THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

This article examines Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Last Days of Pompeii (1834) as a volcanic disaster narrative in which the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius becomes both historical catastrophe and moral allegory. By combining antiquarian reconstruction, classical sources, scientific knowledge, and nineteenth-century visual culture, the novel turns Pompeii into a microcosm of civilisation at its point of collapse. The article underlines how Bulwer-Lytton represents volcanic risk through a tension between aesthetic fascination and collective blindness. Before the eruption, Vesuvius is perceived as picturesque scenery, a fertile mountain, or a symbol of passion rather than as an active threat. This risk unawareness reflects the hubris of a society absorbed in luxury, corruption, and spectacle. When the volcano erupts, its sublime force breaks the illusion of stability, exposing the fragility of social order and the impotence of human ambition before geological power. Particular attention is devoted to the novel’s apocalyptic imagery, its metaphors of hell, war, monstrosity, and divine judgement, and its dramatization of collective panic. The eruption dissolves social bonds, turning Pompeii’s citizens into a terrified crowd governed by self-preservation. Ultimately, The Last Days of Pompeii uses volcanic catastrophe to reflect on the vulnerability of empires, the instability of human progress, and the fragile boundary between civilisation and ruin.