love affair, uncertain if he wants to marry. A group of men talk of a superstition which in general men disregard except maybe the Italians. After Zanoni speaks in favor of this he leaves and the men not aware of him are told of his wealth and a story of how a Sicilian who gets in a sword fight and how Zanoni thinks this man should be buried with his father and that horror killed the Sicilian in an instant. When the grave was opened a metal spike was in his skull which is found out to be murder committed with the old servant tells this of the miser. Glydon is an Englishman with some wealth and parents not alive but a younger sister. He is told that he has talent as a painter. He has many adventures and does not like working but has had many lovers and he thinks Viola is not so innocent and has no plans of marriage. He hears stories of Zanoni and brings in mind a relative who was mysterious which brings him interested in Zanoni. Zanoni warns him and Glydon feels insulted and leaves him to the opera where Viola has put on a performance that is spectacular because she sees Zanoni again but his looks are not of approval. She finally finds out his name and is not interested in others like Glydon. Zanoni warns Glyndon not to go home alone or troubles await. A nobleman sees Viola and declares that Glyndon must die so he alone could have Viola. He tells the men to murder him but his plot is ruined when Glydon gives the carriage to Viola and travels with friends and Zanoni prevents the ruffians from taking Viola by taking his men with him. Viola is stunned and happy to see Zanoni. Zanoni tries to tell Viola to love and marry Glydon which makes her upset, though true love is not yet hers to Zanoni; he sees him as a light and he thinks that love is not for him and he can help her not be clouded to her dangers. He tells her the nobleman will try again and tells Gionetta to keep Viola from loving him. I am trying to remember in another book or movie but I think book where a man who had a secret room which baffled all and was triggered to explode. I think this abode was a place that his girlfriend followed him without being seen. Maybe it will come all a sudden. The palace which Zanoni lived had a secret room that only he could enter and rumors about it were numerous. Glyndon is attracted to Zanoni from his desire to know the mystery. Zanoni asks his attentions to Viola which Glyndon says he will not marry her but does not want her to belong to another especially after Zanoni tells him, he loves Viola but he is no good for her. Zanoni gives Glyndon 9 days to inform him. Glyndon tries to figure out the origin of Zanoni by his perfection of so many languages and his name is dissected by his friend Mervale. In case anyone is reading my quotes and wondering, many of these quotes are commenting on the French Revolution. Glyndon is talking to a wretched artist who looks worse from last meeting. The artist, Jean Nicot is a messenger of the French Revolution. Trying to spread the concepts along to others. Glyndon talks to him but is interrupted by Zanoni who bids that this artist leave and with hate and disdain, he leaves with a power unknown forcing him away. Glyndon wants to know all about Zanoni but he tells only his feelings of staying away from the artist who has no pure interest in man. Zanoni brings out loftier ideas of art and life which are quenched by Mervale telling it is foolish to marry Viola and be an artist. Viola thinks of Zanoni and is approached by Glyndon. He talks of love but she talks of a sisterly love which then she mentions he stranger; thinking of him and his effect leaves her to be left alone and Glyndon has the eerie chill in his mind not Viola. Viola is helping her father's old musician friend that after her parents death gave her a home until returning to her parents. Bernardi has a grandchild, Beatrice who is ill and approaches death; physicians have no effect but Viola helps nurse the young girl. The grandmother sees the need or the one who has helped the poor, so Zanoni is there and Viola sees him. She suspects evil doing but quickly realises she was wrong. Medicine and prayers to Heaven bring the young girl back. They talk and Viola asks for forgiveness and the loving exchange of admiration between the pair. Viola returns home very happy and not thinking of love but of his presence in being so good. Zanoni sees Viola and then brings up having her marry Glyndon but he sees while she will do all he wishes with her heart shown and Zanoni comes holds her had to kiss; in his getting closer he can no longer help her from danger.
Edward Bulwer Lytton was an interesting character and writer. I will be putting some quotes here from my edition.
"One of the peculiarities of Bulwer was his passion for occult studies. They had a charm for him early in life, and he pursued them with the earnestness which characterised his pursuit of other studies. He became absorbed in wizard lore; he equipped himself with magical implements, — with rods for transmitting influence, and crystal balls in which to discern coming scenes and persons; and communed with spiritualists and mediums."
This is a kind of historical fiction story. Its center is of Robespierre and The French Revolution Reign of Terror. Before the author goes into that history, he talks of the men of Enlightenment. After reading this book, I come away with knowing more history and the men of The Enlightenment Age. The lack of belief in God is quite profuse and it is always interesting when some men about to die look for God who they denied exist. I come away after reading this with a stronger faith in God. Can one believe in God and science? Yes, there are so many wonders and unknowns that may never be explained and having a Faith in God does not make one any less of intelligent because one believes. We have a free choice to believe or not believe, I chose to have Faith.
"It has been justly said that the present half century has witnessed the rise and triumphs of science, the extent and marvels of which even Bacon’s fancy never conceived, simultaneously with superstitions grosser than any which Bacon’s age believed. “The one is, in fact, the natural reaction from the other. The more science seeks to exclude the miraculous, and reduce all nature, animate and inanimate, to an invariable law of sequences, the more does the natural instinct of man rebel, and seek an outlet for those obstinate questionings, those ‘blank misgivings of a creature moving about in worlds not realised,’ taking refuge in delusions as degrading as any of the so-called Dark Ages.” It was the revolt from the chilling materialism of the age which inspired the mystic creations of “Zanoni” and “A Strange Story."
When writing this story, Lytton had some help from a friend who after he died left some manuscripts of the unknown and the author chose to unite this with his ideas and a story line. Two quotes below are from that gentleman talking to the author and Lytton giving a history of his friend.
"I will believe him to have been a very respectable man, who only spoke the truth when he boasted of his power to be in two places at the same time.” “Is that so difficult?” said the old gentleman; “if so, you have never dreamed!”
"He seemed to have seen much of the world, and to have been an eye-witness of the first French Revolution, a subject upon which he was equally eloquent and instructive. At the same time he did not regard the crimes of that stormy period with the philosophical leniency with which enlightened writers (their heads safe upon their shoulders) are, in the present day, inclined to treat the massacres of the past: he spoke not as a student who had read and reasoned, but as a man who had seen and suffered."
Lytton writes to the readers.
"This confession leads me to the sentence with which I shall conclude: If, reader, in this book there be anything that pleases you, it is certainly mine; but whenever you come to something you dislike, — lay the blame upon the old gentleman! London, January, 1842."
The editor writes.
"As a work of art the romance is one of great power. It is original in its conception, and pervaded by one central idea; but it would have been improved, we think, by a more sparing use of the supernatural. The inevitable effect of so much hackneyed diablerie — of such an accumulation of wonder upon wonder — is to deaden the impression they would naturally make upon us. In Hawthorne’s tales we see with what ease a great imaginative artist can produce a deeper thrill by a far slighter use of the weird and the mysterious."
I disagree wholeheartedly! I think the supernatural element is an important part of the story for so many reasons. It gives more of a good verses evil; the meaning of life and would one really like to live forever on Earth or look for everlasting life in Heaven.
You see many characters which at the end of the story, the editor explains, though he says the reader will come away with their own ideas. One character has no care but science for science's sake without a care for humanity. Another sees humanity and science and the need to uplift others. A character of passion and desires that does not think of consequences and not a bad person. A person with superstition that lurks in the mind and is afraid of things unknown not having Faith in what is good. I could go on and on but will rap my thoughts up soon.
In the explanation of the story at the end, they say this is really not a romance especially on Viola's part but I disagree again. This is romance from start to finish. I loved Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities but to me this exceeds that book in so many ways. I never knew what twist and turns this book would take; the ending was all that in grandeur.
In my edition the story described-
"Zanoni was published in 1842 and is often considered to be the first modern British novel of occult fantasy. The book was hugely influential on theosophists and other similar groups during the nineteenth century. Bulwer-Lytton confessed that in his younger years he took a great interest in the secret philosophical society Rosicrucianism, wishing to truly understand its theory and doctrine. The sect was founded during the medieval period in Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz and was centred on the idea of discovering ancient truths and understanding nature and the spiritual realm that are beyond the reach of the average man. The central characters of the novel are the eponymous Zanoni, his spiritual master Mejnour, and the young aspiring opera singer Viola. Bulwer-Lytton sets the novel in two worlds; the physical and material one, and the transcendent realm, which can only be accessed by those of the brotherhood. When the novel opens, Zanoni has already undergone the initiation into the sect and trained enough to reach the highest level of the order and become immortal."
Story in short- Zanoni meets a young Italian girl, Viola and her English suitor, Clarence Glyndon and seeing their future wants to help them.
If interested, I have a lot of highlights and some notes; look on my Edward Bulwer Lytton shelf for that collection.
"Oh, when shall men learn, at last, that if the Great Religion inculcates so rigidly the necessity of FAITH, it is not alone that FAITH leads to the world to be; but that without faith there is no excellence in this, — faith in something wiser, happier, diviner, than we see on earth! — the artist calls it the Ideal, — the priest, Faith. The Ideal and Faith are one and the same. Return, O wanderer, return! Feel what beauty and holiness dwell in the Customary and the Old. Back to thy gateway glide, thou Horror! and calm, on the childlike heart, smile again, O azure Heaven, with thy night and thy morning star but as one, though under its double name of Memory and Hope!”
I loved every page of this story and it will not be easily forgotten! 💖💖 When a reader finds a book it talks to them and when one finds one that touches their heart, that is a masterpiece in their mind!
🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻 spoiler alert🔻🔻🔻🔻
I was happy that Zanoni married Viola; because Found in did not deserve her. I was glad that Zanoni was able to help him with the demons and one wonders if he will truly live a better life or just average. After his sister died, how could he tell Viola, who has such superstitions and basically tell her to kill her baby so the part of what he thinks fiend of Zanoni will not trouble the baby. Her lack of knowledge and no interest but love prevents from her learning what Zanoni knows. Zanoni, I loved this character, so intelligent on reading people and very loving to help. He wonders forever and finds that everlasting life on earth is nothing to the life of heaven. Death is the beginning for the believer and his not being like Mejnour who does not care and does not help his friend but God shows him the way to save his baby and Viola. Did Glyndon look for them or did he just leave without knowing he had oar t in their death too by convincing Viola to leave her husband. Filide only concern for not putting Found in to death but the virtues brought him down but he was a huge part. He is not that much better than she. Nicky of thinking only for himself but is seen for his falseness and dies. Zanoni dying for his and when Viola is found dead from what has happened to her husband was too hard to take. Knowing leaving her husband brought this great peril and death to him. Her child was safe with him but she doubted and did not believe in his science or have faith. The ending extremely sad and poignant. The child will be an orphan to fend for himself with hopefully kind people and the grace of God.
Gaetano Pisani is a composer that is too wild for the times and he makes money playing the violin with a group but must be kept from going off course in a reverie. He is married to an English girl from noble family and he is kind but a devout to his wildness of his art. They have a daughter, Viola who like her father is much to the excitement of imagination and her singing art. She is mostly alone except Dame Giaonetta who fills her head with fantasy and other things. The family lives in Naples. Viola is 16 and the cardinal tries different engagements but she refuses to act and is dubbed silly like her father. Viola is to sing an opera but she will not sing unless it is her choice which is refused but later received. Pisani questions his daughter who says the opera is a secret. He arrives at the theatre and hears his Siren sung by his daughter. When the audience thought they were being fooled by with Pisani when they wanted the composer of their liking, Viola goes pale and voiceless until a man of much providence quiets the crowds and gives Viola strength by his smiles. Viola and Pisani are successful but she remembers the man of the theatre which gave her voice and wonders about him. Pisani who plays his emotions on his violin but sadness not joy. The next morning Viola is alone and she sees the man from last night. He stops and talks to her to get more of her feelings of last night and he warns her of staying away from evil to come and he is to go way from Naples. Viola sees him go but the touch of his hand; she yearns for him to come back. Men are talking outside a gambling house about this so called rich man called Zanoni which is one in the same that just talked to Viola. Cetexa had told the men that Zanoni is his friend and after having a wonderful time at the opera for the box, Cetexa let him have, he gave him a diamond. An old man told his story of having heard a man of 70 knowing Zanoni as a boy and not looking any different; and from and old men them he was then to another. They laugh the old man off who told them he went by another name. Zanoni goes to another time of past and can travel but has a fondness for beings on earth. The brilliant thinkers of French Enlightenment talk of no longer kings and priest so that philosophy of life an take them forward. A stranger in Paris pre revolution and old man who has denied God praying to a God when his adopted son who tied to poison him but for the stranger looks to kill and take the gold with him; again the stranger stops this. Our stranger who has saved the unbelieving old man from the adopted son of lower birth and ideas who he brought up in all good with no belief in God. The relative lawyer from Nancy, France who s a lawyer who agrees with the old man about Revolution, whose ideas are not so pure asks about the old man's money. The old man looked for the boy after leaving a family who he could not accept the unbelief. The stranger knows what all will bring and tries to tell them but is scoffed. Pisani becomes ill and his wife catches it and dies. Viola nurses both but keeps the news of her mother's death. When Pisani is starting to recover, Viola seeks the doctor and alone he wanders and finds out she died and soon after he dies too. Viola is back at her house with Gionetta because she missed it. Back to singing with admirers especially an Englishman but she dreams of the stranger, it has been two years since seeing him. Glyndon is the Englishman that has been friendly with Viola. He looks for a love affair, uncertain if he wants to marry. A group of men talk of a superstition which in general men disregard except maybe the Italians. After Zanoni speaks in favor of this he leaves and the men not aware of him are told of his wealth and a story of how a Sicilian who gets in a sword fight and how Zanoni thinks this man should be buried with his father and that horror killed the Sicilian in an instant. When the grave was opened a metal spike was in his skull which is found out to be murder committed with the old servant tells this of the miser. Glydon is an Englishman with some wealth and parents not alive but a younger sister. He is told that he has talent as a painter. He has many adventures and does not like working but has had many lovers and he thinks Viola is not so innocent and has no plans of marriage. He hears stories of Zanoni and brings in mind a relative who was mysterious which brings him interested in Zanoni. Zanoni warns him and Glydon feels insulted and leaves him to the opera where Viola has put on a performance that is spectacular because she sees Zanoni again but his looks are not of approval. She finally finds out his name and is not interested in others like Glydon. Zanoni warns Glyndon not to go home alone or troubles await. A nobleman sees Viola and declares that Glyndon must die so he alone could have Viola. He tells the men to murder him but his plot is ruined when Glydon gives the carriage to Viola and travels with friends and Zanoni prevents the ruffians from taking Viola by taking his men with him. Viola is stunned and happy to see Zanoni. Zanoni tries to tell Viola to love and marry Glydon which makes her upset, though true love is not yet hers to Zanoni; he sees him as a light and he thinks that love is not for him and he can help her not be clouded to her dangers. He tells her the nobleman will try again and tells Gionetta to keep Viola from loving him. I am trying to remember in another book or movie but I think book where a man who had a secret room which baffled all and was triggered to explode. I think this abode was a place that his girlfriend followed him without being seen. Maybe it will come all a sudden. The palace which Zanoni lived had a secret room that only he could enter and rumors about it were numerous. Glyndon is attracted to Zanoni from his desire to know the mystery. Zanoni asks his attentions to Viola which Glyndon says he will not marry her but does not want her to belong to another especially after Zanoni tells him, he loves Viola but he is no good for her. Zanoni gives Glyndon 9 days to inform him. Glyndon tries to figure out the origin of Zanoni by his perfection of so many languages and his name is dissected by his friend Mervale. In case anyone is reading my quotes and wondering, many of these quotes are commenting on the French Revolution. Glyndon is talking to a wretched artist who looks worse from last meeting. The artist, Jean Nicot is a messenger of the French Revolution. Trying to spread the concepts along to others. Glyndon talks to him but is interrupted by Zanoni who bids that this artist leave and with hate and disdain, he leaves with a power unknown forcing him away. Glyndon wants to know all about Zanoni but he tells only his feelings of staying away from the artist who has no pure interest in man. Zanoni brings out loftier ideas of art and life which are quenched by Mervale telling it is foolish to marry Viola and be an artist. Viola thinks of Zanoni and is approached by Glyndon. He talks of love but she talks of a sisterly love which then she mentions he stranger; thinking of him and his effect leaves her to be left alone and Glyndon has the eerie chill in his mind not Viola. Viola is helping her father's old musician friend that after her parents death gave her a home until returning to her parents. Bernardi has a grandchild, Beatrice who is ill and approaches death; physicians have no effect but Viola helps nurse the young girl. The grandmother sees the need or the one who has helped the poor, so Zanoni is there and Viola sees him. She suspects evil doing but quickly realises she was wrong. Medicine and prayers to Heaven bring the young girl back. They talk and Viola asks for forgiveness and the loving exchange of admiration between the pair. Viola returns home very happy and not thinking of love but of his presence in being so good. Zanoni sees Viola and then brings up having her marry Glyndon but he sees while she will do all he wishes with her heart shown and Zanoni comes holds her had to kiss; in his getting closer he can no longer help her from danger.
Read
November 5, 2020It is the second book written by B.Lytton that I read, the first, - The Last Days Of Pompeii- being written in the same frame, with more history, however.
"Zanoni" leaves more place for esotericism, but, in this case, what is esoteric is not so by the nature, it's only accidentaly.
This kind of literature skillfully plays a very popular stake today : the victim-consciousness stake. Its succes comes largely from a sentimental blackmail, that apppels to our natural compassion for the victims, while demonizing the "persecutors" of service.
The example given by Faivre - DaVinci's Code- is very eloquent.
"Zanoni" - it seems to me a complex book, difficult for an uninvited reader in the subject of Rosicrucianism, but, over the 600 pages you will discover an exceptional writing, with meticulous descriptions of the characters, sometimes too meticulous, but maybe that's what I liked most, - the evocation of the eternal battle between mind and heart of mankind.
Also, a wonderful love story , translated into an original writing, with deep reflections, evocative of an era well rooted in romanticism.
But after all, it's about fear.
" Thou art unfit for the science that has made me and others what we are , or have been; for thy whole nature is one fear ! Fear ! and the worst fear , fear of the world's opinion, fear of the dark passions and the conventionalists, fear of thine own impulses when most generous, fear of thine own powers when thy genius is most bold ; fear that virtue is not eternal ; fear that God does not live in heaven to keep watch on earth ; fear, the fear of little men ; and that fear is never known to the great ".
"Zanoni" leaves more place for esotericism, but, in this case, what is esoteric is not so by the nature, it's only accidentaly.
This kind of literature skillfully plays a very popular stake today : the victim-consciousness stake. Its succes comes largely from a sentimental blackmail, that apppels to our natural compassion for the victims, while demonizing the "persecutors" of service.
The example given by Faivre - DaVinci's Code- is very eloquent.
"Zanoni" - it seems to me a complex book, difficult for an uninvited reader in the subject of Rosicrucianism, but, over the 600 pages you will discover an exceptional writing, with meticulous descriptions of the characters, sometimes too meticulous, but maybe that's what I liked most, - the evocation of the eternal battle between mind and heart of mankind.
Also, a wonderful love story , translated into an original writing, with deep reflections, evocative of an era well rooted in romanticism.
But after all, it's about fear.
" Thou art unfit for the science that has made me and others what we are , or have been; for thy whole nature is one fear ! Fear ! and the worst fear , fear of the world's opinion, fear of the dark passions and the conventionalists, fear of thine own impulses when most generous, fear of thine own powers when thy genius is most bold ; fear that virtue is not eternal ; fear that God does not live in heaven to keep watch on earth ; fear, the fear of little men ; and that fear is never known to the great ".
March 18, 2013
The English novelist Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803-1873), is today best-known for inspiring The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a competition for the worst opening lines for the worst possible novels. This is a result of Bulwer-Lytton having opened one of his novels with, “It was a dark and stormy night.” This has gained him a reputation as a bad writer, a reputation that is most unjust. Bulwer-Lytton was in fact a fine and imaginative writer and one of the most interesting of all 19th century literary figures.
His short story The Haunted and the Haunters is one of the minor masterpieces of horror. Bulwer-Lytton wrote in many genres and was the author of the fascinating science fiction novel The Coming Race. He had a keen interest in the occult and it is one of his occult novels with which we are concerned - Zanoni, published in 1842. It is often described as his Rosicrucian novel, although in fact the two key figures in the book, Zanoni and Mejnour, are not Rosicrucians but members of a much more ancient and much more secret fraternity. They do however acknowledge the Rosicrucians as being on the right track. The alchemists they regard as sincere seekers after truth and wisdom, and often men of genius, but alchemy is not the path to the truths they seek.
This is a novel within a novel. The author claims to have come into possession of a manuscript, a manuscript written by an adept in the occult arts. He claims to have obtained the manuscript from its author, who claimed that it dealt with an idea derived from Plato, that there are four types of enthusiasm or mania. Mania is used here in a positive sense, as a kind of spiritual exaltation. The four manias are the musical, the mystical, the prophetic and that that pertains to love.
The manuscript describes events that supposedly took place at the end of the preceding century. The hero of the manuscript is Zanoni. Zanoni is one of two surviving members of a brotherhood that dates back almost as far as the beginnings of human civilisation. Zanoni appears to be a youngish man, but in fact his lifespan is measured not in mere centuries but in millennia. Majnour is even older. Zanoni and Majnour chose different kinds of immortality. Zanoni chose eternal youth while Mejnour chose eternal old age.
Mejnour is the more content of the two. The passions of youth are behind him. He is no longer prone to emotional entanglements or the snares of the passions. He regards humanity with the detachment of a scientist. He almost never seeks to intervene in human affairs. Zanoni on the other hand still knows the extremes of youth - the extremes of happiness and of despair.
Zanoni can even fall in love, but he knows that to do so would have momentous consequences. Nevertheless when he meets Viola, the daughter of a brilliant Italian composer, he finds that try as he might he cannot escape love.
Zanoni’s path will also cross that of Glyndon, a young English artist who becomes obsessed with the idea of following the path of Zanoni and achieving the powers and the wisdom of the brotherhood.
This is most emphatically not a novel that treats the occult as something evil. The occult in this novel is rather a seeking for wisdom. On the very rare occasions on which Mejnour does interfere in the affairs of humanity it is always on the side of good. Zanoni frequently intervenes in human affairs, and again always on the side of good. Which is not to say that evil does not exist. It is a hazard even for the greatest of adepts, and among the common run of humanity it is all too common. The evils in this book are all very human evils.
Zanoni can also be seen as a novel of the French Revolution but to see it that way is to miss the point. The French Revolution merely represents the absolute nadir of humanity, an event so cataclysmically evil that it is capable of having an effect even on Zanoni. It represents (according to the author’s afterword) the violent eruption of the actual into the ideal. Zanoni represents the ideal. All the major characters will find themselves drawn by destiny to Paris during the Reign of Terror.
It is somewhat pointless to try to analyse this book in terms of plot and characterisation. On the surface it might seem to be an historical novel but actually it is a philosophical novel that makes few concessions to realism, realism being an artistic ideal that Bulwer-Lytton regarded with contempt.
In this novel Bulwer-Lytton works out his rather eccentric but fascinating ideas on the occult. That might sound rather heavy but in fact it’s an entertaining novel that can be enjoyed as a kind of occult thriller. Bulwer-Lytton strongly believed that a novel must be entertaining first of all. If the author wishes to include multiple layers of meaning and hidden depths (and Zanoni includes those in abundance) then he is free to do so so long as it does not detract from the enjoyment of the story. It’s a surprisingly successful attempt to combine entertainment with esoteric occult speculation and it’s one of the most interesting of British 19th century novels.
There is a faint hint of decadence in the world-weariness of the novel’s immortals.
A strange but fascinating concoction and a must-read for anyone with an interest in the development of 19th century weird fiction, and a gripping occult thriller by an author with a considerable knowledge of the subject. Highly recommended.
His short story The Haunted and the Haunters is one of the minor masterpieces of horror. Bulwer-Lytton wrote in many genres and was the author of the fascinating science fiction novel The Coming Race. He had a keen interest in the occult and it is one of his occult novels with which we are concerned - Zanoni, published in 1842. It is often described as his Rosicrucian novel, although in fact the two key figures in the book, Zanoni and Mejnour, are not Rosicrucians but members of a much more ancient and much more secret fraternity. They do however acknowledge the Rosicrucians as being on the right track. The alchemists they regard as sincere seekers after truth and wisdom, and often men of genius, but alchemy is not the path to the truths they seek.
This is a novel within a novel. The author claims to have come into possession of a manuscript, a manuscript written by an adept in the occult arts. He claims to have obtained the manuscript from its author, who claimed that it dealt with an idea derived from Plato, that there are four types of enthusiasm or mania. Mania is used here in a positive sense, as a kind of spiritual exaltation. The four manias are the musical, the mystical, the prophetic and that that pertains to love.
The manuscript describes events that supposedly took place at the end of the preceding century. The hero of the manuscript is Zanoni. Zanoni is one of two surviving members of a brotherhood that dates back almost as far as the beginnings of human civilisation. Zanoni appears to be a youngish man, but in fact his lifespan is measured not in mere centuries but in millennia. Majnour is even older. Zanoni and Majnour chose different kinds of immortality. Zanoni chose eternal youth while Mejnour chose eternal old age.
Mejnour is the more content of the two. The passions of youth are behind him. He is no longer prone to emotional entanglements or the snares of the passions. He regards humanity with the detachment of a scientist. He almost never seeks to intervene in human affairs. Zanoni on the other hand still knows the extremes of youth - the extremes of happiness and of despair.
Zanoni can even fall in love, but he knows that to do so would have momentous consequences. Nevertheless when he meets Viola, the daughter of a brilliant Italian composer, he finds that try as he might he cannot escape love.
Zanoni’s path will also cross that of Glyndon, a young English artist who becomes obsessed with the idea of following the path of Zanoni and achieving the powers and the wisdom of the brotherhood.
This is most emphatically not a novel that treats the occult as something evil. The occult in this novel is rather a seeking for wisdom. On the very rare occasions on which Mejnour does interfere in the affairs of humanity it is always on the side of good. Zanoni frequently intervenes in human affairs, and again always on the side of good. Which is not to say that evil does not exist. It is a hazard even for the greatest of adepts, and among the common run of humanity it is all too common. The evils in this book are all very human evils.
Zanoni can also be seen as a novel of the French Revolution but to see it that way is to miss the point. The French Revolution merely represents the absolute nadir of humanity, an event so cataclysmically evil that it is capable of having an effect even on Zanoni. It represents (according to the author’s afterword) the violent eruption of the actual into the ideal. Zanoni represents the ideal. All the major characters will find themselves drawn by destiny to Paris during the Reign of Terror.
It is somewhat pointless to try to analyse this book in terms of plot and characterisation. On the surface it might seem to be an historical novel but actually it is a philosophical novel that makes few concessions to realism, realism being an artistic ideal that Bulwer-Lytton regarded with contempt.
In this novel Bulwer-Lytton works out his rather eccentric but fascinating ideas on the occult. That might sound rather heavy but in fact it’s an entertaining novel that can be enjoyed as a kind of occult thriller. Bulwer-Lytton strongly believed that a novel must be entertaining first of all. If the author wishes to include multiple layers of meaning and hidden depths (and Zanoni includes those in abundance) then he is free to do so so long as it does not detract from the enjoyment of the story. It’s a surprisingly successful attempt to combine entertainment with esoteric occult speculation and it’s one of the most interesting of British 19th century novels.
There is a faint hint of decadence in the world-weariness of the novel’s immortals.
A strange but fascinating concoction and a must-read for anyone with an interest in the development of 19th century weird fiction, and a gripping occult thriller by an author with a considerable knowledge of the subject. Highly recommended.
December 5, 2011
This book is beautiful. The writing is elegant. The characters are believable and moving. There are few books that have moved me to tears and this book is now among those few. The book is layered wondrously. If desired, it can be read solely for the surface story of those who would seek truth and love. However, for those that enjoy digging deeper, there is more to behold. There is an immense amount of social and moral commentary. This is a book that approaches the divine without the fetters of religion. When one considers the era in which this was written, that in and of itself heralds the enlightenment of this author.
December 11, 2008
Below is the brief synopsis of the book with some side notes. Unfortunately, the novel is written in a very prosaic Victorian English, a style, which modern readers might not have the time or the patience to read. I would love to see a movie or a screenplay made of this story if it kept the original theme, message and esoteric tradition.
Bulwer-Lytton, (1803-73) was a English aristocrat and Earl of Knebsworth.
Knebsworth remained open to the public. He was a pioneer historical novelist, and far more meticulous in his research and accurate in his facts than his contemporaries. The author was a member of the English Rosicrucian society, founded in 1867 by Robert Wenworth Little.
This explains why he was so very knowledgeable in what we now call the Western Esoteric Tradition, and it is said that the famous French occultist Eliphas Levi came to England to visit him, although the tradition of secrecy that veiled these matters in those day was such that it is difficult to ascertain the cause of their meeting or what may have happened as a consequence.
The introductory chapter to the story of Zanoni recounts how the narrator, in his younger days, had been keen to become acquainted with the true origin and tenets of the Rosicrucian order. In his search he visited an obscure bookshop in Covent Garden, where he met an old man who hinted that he might well enlighten him should they happen to meet again. Indeed they do meet very shortly afterwards at the foot of Highgate Hill and the old man invites the young man to his house, in a secluded part of Highgate overlooking London, and instructs him in secret esoteric philosophy.
He tells that the Rosicrucian order still exist, but pursue their profound researches into natural science and occult philosophy in secrecy. Yet however respectable and virtuous they might be, and ardent in the Christian faith, they are but a branch of another more transcendent, powerful and illustrious Order that derives from Plato, Pythagoras and Apollonius of Tyana.
On the death of the old man he bequeaths to the narrator a manuscript in cipher that turns out to be the text of the novel "Zanoni". It is described by its anonymous author as a romance and yet not a romance. The book is written on two levels, a “line between the lines”, as a source of truth for those who can understand it, but wild extravaganza for those who cannot.
The old man, referring to the works of Plato, has already explained that there are four stages for the soul in its return to its first state of happiness in God. The first is music, the second mysticism, the third prophecy, and the fourth love. And it is upon this outline plan that the story of Zanoni is constructed.
Zanoni divides into seven parts, which are entitled: 1. The Musician, 2. Art, Love and Wonder, 3. Theurgia, 4. The Dweller of the Threshold, 5. The Effects of the Elixir, 6. Superstition Deserting Faith, 7. The Reign of Terror. This last section is an evocation of the French Revolution, along with Bulwer-Lytton's close adherence to fact, in which the occult adept Zanoni goes voluntarily to his sacrificial death in an attempt to save the innocent from the guillotine.
Zanoni’s death is of notable philosophical importance, for Zanoni is no ordinary mortal. He was born a star and fire worshipper in ancient Chaldea, and so is some 4000 years old, his occult powers having enabled him to avoid the ravages of time He is one of only two members of a great ancient esoteric Order who survive. The other initiate is named Mejnour and he, choosing a different path from Zanoni, may presumably still be living to this day. Whilst all this may sound fantastic, the esoteric status of Zanoni and Mejnour is much akin to that which is accorded by latter day occultists to Masters of the Wisdom, and what Lytton has to say about these Adepts predates by some forty years the celebrated Mahatmas of Madame Blavatsky or the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn.
The heroine of the novel is Viola, a young Neapolitan girl, ignorant and uneducated but a supremely gifted singer. Its hero Zanoni, the master of mystic and prophetic arts, loves her for her youth, innocence and musical gifts, although his co-initiate Mejnour remains wedded to the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake - looking upon human love as a weakness rather than a strength.
Having helped Viola to become a star of the Neapolitan opera, Zanoni, although he loves her, tries to divert her natural love for him by encouraging her courtship by a young Englishman, Glyndon. His grounds for this are that he, being virtually an immortal, cannot realistically form a lasting loving relationship with a young girl who will grow old wither and die in the natural course of life, whilst he himself remains relatively unaffected by the passage of time.
The young Englishman (Glyndon) aborts his selfless plans however, an amateur artist of some talent but of solid respectable middle class stock, who cannot come to terms with taking a poor Italian girl for wife. How would she fit in on the English social scene? How would she be received by his parents or by his business associates? He yearns instead after the mysterious powers of Mejnour and Zanoni.
After some heart searching by all concerned Glyndon is eventually accepted for initiatory instruction under the adept Mejnour at a hidden temple in the mountains. In the meantime Zanoni marries Viola, hoping that perhaps he may be able to instruct her sufficiently in his secret sciences so that she too may avoid the march of time. Both these schemes founder in the test of hard reality and human fallibility. Glyndon, although spurred on in his mystic quest by having an alchemist as a distant ancestor, proves himself to be lacking in the qualities required of an initiate. The Dweller on the Threshold proves too much for him. He cannot resist the lure of idle curiosity or the temptations of the flesh - tests that have been arranged by Mejnour. He is accordingly rejected and returned to the world, but having evoked the wind he reaps the whirlwind, and undergoes a slow moral degeneration. This manifests at first as drunken self-indulgence and social ineptitude, and passes in the end to lust and betrayal.
Viola, on the other hand, is a simple, provincial Neapolitan girl. The local priest, who condemns her involvement with a man who practices the occult arts, disastrously influences her. Despite the exemplary conduct of her husband she begins to fear his knowledge and his background, and refuses all thought of him teaching her any of his esoteric powers. So fearful does she become, for their child as much as herself, that she leaves Zanoni - an instance of what is described as "superstition deserting faith" in Bulwer-Lytton’s section headings - the superstition of the ignorant priest over the faith in her wise and loving husband. By force of circumstances she ends up in Paris at the time of the worst excesses of the Revolution. Here, partly through the treacherous act of Glyndon, she is denounced and condemned to the guillotine. Zanoni arrives and, in a desperate attempt to save her, sacrifices his own life in the process but goes to his death with a new realisation of the meaning of human life, and above all of human death. Despite his efforts, by a quirk of fate (Karma?), Viola also dies, and their child is left an orphan in the prison cell, although the book ends with the strong hint that he will grow up safely as "the fatherless are in the care of God".
The books final message seems to be the futility of mundane life but the Universal power of Love. It is as if the book’s message to all secret 4000-year-old wizards are – “do not do this because attempts to change and speed up ones Karmic life is futile.” Karmic Family and the mundane world should be “killed off”, crucified, metaphorically speaking and replaced with Spiritual family and a Higher Realm. Zanoni could, presumebly reincarnate and hopefully would have learned the lesson the book’s story offers to all of us.
Throughout all these colourful events the author stresses the theme of the quest of the ideal in the arts, as opposed to the servile imitation of nature, for nature is not to be copied but exalted. The aim of the arts should be to lift the perceptions of the beholder to the level of the gods, to the highest potential of mankind.
Yet the natural world is not to be rejected. Man's spirit is like a bird and cannot always be on the wing. They who best evoke the ideal also enjoy the most real. For true art finds beauty everywhere, in the street, the market place, or even a dingy room.
The educational importance of the novel, among other aspects is the concept of the Dweller of the Threshold. It is a manifested, menacing entity, a sum of all Darkness in a person, accumulated throughout all the lifetimes he or she had lived. The Dweller gets manifested at the time of Initiation when the participant or neophyte is ready to cross the threshold from the mundane world to the Higher Esoteric Arts. The Dweller would do anything to hinder the persons crossing, from guile to temptations. The Biblical reference of this phenomenon is the temptation of Jesus by the devil.
Bulwer-Lytton, (1803-73) was a English aristocrat and Earl of Knebsworth.
Knebsworth remained open to the public. He was a pioneer historical novelist, and far more meticulous in his research and accurate in his facts than his contemporaries. The author was a member of the English Rosicrucian society, founded in 1867 by Robert Wenworth Little.
This explains why he was so very knowledgeable in what we now call the Western Esoteric Tradition, and it is said that the famous French occultist Eliphas Levi came to England to visit him, although the tradition of secrecy that veiled these matters in those day was such that it is difficult to ascertain the cause of their meeting or what may have happened as a consequence.
The introductory chapter to the story of Zanoni recounts how the narrator, in his younger days, had been keen to become acquainted with the true origin and tenets of the Rosicrucian order. In his search he visited an obscure bookshop in Covent Garden, where he met an old man who hinted that he might well enlighten him should they happen to meet again. Indeed they do meet very shortly afterwards at the foot of Highgate Hill and the old man invites the young man to his house, in a secluded part of Highgate overlooking London, and instructs him in secret esoteric philosophy.
He tells that the Rosicrucian order still exist, but pursue their profound researches into natural science and occult philosophy in secrecy. Yet however respectable and virtuous they might be, and ardent in the Christian faith, they are but a branch of another more transcendent, powerful and illustrious Order that derives from Plato, Pythagoras and Apollonius of Tyana.
On the death of the old man he bequeaths to the narrator a manuscript in cipher that turns out to be the text of the novel "Zanoni". It is described by its anonymous author as a romance and yet not a romance. The book is written on two levels, a “line between the lines”, as a source of truth for those who can understand it, but wild extravaganza for those who cannot.
The old man, referring to the works of Plato, has already explained that there are four stages for the soul in its return to its first state of happiness in God. The first is music, the second mysticism, the third prophecy, and the fourth love. And it is upon this outline plan that the story of Zanoni is constructed.
Zanoni divides into seven parts, which are entitled: 1. The Musician, 2. Art, Love and Wonder, 3. Theurgia, 4. The Dweller of the Threshold, 5. The Effects of the Elixir, 6. Superstition Deserting Faith, 7. The Reign of Terror. This last section is an evocation of the French Revolution, along with Bulwer-Lytton's close adherence to fact, in which the occult adept Zanoni goes voluntarily to his sacrificial death in an attempt to save the innocent from the guillotine.
Zanoni’s death is of notable philosophical importance, for Zanoni is no ordinary mortal. He was born a star and fire worshipper in ancient Chaldea, and so is some 4000 years old, his occult powers having enabled him to avoid the ravages of time He is one of only two members of a great ancient esoteric Order who survive. The other initiate is named Mejnour and he, choosing a different path from Zanoni, may presumably still be living to this day. Whilst all this may sound fantastic, the esoteric status of Zanoni and Mejnour is much akin to that which is accorded by latter day occultists to Masters of the Wisdom, and what Lytton has to say about these Adepts predates by some forty years the celebrated Mahatmas of Madame Blavatsky or the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn.
The heroine of the novel is Viola, a young Neapolitan girl, ignorant and uneducated but a supremely gifted singer. Its hero Zanoni, the master of mystic and prophetic arts, loves her for her youth, innocence and musical gifts, although his co-initiate Mejnour remains wedded to the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake - looking upon human love as a weakness rather than a strength.
Having helped Viola to become a star of the Neapolitan opera, Zanoni, although he loves her, tries to divert her natural love for him by encouraging her courtship by a young Englishman, Glyndon. His grounds for this are that he, being virtually an immortal, cannot realistically form a lasting loving relationship with a young girl who will grow old wither and die in the natural course of life, whilst he himself remains relatively unaffected by the passage of time.
The young Englishman (Glyndon) aborts his selfless plans however, an amateur artist of some talent but of solid respectable middle class stock, who cannot come to terms with taking a poor Italian girl for wife. How would she fit in on the English social scene? How would she be received by his parents or by his business associates? He yearns instead after the mysterious powers of Mejnour and Zanoni.
After some heart searching by all concerned Glyndon is eventually accepted for initiatory instruction under the adept Mejnour at a hidden temple in the mountains. In the meantime Zanoni marries Viola, hoping that perhaps he may be able to instruct her sufficiently in his secret sciences so that she too may avoid the march of time. Both these schemes founder in the test of hard reality and human fallibility. Glyndon, although spurred on in his mystic quest by having an alchemist as a distant ancestor, proves himself to be lacking in the qualities required of an initiate. The Dweller on the Threshold proves too much for him. He cannot resist the lure of idle curiosity or the temptations of the flesh - tests that have been arranged by Mejnour. He is accordingly rejected and returned to the world, but having evoked the wind he reaps the whirlwind, and undergoes a slow moral degeneration. This manifests at first as drunken self-indulgence and social ineptitude, and passes in the end to lust and betrayal.
Viola, on the other hand, is a simple, provincial Neapolitan girl. The local priest, who condemns her involvement with a man who practices the occult arts, disastrously influences her. Despite the exemplary conduct of her husband she begins to fear his knowledge and his background, and refuses all thought of him teaching her any of his esoteric powers. So fearful does she become, for their child as much as herself, that she leaves Zanoni - an instance of what is described as "superstition deserting faith" in Bulwer-Lytton’s section headings - the superstition of the ignorant priest over the faith in her wise and loving husband. By force of circumstances she ends up in Paris at the time of the worst excesses of the Revolution. Here, partly through the treacherous act of Glyndon, she is denounced and condemned to the guillotine. Zanoni arrives and, in a desperate attempt to save her, sacrifices his own life in the process but goes to his death with a new realisation of the meaning of human life, and above all of human death. Despite his efforts, by a quirk of fate (Karma?), Viola also dies, and their child is left an orphan in the prison cell, although the book ends with the strong hint that he will grow up safely as "the fatherless are in the care of God".
The books final message seems to be the futility of mundane life but the Universal power of Love. It is as if the book’s message to all secret 4000-year-old wizards are – “do not do this because attempts to change and speed up ones Karmic life is futile.” Karmic Family and the mundane world should be “killed off”, crucified, metaphorically speaking and replaced with Spiritual family and a Higher Realm. Zanoni could, presumebly reincarnate and hopefully would have learned the lesson the book’s story offers to all of us.
Throughout all these colourful events the author stresses the theme of the quest of the ideal in the arts, as opposed to the servile imitation of nature, for nature is not to be copied but exalted. The aim of the arts should be to lift the perceptions of the beholder to the level of the gods, to the highest potential of mankind.
Yet the natural world is not to be rejected. Man's spirit is like a bird and cannot always be on the wing. They who best evoke the ideal also enjoy the most real. For true art finds beauty everywhere, in the street, the market place, or even a dingy room.
The educational importance of the novel, among other aspects is the concept of the Dweller of the Threshold. It is a manifested, menacing entity, a sum of all Darkness in a person, accumulated throughout all the lifetimes he or she had lived. The Dweller gets manifested at the time of Initiation when the participant or neophyte is ready to cross the threshold from the mundane world to the Higher Esoteric Arts. The Dweller would do anything to hinder the persons crossing, from guile to temptations. The Biblical reference of this phenomenon is the temptation of Jesus by the devil.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2020
I was walking through the city wandered off in my mind, and I unplanned enter into an antique bookstore. There I encountered an unknown person of strange behavior, who pushed this book into my hands and said to me: "This book is for you, that's what you came for!" More scared than confused, I went to the cash register and bought a book.
It stood on the shelf for a few days until I decided to look at what I had bought. It isn't easy in human words to describe this gem of a book I have read many times. It is a love novel, a treasure chest of ancient knowledge, a signpost for seekers, a key for the liberated, an answer for the lost.
This book intertwines occult knowledge, the weaknesses of human nature, the eternal philosophical questions, the prices we pay for our choices, a new depth of understanding of true happiness.
It's difficult for me to write more than this because which aspect of this book will be emphasized and recognized as the most important depends only on whoever reads it, and there are more of those aspects than we can imagine.
It stood on the shelf for a few days until I decided to look at what I had bought. It isn't easy in human words to describe this gem of a book I have read many times. It is a love novel, a treasure chest of ancient knowledge, a signpost for seekers, a key for the liberated, an answer for the lost.
This book intertwines occult knowledge, the weaknesses of human nature, the eternal philosophical questions, the prices we pay for our choices, a new depth of understanding of true happiness.
It's difficult for me to write more than this because which aspect of this book will be emphasized and recognized as the most important depends only on whoever reads it, and there are more of those aspects than we can imagine.
December 30, 2016
I expected to read fifty pages, tire of the florid, overwrought meditations on beauty and mortality, and return it to the library, but to my surprise Zanoni may well be one of the best books I read this year.
Zanoni is a deeply engaging and well-written occult allegory/romantic tale that touches on love, immortality, magic, the nature of the real, the French revolution, Italian opera and one of the scariest figures in Western literature--one so legitimately creepy she was adopted wholesale by the Theosophists and later adapted by Japanese filmmakers for The Grudge.
Worth a read for the number of times things are described as "starry", also worth a read if you're familiar (or wish to become familiar) with early British occultism. Sir Bulwer-Lytton always claimed to have been most proud of this book and I have no reason to disagree with him.
Zanoni is a deeply engaging and well-written occult allegory/romantic tale that touches on love, immortality, magic, the nature of the real, the French revolution, Italian opera and one of the scariest figures in Western literature--one so legitimately creepy she was adopted wholesale by the Theosophists and later adapted by Japanese filmmakers for The Grudge.
Worth a read for the number of times things are described as "starry", also worth a read if you're familiar (or wish to become familiar) with early British occultism. Sir Bulwer-Lytton always claimed to have been most proud of this book and I have no reason to disagree with him.
April 27, 2015
Es relatado la vida de una chica que proviene de un padre dedicado a la música y frustrado por no conseguir lo que quiere. Ella nace con un don especial para el espectáculo.
Tras esta premisa el texto gira en torno a la muchacha, con un circulo amoroso entre varios humanos, y un misterioso ser, que aparece en los sitios más recónditos, y siempre diciendo algo de relevancia. Encima no envejece.
No pienses que es interesante la historia, pues el autor se centra en su crítica social, y expone sus conocimientos filosóficos de la vida en general. Mucha habladuría para una novela que debe entretener y no rayar.
Tras esta premisa el texto gira en torno a la muchacha, con un circulo amoroso entre varios humanos, y un misterioso ser, que aparece en los sitios más recónditos, y siempre diciendo algo de relevancia. Encima no envejece.
No pienses que es interesante la historia, pues el autor se centra en su crítica social, y expone sus conocimientos filosóficos de la vida en general. Mucha habladuría para una novela que debe entretener y no rayar.
July 22, 2025
A romance about an immortal. Elements of almost lovecraftian horror. Takes a long time to draw its female protagonist before the main elements start. Mixes in some real historical characters and events. Didn't like the ending but not because its not well written more because i was so invested in the story by then, i was hoping things would turn out differently. Overall just a really good supernatural/romance story. I'm pretty sure this was adapted into the film 'Hancock' with Will Smith.
April 15, 2016
Published in 1842 and set during the French Terror [1789] this is NOT a Tale of Two Cities. What Bulwer-Lytton has produced is a turgid gothic romance popular during the period. Lots and Lots of exposition and little by way of dialogue, so it will not be the sort of book that modern genre readers will, most likely, enjoy.
I'm not going to outline the plot here, visit its Wikipedia page if you wish to see this, but what I will do is tell you the basic plot is that of a romantic tragedy...prospective readers will, hopefully, draw their own conclusions from this.
Having said the above, Zanoni is still a good, but not great, book within its tradition.
3 out of 5 stars with a mild recommendation for those who like period, genre-based narratives.
I'm not going to outline the plot here, visit its Wikipedia page if you wish to see this, but what I will do is tell you the basic plot is that of a romantic tragedy...prospective readers will, hopefully, draw their own conclusions from this.
Having said the above, Zanoni is still a good, but not great, book within its tradition.
3 out of 5 stars with a mild recommendation for those who like period, genre-based narratives.
April 16, 2010
I feel like I should be wearing a ruffly blouse and sipping hot chocolate while I'm curled up in a twilit drawing room while I'm reading it. Why this is, I'm not entirely sure, but it has something to do with the incredibly flowery prose, doubtless.
April 25, 2014
Well I'm on page 394 so I can't claim that the novel's denouement hasn't completely turned me off; yet, in light of the fact that I view published novels to be "as perfect" iterations of the ideas the author has delved into--which is to say, complete works in and of themselves in so far as they capture the imaginative genius of the author given the context of their own personal development, the publishing industry, etc.--I still can say that this is one of the my favorite novels. Increasingly I am feeling that, like our own great H.P. Lovecraft, I was simply born in the wrong century of Western culture, and this novel only compounds upon that personal revelation in that both Clarence Glyndon and Zanoni possess personality traits that I identify with on an intensely subjective personal scale. I have the intellectual and impassioned ambition of Glyndon while completely connecting with Zanoni's more amorously-inclined passion for Viola Pisani--a fascinating character in and of herself, if I might add. Like my first Goodreads.com review, which was for Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons," I firmly believe that the profound effect this novel has had on me has to do with my age and place in life while reading it: I'm nearly Glyndon's age yet identify mostly with Zanoni, and this completely coincidental likening to both of Bulwer-Lytton's protagonists makes the novel an extremely personal work for me. I can't necessarily recommend it to anyone based on this alone, but I can say that for me, it is quite an amazing feat of novelistic virtuosity.
On another note, I have yet to read a novel in English that utilizes our language to with such a poetic perspicacity. If you enjoy other leaps of English literary aptitude such as "Paradise Lost" or Shakespeare, Bulwer-Lytton's "Zanoni" will amaze you with it's sublime utilization and incorporation of the English language. Like Milton and Shakespeare, the unfamiliar (to modern audiences) use of our language might at first be an obstacle, but perseverance quickly reveals it to be a joy to the both the ear and the mind. Bulwer-Lytton does things with prose I didn't think possible until going forth with this novel. In fact, purely coincidently, the closest analogous writer I can think of to compare him to, is the aforementioned Lovecraft, in that both wield a style of prose inappropriate to their contexts and all the more magnificent for it.
This novel will undoubtedly give you much to think about in regards to love, being in love, falling in love, academia, intellectualism, spiritualism, religion, and politics, with such encyclopedic scope being another comparison to epic poets like Milton or psychological poets like Shakespeare. It confronts the intellectual's--the TRUE, and HUMBLE intellectual--conundrum: the affluence of universal knowledge in the face of the short time each individual soul spends on earth. How is that question in any way intersected, over the course of the novel, with the questions of love? You'll have to read it to find out. You don't have to read far to confront the essential questions (100-200 pages) and Bulwer-Lytton provides less answers than he does questions, but isn't that why we read novels in the first place? The answers you get aren't those of a novelist like Dickens, where ambiguity is present but mostly disregarded and definitely glossed over with a healthy shine of humour, yet still, reading "Zanoni" is like reading Ovid's "Art of Love" in a desperate attempt to get laid: it might not be culturally relevant anymore, but it's use of language is poetically engaging, it's advice is (oxymoronically) outdatedly timeless, and, most importantly, it's fun.
Also: if there's a REAL girl like Viola Pisani, then, men, we are quite the more fortunate sex indeed.
On another note, I have yet to read a novel in English that utilizes our language to with such a poetic perspicacity. If you enjoy other leaps of English literary aptitude such as "Paradise Lost" or Shakespeare, Bulwer-Lytton's "Zanoni" will amaze you with it's sublime utilization and incorporation of the English language. Like Milton and Shakespeare, the unfamiliar (to modern audiences) use of our language might at first be an obstacle, but perseverance quickly reveals it to be a joy to the both the ear and the mind. Bulwer-Lytton does things with prose I didn't think possible until going forth with this novel. In fact, purely coincidently, the closest analogous writer I can think of to compare him to, is the aforementioned Lovecraft, in that both wield a style of prose inappropriate to their contexts and all the more magnificent for it.
This novel will undoubtedly give you much to think about in regards to love, being in love, falling in love, academia, intellectualism, spiritualism, religion, and politics, with such encyclopedic scope being another comparison to epic poets like Milton or psychological poets like Shakespeare. It confronts the intellectual's--the TRUE, and HUMBLE intellectual--conundrum: the affluence of universal knowledge in the face of the short time each individual soul spends on earth. How is that question in any way intersected, over the course of the novel, with the questions of love? You'll have to read it to find out. You don't have to read far to confront the essential questions (100-200 pages) and Bulwer-Lytton provides less answers than he does questions, but isn't that why we read novels in the first place? The answers you get aren't those of a novelist like Dickens, where ambiguity is present but mostly disregarded and definitely glossed over with a healthy shine of humour, yet still, reading "Zanoni" is like reading Ovid's "Art of Love" in a desperate attempt to get laid: it might not be culturally relevant anymore, but it's use of language is poetically engaging, it's advice is (oxymoronically) outdatedly timeless, and, most importantly, it's fun.
Also: if there's a REAL girl like Viola Pisani, then, men, we are quite the more fortunate sex indeed.
November 6, 2022
Well it took me over a month, but I finally finished reading ZANONI, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It was published 180 years ago. And I will say right off the bat, its age and style of writing definitely made this a slower read than I originally anticipated. I was intrigued enough by the plot and suspenseful mystery of its occult themes to power through the slower sections though, and I’m glad I did. I even learned some history (specifically about the French Revolution).
The story begins with a young Italian woman named Viola (very appropriately the daughter of an obsessive violinist) who has freshly debuted as a singer at the theater She becomes popular right away and even manages to get her father’s opera performed before he dies. But her popularity means that many men want to be her suitors (sometimes even under threat…). At a performance, she spots a man off in the balcony who transfixes her, and that same night, that very man saves her from an attempted kidnapping by a lustful aristocrat and his thugs. Her hero is named Zanoni, and she is immediately attracted to him. In an equally melodramatic fashion, Zanoni preemptively tells her that even if he -could- love her, it would probably be better for her if she loved someone else. He mysteriously pushes her to consider a man named Glyndon instead. Then Viola doesn’t see Zanoni for 2 years. Turns out she pined for him the whole time, but when he shows up again, his stance is unchanged. We also find out that there are persistent ‘superstitions’ about Zanoni – that he has secret knowledge and power granted through occult means. Viola dismisses this but Glyndon (“a young man of fortune” who was also a painter) is fascinated – he pesters Zanoni for a while before he finally admits (cryptically) to Theurgic secrets. But Zanoni confesses to Glyndon that he, too, pines for Viola and gives a choice – marry Viola with his blessing; or, if he truly wants Initiation, to renounce worldly ties and Zanoni would facilitate training by Mejnour, his fellow in the Brotherhood (Rosicrucianism is heavily implied). Zanoni wants Viola and Glyndon to be together (his reasons are...complicated), but Glyndon is too captivated by the lure of magic, so he opts to move into a dreary castle to study kabbalistic lore with Mejnour. But this novel involves the type of theurgy that requires abstinence and fasting, etc, and young Glyndon cannot handle the temptations. When Mejnour is away (to ‘test’ him), he sneaks a whiff of an elixir and is confronted by the Dweller on The Threshold, who blocks his access to the celestial realms. This scares Glyndon off magic entirely; as a haunted man he flees, and finds Zanoni again in Paris amidst Robspierre’s Reign of Terror…
My main issue with this novel is that it’s some of the most purple prose I’ve ever read. I think it could have been shortened by at least a third, if not more, but Bulwer-Lytton gets so lost waxing poetic that he simply cannot write short paragraphs. In the better scenes (like when Zanoni invokes ‘Adon-Ai’) I don’t mind the excess, but usually it gets cumbersome/repetitive. I was reminded strongly of the writer Thomas De Quincey – whose SUSPIRIA DE PROFUNDIS was published only a few years later in 1845. But De Quincey was on tons of opium at the time. I cannot say if the same is true of Bulwer-Lytton (though I have heard he was no stranger to it). Still, it was a fascinating novel of esoteric philosphy and if you have the fortitude to make it through 19th century prose that is very much "of its time" it will reward you for yout effort.
--------------------------------------
follow mother_lachrymarvm on instagram for occult content and more...
https://www.instagram.com/mother_lach...
The story begins with a young Italian woman named Viola (very appropriately the daughter of an obsessive violinist) who has freshly debuted as a singer at the theater She becomes popular right away and even manages to get her father’s opera performed before he dies. But her popularity means that many men want to be her suitors (sometimes even under threat…). At a performance, she spots a man off in the balcony who transfixes her, and that same night, that very man saves her from an attempted kidnapping by a lustful aristocrat and his thugs. Her hero is named Zanoni, and she is immediately attracted to him. In an equally melodramatic fashion, Zanoni preemptively tells her that even if he -could- love her, it would probably be better for her if she loved someone else. He mysteriously pushes her to consider a man named Glyndon instead. Then Viola doesn’t see Zanoni for 2 years. Turns out she pined for him the whole time, but when he shows up again, his stance is unchanged. We also find out that there are persistent ‘superstitions’ about Zanoni – that he has secret knowledge and power granted through occult means. Viola dismisses this but Glyndon (“a young man of fortune” who was also a painter) is fascinated – he pesters Zanoni for a while before he finally admits (cryptically) to Theurgic secrets. But Zanoni confesses to Glyndon that he, too, pines for Viola and gives a choice – marry Viola with his blessing; or, if he truly wants Initiation, to renounce worldly ties and Zanoni would facilitate training by Mejnour, his fellow in the Brotherhood (Rosicrucianism is heavily implied). Zanoni wants Viola and Glyndon to be together (his reasons are...complicated), but Glyndon is too captivated by the lure of magic, so he opts to move into a dreary castle to study kabbalistic lore with Mejnour. But this novel involves the type of theurgy that requires abstinence and fasting, etc, and young Glyndon cannot handle the temptations. When Mejnour is away (to ‘test’ him), he sneaks a whiff of an elixir and is confronted by the Dweller on The Threshold, who blocks his access to the celestial realms. This scares Glyndon off magic entirely; as a haunted man he flees, and finds Zanoni again in Paris amidst Robspierre’s Reign of Terror…
My main issue with this novel is that it’s some of the most purple prose I’ve ever read. I think it could have been shortened by at least a third, if not more, but Bulwer-Lytton gets so lost waxing poetic that he simply cannot write short paragraphs. In the better scenes (like when Zanoni invokes ‘Adon-Ai’) I don’t mind the excess, but usually it gets cumbersome/repetitive. I was reminded strongly of the writer Thomas De Quincey – whose SUSPIRIA DE PROFUNDIS was published only a few years later in 1845. But De Quincey was on tons of opium at the time. I cannot say if the same is true of Bulwer-Lytton (though I have heard he was no stranger to it). Still, it was a fascinating novel of esoteric philosphy and if you have the fortitude to make it through 19th century prose that is very much "of its time" it will reward you for yout effort.
--------------------------------------
follow mother_lachrymarvm on instagram for occult content and more...
https://www.instagram.com/mother_lach...
March 29, 2025
I landed on Zanoni after a fascinating conversation not long ago with a Rosicrucian. This novel is Bulwer-Lytton's masterwork on the subject in breathless story form. Bulwer-Lytton's style is flowery and breathless--which, to be fair, was a popular style back then. He is most-known for "It was a dark and stormy night" and presently, there is a bad writing award bearing his name.
I'm rather old-school myself, so the breathlessness and sometimes over-long sentences don't bother me a bit. Every once in a while, there's a gemmy line, something clever, something thinky... no, I quite liked it and got swept up in the story.
Fun characters, for starters!
Voila: the virtuous daughter of a half-mad violinist who is brilliant but often veers off on feverish solos, such that he can't keep an orchestral job as he can't stick to the notes on the page. He speaks to his violin like a familiar. He uses the violin as a ventriloquist would a puppet.
Zanoni: an immortal mystic who has mastered the art of disengagement but falls in love with Viola and thus compromises his immortality and all his extraordinary spiritual gifts.
Glyndon: a man who would like to aspire to spiritual heights but can't steer clear of a pretty woman.
Nicot: a villain
Le Mejnour: Zanoni's spiritual master--he has truly mastered being above the clay of humanity. He represents cool reason, and according to E B-L, Science.
Virtue vs. vice, faith vs. doubt--and with a backdrop of the French Revolution. This can be read as an entertaining drama or examined further...
To be honest, I'm struggling with the takeaway at the end. About to hunt up commentary elsewhere for clarity. I have questions. As a STORY however, I think the ending mostly works...
I'm rather old-school myself, so the breathlessness and sometimes over-long sentences don't bother me a bit. Every once in a while, there's a gemmy line, something clever, something thinky... no, I quite liked it and got swept up in the story.
Fun characters, for starters!
Voila: the virtuous daughter of a half-mad violinist who is brilliant but often veers off on feverish solos, such that he can't keep an orchestral job as he can't stick to the notes on the page. He speaks to his violin like a familiar. He uses the violin as a ventriloquist would a puppet.
Zanoni: an immortal mystic who has mastered the art of disengagement but falls in love with Viola and thus compromises his immortality and all his extraordinary spiritual gifts.
Glyndon: a man who would like to aspire to spiritual heights but can't steer clear of a pretty woman.
Nicot: a villain
Le Mejnour: Zanoni's spiritual master--he has truly mastered being above the clay of humanity. He represents cool reason, and according to E B-L, Science.
Virtue vs. vice, faith vs. doubt--and with a backdrop of the French Revolution. This can be read as an entertaining drama or examined further...
To be honest, I'm struggling with the takeaway at the end. About to hunt up commentary elsewhere for clarity. I have questions. As a STORY however, I think the ending mostly works...
February 18, 2025
While I know this was a fictional tale, the deeper allegory was still not lost on me. However, there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest Rosicrucians of old had far more knowledge than we are privy to today. I personally believe most of this wisdom was occulted by the Dark Lodge around the year of our Lord 1776. I further believe the Dark Lodge has done this for wealth and power, not to mention cradle to coffin mind control of the dumbed down masses who lead lives of quiet desperation. I can admit to being a member of the modern day Order of the Rose Cross, but can say little else due to oaths of secrecy. I can give my unsolicited opinion here though, so feel free to count this as an AA meeting if you happen to be a member of that anonymous club instead of The Order. The most significant form of alchemy is the personal transmutation from this once selfish, base, dead and dying soul into the decent human being I am becoming today. Mayhap in another 10 degrees I will have more to say, but for now I believe we have lost or had a lot of wisdom hidden from modern day Orders. I have heard too many non-fiction stories about Rosicrucians of old who were actually “Long Lifers”, could really turn lead into gold, went to middle earth and did make lamps that burned for thousands of years. I just don’t think the digital era has done us any favors. The frequencies from 5G towers and now the Stratosphere, along with the poison we call “food”, and poison we call “medicine”, combined with the hypnotic demons of television, “Smart” phones and “social” has already created a zombie apocalypse of sorts. Meanwhile the parasitical class of self-proclaimed elites continue to practice in private what they make fun of publicly lest the slave class ever learns the Truth. Like Manly Palmer Hall once said, “The mystic dares not share his vision with the world which will crucify him if not in body at least in soul.”
July 17, 2013
Okay- it is not really ABOUT the French Revolution, but a good deal of it takes place during the 'Reign of Terror'.
It made me pick up Thomas Carlyle's epic 'The French Revolution- A History', plus, it is written by Edward Bulwer- Lytton, who wrote 'VRIL The Power Of The Coming Race', so you can be sure that there is some sound information for the student of life embedded into the adventure.
I was originally following a Rosicrusion thread, when this book reintroduced the French Revolution back into my reading, sending me off in a new direction.
It made me pick up Thomas Carlyle's epic 'The French Revolution- A History', plus, it is written by Edward Bulwer- Lytton, who wrote 'VRIL The Power Of The Coming Race', so you can be sure that there is some sound information for the student of life embedded into the adventure.
I was originally following a Rosicrusion thread, when this book reintroduced the French Revolution back into my reading, sending me off in a new direction.
March 25, 2022
This is one of my favourite books ever.
It is a gothic/romantic tale that travels through time with so much gorgeus information (so greatly written) about the mysteries of the world, life and oneself. Which will teach you that all those are actually the same, in the end.
Loved this book and changed me :) I obsessed with all things alchemical, occult studies, magic. This books gives you so much information on old writings, thinkers, philosophers… it’s an overload of precious information. My bible everytime I want to buy a new book from one of the old occultists.
It is a gothic/romantic tale that travels through time with so much gorgeus information (so greatly written) about the mysteries of the world, life and oneself. Which will teach you that all those are actually the same, in the end.
Loved this book and changed me :) I obsessed with all things alchemical, occult studies, magic. This books gives you so much information on old writings, thinkers, philosophers… it’s an overload of precious information. My bible everytime I want to buy a new book from one of the old occultists.
February 20, 2010
An extraordinary book by a rather well informed writer on matters of spiritual and occult (they are not the same) interest. This book has a powerful description of the experience of meeting "the guardian on the threshold". It is worth it for that alone.
October 21, 2009
Real good metaphysical novel, not much into novels but this is a good book for those who can read & see beneath the novel aspect.
August 19, 2020
A truly unusual read: occult theme, operatic plot, histrionic characters, and florid prose. But it's directed at intelligent, educated, and sensitive readers, so I was happy to stick with it.
abandoned
December 30, 2024I don't like to leave books unfinished, but the length of this one versus the pay-off I was getting from reading it just wasn't matching up.
The writing on a small scale is good, and each individual sentence is nicely done and pleasing to read and some parts are really quite beautiful, but on a macro-scale it's quite boring to me.
Viola Pisani's set up is nice. I loved the story of her father's opera and the high and low point of how that plays out. It's once Zanoni turns up I got pretty bored of the book.
He's a Mary Sue type for one, which I find glaring. He always knows just what to do and say and he has knowledge and means to a degree that make him pretty dull to read about. Being able to rescue people from danger or heal the sick "just like that" isn't compelling. I also don't find his Rosicrucian thought that he brings particularly new, mysterious, or interesting to read about.
There's hints of how the rest of the novel will be about abandoning the great heights of nature in principle and intellectualism/mysticism for the sensory and immediate particular reality we're in physically, but I don't feel very drawn to reading about that, and I think Hermann Hesse covers it better.
The writing on a small scale is good, and each individual sentence is nicely done and pleasing to read and some parts are really quite beautiful, but on a macro-scale it's quite boring to me.
Viola Pisani's set up is nice. I loved the story of her father's opera and the high and low point of how that plays out. It's once Zanoni turns up I got pretty bored of the book.
He's a Mary Sue type for one, which I find glaring. He always knows just what to do and say and he has knowledge and means to a degree that make him pretty dull to read about. Being able to rescue people from danger or heal the sick "just like that" isn't compelling. I also don't find his Rosicrucian thought that he brings particularly new, mysterious, or interesting to read about.
There's hints of how the rest of the novel will be about abandoning the great heights of nature in principle and intellectualism/mysticism for the sensory and immediate particular reality we're in physically, but I don't feel very drawn to reading about that, and I think Hermann Hesse covers it better.
May 20, 2019
I guess I'm glad I read this, but I'm not sure anyone else needs to. I'm a League of Extraordinary Gentleman completist, so I had to. This is a novel about Italian Opera, Rosicrucian occult mysteries, British society's expectations of its gentry, desire, and the French Revolution. Bizarre. Absolutely bizarre.
June 19, 2019
Somewhere along the line while writing a notes package for one of my own manuscripts, I came across a synopsis of Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Finding some surprising similarities with my own novel's concept, I figured I'd give it a go. Written in the mid 1800s, it can be said that Zanoni is no easy read. It is written in what many call a 'florid' style from a very different era, produced for a very different readership. Be prepared for single sentences that are entire paragraphs in length, several dated references, and plenty of near-Shakespearean dialogue. In fact, it took me three attempts to finally, really dig into the novel. I discovered that, once you reset your reading sensibilities to the prose of his era, you will discover some real gems in this work: passages of startling weight and revelation. Half the time I was struggling to comprehend what the devil the writer was getting at; the other half, I read with my jaw dropped as the meaning of select passages soaked through and I was humbled. Zanoni is far more than the romance you find on the surface: this is a clever descent into shrouded Rosicrucian theology and other occult ways of thinking, a first-hand account of the dawn of science over religion, as well as an insider's glance into the workings of the French Revolution, among other events. My copy was produced by Discovery Publisher and lacked any footnotes or other references, which is a real shame, as the chapter headings each incorporate relevant quotes from other works, some of which I'm clueless about (thankfully, there's Google).
November 9, 2021
From the vaults: just finished the 1842 novel, Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. The story tells of the titular Zanoni, an occultist with eternal life. But his powers are doomed when he falls in love. This sweeping story goes from Italy to England and finally comes to a head in Paris at the culmination of the French Revolution. This novel is takes gothic themes but reworks them into Victorian grandiosity. It was certainly a departure from my normal reads, but I did enjoy it!
February 7, 2025
A wonderful journey through mystic truths with many life affirming and quotable lines useful for applying in life. Although, the French Revolution as backdrop for the later part of the novel was under utilized and seemed more like a sketch which failed to encapsulate the chaotic scope of the movement, and didn't delve into the secret orders involved in this bloody episode of history as Manly P Hall claims they were.
February 18, 2025
This is a massive and deep esoteric novel. The author encourages you to travel within figurative meanings of several aspects of human nature. There is a pint of confusion while reading mainly at the middle-to-end part of the book. However, when you reach the end and realize the true meaning of all the author's intention throughout this journey, you will be astonished.
Highly recommended for all mystics and spiritualists.
Highly recommended for all mystics and spiritualists.
September 28, 2019
Interesting, but a little dark...
January 6, 2013
A book every neophyte should read.
December 6, 2022
From David Bowies's list of most influential books in his life, and I see why. Grand, majestic, and inspiring. A glimpse into Rosicrucian mysticism.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews