Edward Bulwer-Lytton, página 2 de 5

Los últimos días de Pompeya está escrita por Edward Bulwer Lytton en el año 1834. Se trata una novela histórica del romanticismo que narra los últimos días de la vida de unos cuantos habitantes de Pompeya, inmediatamente antes de la destruccion de la ciudad que provoco la erupcion del Vesubio en el año 79.

IT was towards the evening of a day in early April that two ladies were seated by the open windows of a cottage in Devonshire. The lawn before them was gay with evergreens, relieved by the first few flowers and fresh turf of the reviving spring; and at a distance, through an opening amongst the trees, the sea, blue and tranquil, bounded the view, and contrasted the more confined and homelike features of the scene. It was a spot remote, sequestered, shut out from the business and pleasures of the world; as such it suited the tastes and character of the owner.That owner was the younger of the ladies seated by the window. You would scarcely have guessed, from her appearance, that she was more than seven or eight and twenty, though she exceeded by four or five years that critical boundary in the life of beauty.

HO, Diomed, well met! Do you sup with Glaucus tonight? said a young man of small stature, who wore his tunic in those loose and effeminate folds which proved him to be a gentleman and a coxcomb.Alas, no! dear Clodius; he has not invited me, replied Diomed, a man of portly frame and of middle age. By Pollux, a scurvy trick! for they say his suppers are the best in Pompeii.Pretty wellthough there is never enough of wine for me. It is not the old Greek blood that flows in his veins, for he pretends that wine makes him dull the next morning.There may be another reason for that thrift, said Diomed, raising his brows. With all his conceit and extravagance he is not so rich, I fancy, as he affects to be, and perhaps loves to save his amphorae better than his wit.

"Is the night calm, Constance?""Beautiful! the moon is up.""Open the shutters wider, there. It is a beautiful night. How beautiful! Come hither, my child."The rich moonlight that now shone through the windows streamed on little that it could invest with poetical attraction. The room was small, though not squalid in its character and appliances. The bedcurtains, of a dull chintz, were drawn back, and showed the form of a man, past middle age, propped by pillows, and bearing on his countenance the marks of approaching death. But what a countenance it still was! The broad, pale, lofty brow; the fine, straight, Grecian nose; the short, curved lip; the full, dimpled chin; the stamp of genius in every line and lineament;these still defied disease, or rather borrowed from its very ghastliness a more impressive majesty.

I have spoken so much of the Vril Staff that my reader may expect me to describe it. This I cannot do accurately, for I was never allowed to handle it for fear of some terrible accident occasioned by my ignorance of its use; and I have no doubt that it requires much skill and practice in the exercise of its various powers. It is hollow, and has in the handle several stops, keys, or springs by which its force can be altered, modified, or directedso that by one process it destroys, by another it healsby one it can rend the rock, by another disperse the vapourby one it affects bodies, by another it can exercise a certain influence over minds. It is usually carried in the convenient size of a walkingstaff, but it has slides by which it can be lengthened or shortened at will. When used for special purposes, the upper part rests in the hollow of the palm with the fore and middle fingers protruded.

In the year 18 I settled as a physician at one of the wealthiest of our great English towns, which I will designate by the initial L?. I was yet young, but I had acquired some reputation by a professional work, which is, I believe, still amongst the received authorities on the subject of which it treats. I had studied at Edinburgh and at Paris, and had borne away from both those illustrious schools of medicine whatever guarantees for future distinction the praise of professors may concede to the ambition of students. On becoming a member of the College of Physicians, I made a tour of the principal cities of Europe, taking letters of introduction to eminent medical men, and gathering from many theories and modes of treatment hints to enlarge the foundations of unprejudiced and comprehensive practice.

Edward Bulwer Lytton, el célebre autorde Los últimos días de Pompeya, realizó algunassobresalientes incursiones en la literatura fantástica, como Zanonio A Strange Story. La larga sombra del vampiro ha oscurecido a losdemas inmortales goticos, como Fausto, el Judio Errante,o Zanoni, el cual pertenece a una sociedad secreta -mas antiguaque los Rosacruces- que utilizaba el poder de la vida eterna para buenospropositos. El personaje central de la narracion es un sermisterioso, de origen desconocido, de quien se cuentan cosas extraordinarias,que vive consagrado a sus estudios hermeticos hasta que se enamorade la bella Viola Pisani, idolo de la opera de Napoles.Desde ese momento, los amantes estaran sometidos a toda suerte devicisitudes; un drama magico que concluye durante los diasdel Terror, bajo el imperio de Robespierre y la sombra ominosa de la guillotina.

Westward, beyond the still pleasant, but even then no longer solitary, hamlet of Charing, a broad space, broken here and there by scattered houses and venerable pollards, in the early spring of 1467, presented the rural scene for the sports and pastimes of the inhabitants of Westminster and London. Scarcely need we say that open spaces for the popular games and diversions were then numerous in the suburbs of the metropolis,grateful to some the fresh pools of Islington; to others, the grassbare fields of Finsbury; to all, the hedgeless plains of vast Mileend. But the site to which we are now summoned was a new and maiden holidayground, lately bestowed upon the townsfolk of Westminster by the powerful Earl of Warwick.

A friend of mine, who is a man of letters and a philosopher, said to me one day, as if between jest and earnest, "Fancy! since we last met I have discovered a haunted house in the midst of London.""Really haunted,and by what?ghosts?""Well, I cant answer that question; all I know is this: six weeks ago my wife and I were in search of a furnished apartment. Passing a quiet street, we saw on the window of one of the houses a bill, Apartments, Furnished. The situation suited us; we entered the house, liked the rooms, engaged them by the week,and left them the third day. No power on earth could have reconciled my wife to stay longer; and I dont wonder at it."

Sir Bulwer Lytton, autor de la célebre novela: -Los últimos días de Pompeya-, introdujo en su también conocida obra: - Zanoni-, todo el conocimiento de los arcanos ocultistas que encontró en su vida aventurera. Relato misterioso y apasionante que ya es un clasico sin parangon en la literatura ocultista.

Edward Bulwer Lytton, el célebre autor de Los últimos días 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 demas inmortales goticos, como Fausto, el Judio Errante, o Zanoni, el cual pertenece a una sociedad secreta -mas antigua que los Rosacruces- que utilizaba el poder de la vida eterna para buenos propositos. El personaje central de la narracion es un ser misterioso, de origen desconocido y de quien se cuentan cosas extraordinarias, que vive consagrado a sus estudios hermeticos hasta que se enamora de la bella Viola Pisani, idolo de la opera de Napoles. Desde ese momento, los amantes estaran sometidos a toda suerte de vicisitudes. Un drama magico que concluye durante los dias del Terror, bajo el imperio de Robespierre y la sombra ominosa de la guillotina.