A story of love and occult aspiration by Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton an English politician, poet, playwright, and prolific novelist of the 19th century. “Zanoni” is considered to be a great occult, Rosicrucian novel, which reflects the author’s infatuation with mysticism and occultism. Dealing with symbolic descriptions, the author tells a story of two people, who achieved immortality. One of them, dispassionate and heartless, is an embodiment of pure intellect. Zanoni, his disciple, is life itself, mounted to eternal youth, power, absolute knowledge, utter ability to love, grieve and despair. His love forces him down from his spiritual skies to give up eternal peace, immerse into people’s worries and sorrows. At the end of the novel he sacrifices himself for the sake of his beloved, while his teacher, avoiding any affection, continues his life.
Here the reader sees the world in the light of gnosis, Neo-Platonism, Cabbala, alchemy and Rosicrucian teachings of the 15-18 centuries.