Theos-Talk Archives (January 2009 Message tt00229)

A Strange Story is much better, but it is still Bulwer-Lytton!
 
Chuck the Heretic
 
 
In a message dated 1/9/2009 1:55:06 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
kpauljohnson@yahoo.com writes:

 
 
 
Zanoni was written in 1842, and is awfully didactic. A Strange Story  
appeared twenty years later and is far more worthwhile. I also 
prefer  it to The Coming Race. I would highly recommend to Cass to 
start with this  because going to Australia is a pivotal plot element 
and is the setting  for a good part of the book.

--- In _theos-talk@yahoogrotheos-t_ (mailto:theos-talk@yahoogroups.com) ,  
Drpsionic@..,  Dr
>
> I've read it once, fell asleep 14  times in the process.
> 
> BL was very influential in Euro occult  circles. He was one of 
Eliphas 
> Levi's sources of inspiration and  a lot of the stuff in the Golden 
Dawn comes 
> right out of his  work.
> 
> Chuck the Heretic
> 
> 
> In a  message dated 1/9/2009 6:56:21 A.M. Central Standard Time, 
>  silva_cass@.  silva
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes  Paul, I would be very interested in reading those extracts. 
My first  
> teacher pointed me to Bullwer Lytton's Zanoni, but still haven't  
read it. 
> Perhaps this is the cue I needed
> 
>  Cass
> 
> ____________ ________ ________ _
>  From: kpauljohnson <_kpauljohnson@_kpauljohnson@
(mailto:kpauljohnso(mailto
> >
> To:  _theos-talk@ To:  _theo To:  _theos-t
_talk@yahoogroups.tal_ (mailto:talk@yahoogroups.com) ) 
>  Sent: Friday, 9 January, 2009 6:51:55 PM
> Subject: Theos-World  Bulwer-Lytton and Bunsen
> 
> Hello all but especially Cass and  Frank,
> 
> I have noticed the recent references to Edward  Bulwer-Lytton and 
Ernest 
> Bunsen, and while these were made in  other contexts I want to 
point out 
> that there is an important  connection between these individuals 
and the 
> founding of the  Theosophical Society. The first two books 
published by 
> a Founder  of the TS, in the first year of its existence, were Art 
Magic 
> and  Ghost Land by Emma Hardinge Britten. Robert Mathiesen's 
monograph 
>  The Unseen Worlds of Emma Hardinge Britten is an amazing tour de 
force,  
> establishing beyond reasonable doubt that Bunsen was 
the  "Chevalier 
> Louis" of those two books, and that the "Orphic Circle"  depicted 
in 
> them was a genuine occult research group whose most  eminent member 
was 
> Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Emma and Bunsen first  met as adolescent 
trance 
> mediums used in the experiments of this  group around 1840; then 
renewed 
> acquaintance years later after  the emergence of the Spiritualist 
> movement.
> 
> When I  read Marion Meade's HPB biography years ago, I found 
ridiculous 
>  her assertion that a primary basis for HPB's description of the 
Masters  
> was the novels of Bulwer-Lytton. Why, I thought, would someone  
with 
> such vast documented experience with so many authentic  teachers 
have to 
> rely on silly Victorian novels for her  inspiration? What Meade and 
I 
> both missed was that it wasn't  B-L's *novels* that inspired HPB, 
it was 
> the man himself and his  nearly lifelong devotion to occultism. In 
a 
> letter written  NOVEMBER 16, 1875, THE DAY BEFORE THE INAUGURAL 
ADDRESS 
> OF  OLCOTT, HPB wrote to Stainton Moses of Bulwer-Lytton that "He 
was an  
> *adept* [italicized in the book, presumably underlined in the  
letter] 
> and kept it secret-- first for fear [of] ridicule..and  then 
because his 
> vows would not allow him to explain himself  plainer than he did." 
> (Letters I:202) At the moment I'm reading  Leslie Mitchell's 2003 
> biography of Bulwer-Lytton, and if any here is  interested will 
share 
> some excerpts about his occult  preoccupations. HPB was very 
accurate 
> about his fear of ridicule  over his occult involvements.
> 
> Paul
> 
> Stay  connected to the people that matter most with a smarter 
inbox. Take a  
> look __http://au.docs.http://au.http://au.http://_ 
(http://au.docs.http://au.http://au.docs.h_)   
> (_http://au.docs.http://au.http://au.docs.h_ 
(http://au.docs.yahoo.com/mail/smarterinbox) )  
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been  removed]
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ************ ************<WBR>**A Good  Credit Score is 700 or Ab
just 2 easy 
> steps!  
> (_http://pr.atwola.http://pr.atwhttp://pr.atwolahttp://pr.atwolahttp_ 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215047751x1200957972/aol?) 
redir=_http://www.freecredhttp://wwhttp://www.freehttp://www.free_ 
(http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072) 
26hmpgID=62%26hmpgID
>  cemailfooterNO62)
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message  have been  removed]
>


 

**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy 
steps! 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215855013x1201028747/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=De
cemailfooterNO62)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]