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Created page with "{{other uses}} {{tone|date=April 2016}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}} {{Infobox book | name = Zanoni | image = Z..."
{{other uses}}
{{tone|date=April 2016}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Zanoni
| image = Zanoni 1st.jpg
| caption = First edition title page
| author = [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton|Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]
| genre = Fiction novel
| country = England
| language = English
| media_type = Print
| published = 1842
| publisher = Saunders and Otley
| followed_by = [[The Last of the Barons]]
| preceded_by = [[Leila: or The Siege of Granada]]
}}
'''''Zanoni''''' is an [[1842 in literature|1842 novel]] by [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton|Edward Bulwer-Lytton]], a story of love and [[occult]] aspiration. By way of introduction, the author confesses: "... It so chanced that some years ago, in my younger days, whether of authorship or life, I felt the desire to make myself acquainted with the true origins and tenets of the singular sect known by the name of [[Rosicrucians]]." A manuscript came into his hands written in the most unintelligible [[cipher]], a manuscript which through the author's own interpretation became Zanoni.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bulwer-Lytton |first=Edward |authorlink=Edward Bulwer-Lytton |title=Zanoni |page=xx |year=1874 |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i_gYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR20|quote=...I found the whole written in an unintelligible cipher.}}</ref>
==Plot==
Zanoni, a timeless Rosicrucian brother, cannot fall in love without losing his power of immortality; but he does fall in love with Viola Pisani, a promising young opera singer from Naples, the daughter of Pisani, a misunderstood Italian violinist.<ref>{{cite book |last=McIntosh |first=Christopher |title=The Rosicrucians |page=113 |year=1997 |publisher=Samuel Weiser Inc. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5d_AhziPZsC&pg=RA1-PA113 |isbn=0-8772-8920-4 |quote=Zanoni loses his immortality by falling in love...}}</ref> An English gentleman named Glyndon loves Viola as well, but is indecisive about proposing marriage, and then renounces his love to pursue occult study. The story develops in the days of the French Revolution in 1789. Zanoni has lived since the [[Babylon|Chaldean]] civilisation. His master Mejnor warns him against a love affair but Zanoni does not heed. He finally marries Viola and they have a child. As Zanoni experiences an increase in humanity, he begins to lose his gift of immortality. He finally dies in the [[guillotine]] during the [[French Revolution]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bulwer-Lytton |first=Edward |authorlink=Edward Bulwer-Lytton |page= 136 |year=1853 |title=Zanoni |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_xwGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA136|quote=And did Zanoni really feel love for Viola?}}</ref>
==Theme==
Bulwer-Lytton humanised [[Gothic novel|Gothic art]] and evoked its poetry to suit the [[Victorian era]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Cross |first=Wilbur Lucius |title=The development of the English novel |page=160 |year=1906 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UAZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA160 |quote=Bulwer-Lytton humanized Gothic art...}}</ref> In ''Zanoni'', Bulwer-Lytton alludes to deep Rosicrucian mysteries regarding the four [[classical elements|elements]], secrets which only initiated Rosicrucians have the power to reveal, the ultimate goal being the discovery of the [[Elixir of life]] and the attainment of immortality and eternal youth. This is all depicted in Zanoni himself who at the time of [[Babylon]] abandoned all human passions to become immortal but during the French Revolution, to become human again, he falls in love and dies in the guillotine.
The name Zanoni is derived from the Chaldean root '''zan''', meaning "sun", and the chief character is endowed with solar attributes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Iampolski |first=M. B. |authorlink=Mikhail Iampolski |title=The Memory of Tiresias |page=66 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1998 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F-BY96hqC8gC&pg=PA66 |quote=It is worth noting that Zanoni is endowed with solar attributes...}}</ref>
==Argument==
From the viewpoint of [[Platonism]] and [[Neo-Platonism]], ''Zanoni'' evokes the themes of the four types of [[Phaedrus (dialogue)#Madness|divine madness]] covered in [[Plato]]'s ''[[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]'': These are ''prophetic'', ''initiatic'', ''poetic'' and ''erotic'' madness.
These four threads are interwoven through the entire fabric of the work, creating an atmosphere of divine madness. Even Zanoni's attempt to become human again becomes an [[apotheosis]] with his ultimate sacrifice.<ref>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Marie |title=Gothic immortals |page=173 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UpYOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA173 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1990 |isbn=0-4150-2368-8 |quote=The manuscript is indebted to Plato's ''Phaedrus''...}}</ref>
==Disraeli prediction==
According to occult author C. Nelson Stewart, Bulwer-Lytton is well-versed in Rosicrucian and occult lore, all of which he brings to bear on his novel ''Zanoni''; he also demonstrates a profound knowledge of [[Astrology]] in his [[Benjamin Disraeli|Disraeli]] prediction: "... He will die, whether in or out of office, in an exceptionally high position, greatly lamented, and surrounded to the end by all the magnificent planetary influences of a propitious [[Jupiter (astrology)|Jupiter]]."<ref>{{cite book |last=Stewart |first=C. Nelson |title=Bulwer Lytton as Occultist |page=29 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKuSTDWUzk0C&pg=PA29 |isbn=1-5645-9626-5 |quote=He will be to the last largely before the public.}}</ref>
==Influence==
What influence, if any, ''Zanoni'' could have had on [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]] is a matter of pure conjecture. [[Alfred Richard Orage|A. R. Orage]] himself re-read ''Zanoni'' within two years of having read ''[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]'' and in an article on ''Zanoni'', written in 1902, he mentions Nietzsche for the first time. For Orage, Zanoni's teacher Mejnor's plan to create a race of supermen is most agreeable and a reading subject worthy of [[Cecil Rhodes]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shaw |first1=Christopher |last2=Chase |first2=Malcolm |title=The imagined past |page=124 |year=1989 |publisher=Manchester University Press ND |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tBYNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA124 |isbn=0-7190-2875-2 |quote=...Orage drew attention to... the character of Mejnour in Bulwer-Lytton's ''Zanoni''.}}</ref>
It is Zanoni's ultimate sacrifice that would give Bulwer-Lytton's friend [[Charles Dickens]] an idea on how to end ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Heldreth |first=Leonard G. |title=The blood is the life |page=161 |year=1999 |publisher=Popular Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9h6eZ_9v-DYC&pg=PA161|isbn=0-8797-2803-5 |quote=...and [[Robespierre]] imprisons Zanoni along with his wife, the singer Viola.}}</ref>
==Guardian of the Threshold==
Speaking to Glyndon, Mejnour says of the Guardian, "... Know, at least, that all of us – the highest and the wisest – who have, in sober truth, passed beyond the threshold, have had, as our first fearful task, to master and subdue its grisly and appalling guardian."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bulwer-Lytton |first=Edward |title=Zanoni |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i_gYAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA103|page=103 |year=1874 |publisher=Routledge |quote=...no foe is so malignant to man...}}</ref>
According to the German [[Anthroposophist]] [[Rudolf Steiner]], the [[Guardian of the Threshold]] is an actual figure of an [[Astral body|astral]] nature which was fictionalised by Bulwer-Lytton in this novel.<ref>{{cite book |last=Steiner |first=Rudolf |authorlink=Rudolf Steiner |title=Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment |page=189 |year=1994 |publisher=Read Books |url=https://steiner.presswarehouse.com/sites/steiner/research/archive/how_to_know_higher_worlds/how_to_know_higher_worlds.pdf|quote=...the highest degree an absolutely real experience...}}</ref>
[[Samael Aun Weor]] refers to [[Adonai]] as Zanoni's real Master and to the Guardian of the Threshold as the psychological "[[Id (psychology)|I]]" or reincarnating ego.<ref>{{cite book |last=Aun Weor |first=Samael |authorlink=Samael Aun Weor |title=Logos, Mantra, Theurgy |page=104 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARxaHsQ2hkEC&pg=PA104|isbn=1-9342-0604-0 |year=2007 |quote=How difficult it is to achieve perfection. }}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
{{Gutenberg|no=2664|name=Zanoni}}
*[http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp41525 Complete first edition in three volumes] at [[Internet Archive]] listed in the [[Online Books Page]]
*[http://www.andras-nagy.com/dweller.html Brief (1500 word) synopsis of the story line and explanation of the "Dweller of the Threshold"]
* {{librivox book | title=Zanoni | author=Edward BULWER-LYTTON}}
{{Edward Bulwer-Lytton}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1842 novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]
{{tone|date=April 2016}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Zanoni
| image = Zanoni 1st.jpg
| caption = First edition title page
| author = [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton|Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]
| genre = Fiction novel
| country = England
| language = English
| media_type = Print
| published = 1842
| publisher = Saunders and Otley
| followed_by = [[The Last of the Barons]]
| preceded_by = [[Leila: or The Siege of Granada]]
}}
'''''Zanoni''''' is an [[1842 in literature|1842 novel]] by [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton|Edward Bulwer-Lytton]], a story of love and [[occult]] aspiration. By way of introduction, the author confesses: "... It so chanced that some years ago, in my younger days, whether of authorship or life, I felt the desire to make myself acquainted with the true origins and tenets of the singular sect known by the name of [[Rosicrucians]]." A manuscript came into his hands written in the most unintelligible [[cipher]], a manuscript which through the author's own interpretation became Zanoni.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bulwer-Lytton |first=Edward |authorlink=Edward Bulwer-Lytton |title=Zanoni |page=xx |year=1874 |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i_gYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR20|quote=...I found the whole written in an unintelligible cipher.}}</ref>
==Plot==
Zanoni, a timeless Rosicrucian brother, cannot fall in love without losing his power of immortality; but he does fall in love with Viola Pisani, a promising young opera singer from Naples, the daughter of Pisani, a misunderstood Italian violinist.<ref>{{cite book |last=McIntosh |first=Christopher |title=The Rosicrucians |page=113 |year=1997 |publisher=Samuel Weiser Inc. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5d_AhziPZsC&pg=RA1-PA113 |isbn=0-8772-8920-4 |quote=Zanoni loses his immortality by falling in love...}}</ref> An English gentleman named Glyndon loves Viola as well, but is indecisive about proposing marriage, and then renounces his love to pursue occult study. The story develops in the days of the French Revolution in 1789. Zanoni has lived since the [[Babylon|Chaldean]] civilisation. His master Mejnor warns him against a love affair but Zanoni does not heed. He finally marries Viola and they have a child. As Zanoni experiences an increase in humanity, he begins to lose his gift of immortality. He finally dies in the [[guillotine]] during the [[French Revolution]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bulwer-Lytton |first=Edward |authorlink=Edward Bulwer-Lytton |page= 136 |year=1853 |title=Zanoni |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_xwGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA136|quote=And did Zanoni really feel love for Viola?}}</ref>
==Theme==
Bulwer-Lytton humanised [[Gothic novel|Gothic art]] and evoked its poetry to suit the [[Victorian era]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Cross |first=Wilbur Lucius |title=The development of the English novel |page=160 |year=1906 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UAZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA160 |quote=Bulwer-Lytton humanized Gothic art...}}</ref> In ''Zanoni'', Bulwer-Lytton alludes to deep Rosicrucian mysteries regarding the four [[classical elements|elements]], secrets which only initiated Rosicrucians have the power to reveal, the ultimate goal being the discovery of the [[Elixir of life]] and the attainment of immortality and eternal youth. This is all depicted in Zanoni himself who at the time of [[Babylon]] abandoned all human passions to become immortal but during the French Revolution, to become human again, he falls in love and dies in the guillotine.
The name Zanoni is derived from the Chaldean root '''zan''', meaning "sun", and the chief character is endowed with solar attributes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Iampolski |first=M. B. |authorlink=Mikhail Iampolski |title=The Memory of Tiresias |page=66 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1998 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F-BY96hqC8gC&pg=PA66 |quote=It is worth noting that Zanoni is endowed with solar attributes...}}</ref>
==Argument==
From the viewpoint of [[Platonism]] and [[Neo-Platonism]], ''Zanoni'' evokes the themes of the four types of [[Phaedrus (dialogue)#Madness|divine madness]] covered in [[Plato]]'s ''[[Phaedrus (dialogue)|Phaedrus]]'': These are ''prophetic'', ''initiatic'', ''poetic'' and ''erotic'' madness.
These four threads are interwoven through the entire fabric of the work, creating an atmosphere of divine madness. Even Zanoni's attempt to become human again becomes an [[apotheosis]] with his ultimate sacrifice.<ref>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Marie |title=Gothic immortals |page=173 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UpYOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA173 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1990 |isbn=0-4150-2368-8 |quote=The manuscript is indebted to Plato's ''Phaedrus''...}}</ref>
==Disraeli prediction==
According to occult author C. Nelson Stewart, Bulwer-Lytton is well-versed in Rosicrucian and occult lore, all of which he brings to bear on his novel ''Zanoni''; he also demonstrates a profound knowledge of [[Astrology]] in his [[Benjamin Disraeli|Disraeli]] prediction: "... He will die, whether in or out of office, in an exceptionally high position, greatly lamented, and surrounded to the end by all the magnificent planetary influences of a propitious [[Jupiter (astrology)|Jupiter]]."<ref>{{cite book |last=Stewart |first=C. Nelson |title=Bulwer Lytton as Occultist |page=29 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKuSTDWUzk0C&pg=PA29 |isbn=1-5645-9626-5 |quote=He will be to the last largely before the public.}}</ref>
==Influence==
What influence, if any, ''Zanoni'' could have had on [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]] is a matter of pure conjecture. [[Alfred Richard Orage|A. R. Orage]] himself re-read ''Zanoni'' within two years of having read ''[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]'' and in an article on ''Zanoni'', written in 1902, he mentions Nietzsche for the first time. For Orage, Zanoni's teacher Mejnor's plan to create a race of supermen is most agreeable and a reading subject worthy of [[Cecil Rhodes]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shaw |first1=Christopher |last2=Chase |first2=Malcolm |title=The imagined past |page=124 |year=1989 |publisher=Manchester University Press ND |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tBYNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA124 |isbn=0-7190-2875-2 |quote=...Orage drew attention to... the character of Mejnour in Bulwer-Lytton's ''Zanoni''.}}</ref>
It is Zanoni's ultimate sacrifice that would give Bulwer-Lytton's friend [[Charles Dickens]] an idea on how to end ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Heldreth |first=Leonard G. |title=The blood is the life |page=161 |year=1999 |publisher=Popular Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9h6eZ_9v-DYC&pg=PA161|isbn=0-8797-2803-5 |quote=...and [[Robespierre]] imprisons Zanoni along with his wife, the singer Viola.}}</ref>
==Guardian of the Threshold==
Speaking to Glyndon, Mejnour says of the Guardian, "... Know, at least, that all of us – the highest and the wisest – who have, in sober truth, passed beyond the threshold, have had, as our first fearful task, to master and subdue its grisly and appalling guardian."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bulwer-Lytton |first=Edward |title=Zanoni |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i_gYAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA103|page=103 |year=1874 |publisher=Routledge |quote=...no foe is so malignant to man...}}</ref>
According to the German [[Anthroposophist]] [[Rudolf Steiner]], the [[Guardian of the Threshold]] is an actual figure of an [[Astral body|astral]] nature which was fictionalised by Bulwer-Lytton in this novel.<ref>{{cite book |last=Steiner |first=Rudolf |authorlink=Rudolf Steiner |title=Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment |page=189 |year=1994 |publisher=Read Books |url=https://steiner.presswarehouse.com/sites/steiner/research/archive/how_to_know_higher_worlds/how_to_know_higher_worlds.pdf|quote=...the highest degree an absolutely real experience...}}</ref>
[[Samael Aun Weor]] refers to [[Adonai]] as Zanoni's real Master and to the Guardian of the Threshold as the psychological "[[Id (psychology)|I]]" or reincarnating ego.<ref>{{cite book |last=Aun Weor |first=Samael |authorlink=Samael Aun Weor |title=Logos, Mantra, Theurgy |page=104 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARxaHsQ2hkEC&pg=PA104|isbn=1-9342-0604-0 |year=2007 |quote=How difficult it is to achieve perfection. }}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
{{Gutenberg|no=2664|name=Zanoni}}
*[http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp41525 Complete first edition in three volumes] at [[Internet Archive]] listed in the [[Online Books Page]]
*[http://www.andras-nagy.com/dweller.html Brief (1500 word) synopsis of the story line and explanation of the "Dweller of the Threshold"]
* {{librivox book | title=Zanoni | author=Edward BULWER-LYTTON}}
{{Edward Bulwer-Lytton}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1842 novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]
