Setting and Scenery: A Thematic Vehicle

In The Coming race, Edward Buler Lyton relies heavily on setting and scenery to convey his messages to the reader.  The book very quickly opens with the setting of a mine, and this very quickly allows the author to distance his message from the society of his time; this distance in turn permits Lyton to make critical comparisons between above ground society and below ground society in a politic fashion. It seems this cavernous setting has been replaced in modern science fiction by space and the aliens that might inhabit this similarly unknown domain.  As the story progresses Lyton uses the exotic subterranean landscape to create a sense of utopia; early on his narrator describes the “silvery light” that seems to come from nowhere yet is everywhere. Is this not a perfect light source? As he continues to describe the flora and inhabitants his comparisons between this utopia and the world above become clear. Additionally with such focus on setting and with the awe it creates in the narrator Lyton subtly hints at environmental themes which are surprisingly relevant today; the peace between this subterranean race and their environment, especially today, serves to create an ideal society.