The Last Man
| Author | Mary Shelley |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Henry Colburn |
Publication date | 1826 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 3 vol. |
| ISBN | NA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
The Last Man is an early post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Mary Shelley, which was first published in 1826. The book tells of a future world that has been ravaged by a plague. The Last Man was written in the period following her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley's death.
Set in the year 2097, it was influential on the development of English science fiction, particularly on H.G. Wells (see The Time Machine, The Island of Dr Moreau, and The Invisible Man), Olaf Stapledon and, less obviously, Arthur C. Clarke, particularly Childhood's End.
Plot summary
The author of the novel constructs a vision of the future painted on leaves by the Cumaean Sibyl, that foresee the first-person writings of a man living at the end of the 21st century, which proves to be the end of humanity.
The central character, Lionel Verney, son of a nobleman who gambled himself into poverty, prides himself on his ruggedness and manliness, but eventually is restored to the gentry and educates himself. Much of the novel deals with his relationships with family and friends of his class, and the terrible wars that go on around them, including one in which a woman friend of Verney's masquerades as a man in order to fight. A plague gradually kills off all people. Verney finds himself immune after being attacked by an infected "negro," and copes with a civilization that is gradually dying out around him.
Verney refuses to detail the gruesome nature of the plague, instead referring readers to specific passages of Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year to get an understanding of what he saw.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
- Mary Shelley's The Last Man (2007) The first feature film inspired by Mary Shelley's 21st century pandemic.
Several forms of post-apoclyaptic fiction can be attritubted to Mary Shelly's book. Movies and books such as: 28 Days Later, I am Legend, and the Last Man on Earth.
External links
- University of Virginia Electronic Text Center e-book
- Project Gutenberg
- J. K. Schuetz, "Mary Shelly's The Last Man: Monstrous Worlds, Domestic Communities, and Masculine Romantic Ideology"
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