Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) was a versatile and immensely popular Victorian author, whose career spanned novels, poetry, plays, and political service as a Member of Parliament. His early works, such as "Pelham" (1828), established his reputation for fashionable society novels, while historical romances like "The Last Days of Pompeii" (1834) achieved lasting fame. Bulwer-Lytton also pioneered genre fiction: his novel "The Coming Race" (1871) is a foundational work of science fiction, exploring a subterranean utopia powered by a mysterious energy called "vril." Beyond fiction, he coined several phrases that entered common English usage, including "the great unwashed" and "the almighty dollar." Though his ornate prose style later fell out of fashion, his contributions to the development of speculative fiction and his influence on later writers remain significant. He was created Baron Lytton in 1866.