A romance about an immortal. Elements of almost lovecraftian horror. Takes a long time to draw its female protagonist before the main elements start. Mixes in some real historical characters and events. Didn't like the ending but not because its not well written more because i was so invested in the story by then, i was hoping things would turn out differently. Overall just a really good supernatural/romance story. I'm pretty sure this was adapted into the film 'Hancock' with Will Smith. ( )

Bulwer-Lytton’s novel Zanoni romanticized Rosicrucianism for 19th-century readers, and it became a staple of occultist bookshelves. It tells the story of a Rosicrucian adept in the 18th century whose use of the elixir of life has sustained him since the ancient Babylonian empire, and who ultimately sacrifices his magical immortality.

Zanoni refers to the adept’s Holy Guardian Angel or personal genius as “Adonai,” a usage later adopted by both Anna Kingsford and Aleister Crowley, among others. Golden Dawn founder MacGregor Mathers first became interested in the occult after reading Zanoni. He used “Zanoni” as a nickname; his wife and close friends called him “Zan” in conversation.

Zanoni also depicts an ordeal involving “The Guardian of the Threshold.” Madame Blavatsky would evolve this phrase into “the Dweller of the Threshold,” specifically citing Zanoni, and she affirmed the reality of the phenomenon, also referencing “Porphyry and other philosophers” regarding its nature. Blavatsky was so taken with the occult descriptions in Zanoni that the first volume of her Isis Unveiled quotes the novel for more than a full page. “Such,” she writes, “is the insufficient sketch of elemental beings void of divine spirit, given by one whom many with reason believed to know more than he was prepared to admit in the face of an incredulous public” (IU, I, 286).

Crowley later took up this thread in Liber Cordis Cincti Serpente, chapter IV, verse 34: “On the threshold stood the fulminant figure of Evil … .” In his commentary, he relates this figure explicitly to Zanoni’s exposition of “the Evil Persona, the Dweller on the Threshold, portrayed sensationally for the trade by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton.”

It is hard to overestimate the influence of Zanoni on occultists in the late 19th century, and the extent to which it was credited as an informed representation of magical adeptship.

Fragile condition

ZANONI O EL SECRETO DE LOS INMORTALES

Edward Bulwer Lytton,
el célebre autor de «Los últimos dias de Pompeya
realizó algunas sobresalientes incursiones
en la literatura fantástica,
como «Zanoniv o ca Strange Story»
La larga sombra del vampiro ha oscurecido
a los demás inmortales góticos, como Fausto
el Judio Errante, o Zanoni, el cual pertenece
a una sociedad secreta -más antigua que los Rosac
que utilizaba el poder de la vida eterma
para buenos propósitos.

El personaje central de la narración
es un ser misterioso, de origen desconocido
de quien se cuentan cosas extraordinarias
que vive consagrado a sus estudios herméticos
hasta que se enamora de la bella Viola Pisani,
ídolo de la ópera de Nápoles.
Desde ese momento, los amantes estarán sometidos
a toda suerte de vicisitudes; un drama mágico
que concluye durante los días del Terror,
bajo el imperio de Robespierre y la sombra
ominosa de la guillotina.

ZANONI O EL SECRETO DE LOS INMORTALES

EDWARD BULWER LYTTON
el célebre autor de Los últimos dias de Pompeya,
realizó algunas sobresalientes incursiones en la literatura
fantástica, como Zanoni o A Strange Story. La larga
sombra del vampiro ha oscurecido a los demás inmortales
góticos, como Fausto, el Judío Errante, o
Zanoni, el cual pertenece a una sociedad secreta
más antigua que los Rosacruces- que utilizaba el
poder de la vida eterna para buenos propósitos.

El personaje central de la narración es un ser misterioso,
de origen desconocido y de quien se cuentan
cosas extraordinarias, que vive consagrado a sus
estudios herméticos hasta que se enamora de la bella
Viola Pisani, ídolo de la ópera de Nápoles. Desde
ese momento, los amantes estarán sometidos a toda
suerte de vicisitudes. Un drama mágico que concluye
durante los días del Terror, bajo el imperio de
Robespierre y la sombra ominosa de la guillotina