Premium 14 - Novels as Spycraft pt. 3 - Edward Bulwer-Lytton and the Cult of Isis

[originally published on Patreon

Today's all about Edward Bulwer-Lytton, whose works are very unique. His writing was incredibly popular and full of high strangeness, if not outright occult themes. In this episode, I talk about The Last Days of Pompeii, Zanoni, and Vril: the Power of the Coming Race. 

I also discuss the Morning of the Magicians, a curious work by some French journalists that discusses (among other things) esoteric Nazism and how it intersects with Vril. I also talk about Willy Ley, an interesting German science fiction author.

To wrap it up, I examine Bulwer-Lytton's family and political legacy, and that of his children. Milner, Rhodes, and the RIIA come up, and so do the British Theosophical networks in India and Germany. Then I confront the Dope Inc. thesis that there was a "cult of Isis" that British elites sought to foster.

songs:

Flaming Lips - "In the Morning of the Magicians"

Brahmastra - "The Vril Society"

(btw after recording it was later verified that Brahmastra is NSBM which is bad but it was too specific not to use)