Before Orlando, before The Highlander, before the Elves in Lord of the Rings, before any and all fictional immortals, there was Zanoni. Through magical alchemical elixirs and the mysterious rites of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, Zanoni has been gifted with immortal life; he chooses to sacrifice this gift for the love of a beautiful and gifted young woman, and the family he wishes to have. Along with other works of Edward Bulwer Lytton, such as Vril:The Power of the Coming Race, Zanoni's deep archetypal and symbolic story has such a ring of Truth, that it influenced the New Thought and Theosophy movements of it's time, and in turn, has set the stage for the modern New Age movement, and resurgance of interest in the subjects of alchemy and physical immortality.
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling novels which earned him a considerable fortune. He coined the phrases "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", "dweller on the threshold", as well as the infamous opening line "It was a dark and stormy night". Bulwer-Lytton's wrote in a variety of genres, including historical fiction, mystery, romance, the occult, and science fiction. He financed his extravagant life with a varied and prolific literary output, sometimes publishing anonymously.
