The Coming Race
Critique • Quotes
First editionAlso known as
Vril: The Power of the Coming Race; The New Utopia
First publication
1871
Literature form
Novella
Genre
Science fiction
Writing language
English
Author's country
England
Length
Approx. 52,500 words
Notable lines
I am a native of ———, in the United States of America. My ancestors migrated from England in the reign of Charles II.; and my grandfather was not undistinguished in the War of Independence. My family, therefore, enjoyed a somewhat high social position in right of birth; and being also opulent, they were considered disqualified for the public service. My father once ran for Congress, but was signally defeated by his tailor.
— First lines
My father died shortly after I was twenty-one; and being left well off, and having a taste for travel and adventure, I resigned, for a time, all pursuit of the almighty dollar, and became a desultory wanderer over the face of the earth.
"Novelty, to barbarous states of society struggling in despair for something better, has no doubt an attraction, denied to us, who see nothing to gain in novelties; but after all, it is observed by one of our great authors four thousand years ago, that 'he who studies old books will always find in them something new, and he who reads new books will always find in them something old.'"
Being, however, frankly told by my physician that I am afflicted by a complaint which, though it gives little pain and no perceptible notice of its encroachments, may at any moment be fatal, I have thought it my duty to my fellow-men to place on record these forewarnings of The Coming Race.
— Last lines
Critique • Quotes
See also:
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
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