The Scarlet Plague
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| The Scarlet Plague | |
|---|---|
 1st edition cover |
|
| Author | Jack London |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
| Publication date | 1912 |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | ISBN 9781406823578 (Echo Library edition, paperback) |
The Scarlet Plague is a post-apocalyptic fiction novel written by Jack London and originally published in London Magazine in 1912.
The story takes place in 2072, sixty years after an uncontrollable epidemic, the Red Death,[1] has depopulated the planet. James Howard Smith is one of the few survivors of the pre-plague era left alive in the San Francisco area, and as he realizes his time grows short, he tries to impart the value of knowledge and wisdom to his grandsons.
[edit] World of Scarlet Plague
The world of the Scarlet Plague before the epidemic broke out was quite a civilized and advanced one, at least from the vantage point of the year 1912. It is an oligarchy where the upper class thrive and the working class are often treated little better then slaves. From this point, it may be set in the same universe as the Iron Heel although the two novels diverged with the plague happening in the Scarlet Plague and not happening in the Iron Heel. It is--compared to reality in the year 2009--primitive, with aircraft going little more than two hundred miles per hour, and three hundred miles per hour considered very fast.
[edit] References
- ^ Evening Standard; Back to the future again; 10 November 2008
[edit] External links
- Complete text from Project Gutenberg
- Unabridged audiobook at LibriVox
- The Science Fiction Century, David G. Hartwell. Discusses "Last man on Earth" subgenre.
