Zanoni (Forgotten Books) Paperback – October 15, 2008

After reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke last year (2005), I was in the mood for more magically-oriented fiction. While reading Joscelyn Godwin's The Theosophical Enlightenment, I was re-introduced to Edward Bulwer-Lytton and his novel Zanoni. My first introduction to this work was years ago while reading H. P. Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature". Lovecraft discusses Zanoni and A Strange Story, both of which reflect Bulwer-Lytton's occult interests, and he says certain details of incantations were probably due to Bulwer-Lytton's contact with Alphonse Louis Constant (a.k.a. Eliphas Levi), a French occultist. According to Godwin, "the novel is an encyclopedia of ideas about the occult sciences."The reason Lovecraft, a fiction writer of the macabre, discusses the work is because he says it "introduces a vast unknown sphere of being pressing on our own world and guarded by a horrible 'Dweller of the Threshold' who haunts those who try to enter and fail." Godwin says this entity is "a hideous personification of one's past thoughts and evil tendencies, which even if not perceived lures the aspirant towards disaster... the only way to conquer it, as Zanoni teaches to Glyndon and demonstrates himself, is by overcoming one's fear and persisting in one's resolve to cling to virtue, come what may." Valentin Tomberg, an esoteric Catholic, calls this dweller (or "guardian") the administrator of the justice of conscience, the master of the school of conscience who stands at the threshold which separates the "surface world" from the "depth world". He discusses it more thoroughly in Letter XVIII of his anonymously-written Meditations on the Tarot. Lovecraft says that despite its flaws, "Zanoni is really an excellent performance as a romantic novel," and Godwin says, "...as far as esotericism in Victorian Britain is concerned, there is no more important literary work than Zanoni..."Apart from its esoteric side, the book's fundamental story is about love. A character named Glyndon chooses to sacrifice his "love" for Viola to be a pupil of Mejnour, Zanoni's mentor, and realizes the seriousness of the discipline required of him and the consequences for failure when he's enamored, and tempted, by a sensuous woman named Fillide and impatiently disobeys Mejnour. Zanoni, on the other hand, sacrifices his immortality for love of Viola and suffers for it. It's interesting how Bulwer-Lytton contrasts the passionless yet immortal state of Mejnour with Zanoni's mortal passion for Viola. It's as if he places love (or at least the passionate sort) on the mortal plane but passionless "happiness" on the immortal plane. Here's what Mejnour tells Glyndon before he's tempted and faces the Dweller: "My pupil, thy first task must be to withdraw all thought, feeling, sympathy from others. The elementary stage of knowledge is to make self, and self alone, thy study and thy world. Thou hast decided thine own career; thou hast renounced love; thou hast rejected wealth, fame, and the vulgar pomps of power. What, then, are all mankind to thee? To perfect thy faculties, and concentrate thy emotions, is henceforth thy only aim!" Glyndon then asks, "And will happiness be the end?" Mejnour's answer: "If happiness exists, it must be centered in a self to which all passion is unknown. But happiness is the last state of being; and as yet thou are on the threshold of the first." Zanoni's attempt to raise Viola to his immortal state fails, so he fatally "lowers" himself to her state out of love. It's a wonderful 19th century romance, but tragic.Other occult-type novels by Edward Bulwer-Lytton include A Strange Story and The Coming Race. The latter has been categorized as science fiction and is admired by some occultists for its concept of a mysterious Vril energy. After reading Zanoni, I noticed some very general similarities between it and Clarke's recent magical novel, although I don't think she has publically stated it as an influence.

Zanoni was an awesomely crafted story that I think I read (420 pages) in record time. The characters were well crafted and each reflected the individual states of Being found common in almost all human beings. Our faults and our Graces. The setting was around the time of the French Revolution and the main Characters, Zanoni the Rosicrucian mystic, still emotionally connected to his humanity, his teacher, the Transcendent Mejnour, Love interest, Viola, and the Englishman Glyndon, the young adventurer. Along with the other well developed players in this mystical drama of love, war, and enlightenment,I found myself totally immersed and invested in the story that was not so much about the revolution, as that backdrop was brought into the story as it progressed, as it was about these 4 lives, intellectually,emotionally, spiritually,and socially. I specifically appreciated the parts of the story where the narration indicated a partial loss of wording in the manuscript. I thought where and how it was done made it appear that what I was reading was not fiction but the account of a factual event.As someone drawn to mystical thought I began to read this as a historical document. At any rate I highly recommend Zanoni. Like some of my other most enjoyed readings, it will be read more than once because each reading shows me something new.

Without realizing it, it is the story of the human condition. Written beautifully in way which captured my rapt attention.

If this line of reading interests you, this is basic, therefore, a must.

this book is both artistically pleasant and intellectually rich. a must read for the neophyte in search of symbolic truths.

Awesome

Bulwer-Lytton was a massively prolific novelist of the mid 19th century, and this book (and possibly 'The Coming Race') is likely his best-known work, not so much for its literary merit as for the theme, that is to say, the Rosicrucian backstory of the work.In its most basic skeletal form, 'Zanoni' is a love story in which several very different men vie, with greater or lesser chance of success, for the hand of the orphaned Viola in 18th century Naples. It is in the interaction between the various men of the story, rather than in much having directly to do with Viola, that the Rosicrucian/occult elements come out, as the immortal Zanoni, one the suitors, and his elemental opposite Mejnour, come into contact with the callow would-be pupil Glyndon, various artists, Frenchmen, etc.From a literary point of view, the story is well told if long-winded, and the style is definitely of a piece with the times in which it was written, i.e. everything is breathlessly exclaimed, the backstory of characters (particularly Viola) is elaborated on for countless long pages regardless of whether it has any importance whatever to the story, and the dialogue reads terribly cliched in the year 2008. It's a long book, and it takes some commitment to get through. It is not a Patterson novel; you will spend a lot of time with the book.Is it worth it? If you read it just for the love story, read something else. If, like most everyone, you read it to delve into the Rosicrucian aspects of the story, you will spend even more time with it, as Bulwer-Lytton writes with some insight, but expects the reader to follow along closely with the symbology he often brings up only obliquely; with subtle elements such as the structure of the book itself (comprised of several books, multiple chapters each), and to separate the dramatic elements of the story from the magical. For example, Book IV in which perhaps most of the outright 'Rosicrucian' material appears, is laid out to form a systematic curriculum of progressive lessons, or stages, in the neophytes progress, but is not so identified. It is only upon rereading or looking back and laying this out that the reader can point to this and enjoy an 'aha!' moment.Some of the concepts loom larger than others; each reader will make up his or her own mind. Nonetheless, the ideas of sincerity, devoted self-application, love of others, self-restraint, and studious devotion to the meditative arts are obviously important. The neophyte can expect to be tested at all times; the story of Glyndon's failure in his studies is the norm, not the exception.The story does end eventually, climaxing in Zanoni's renunciation of immortality for love, amidst the butchery of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, and the fates of the various characters are fascinating and just.It is a book the serious reader will get much more out of upon his first and second re-reading. Those who simply scan it for the romantic novel is outwardly seems to be will have missed the point entirely.

O livro é um romance com passagens que revelam de forma sutil a filosofia do ocultismo e o rosacrucionismo.

One of the most famous Occultist novels. Famous also for being an emblematic example of what has been called "purple prose" (ornate, florid, petulant writing).

Nice and clean

Romance ocultista rosacruciano, escrita pomposa mas prazerosíssima. Comprei porque a Blavatsky citou ele em uma de suas obras. Empolgante do início ao fim! Ficamos magnetizados com os personagens Viola, Zanoni, Glyndon... o caminho que cada um traça na estória. Tem como pano de fundo a Revolução Francesa. Fez muito sucesso na época. Ah, uma curiosidade. O tradutor do livro para o português fez uma continuação da história chamada "O filho de Zanoni", do Francisco Valdomiro Lorenz, o que já dá um spoiler... mas não tira o prazer de ler o livro! Leiam sem dúvida!

HEY WHAT CAN I SAY BUT READ AND FIND OUT