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Product Description
Charles E. Robinson, University of Delaware
"Anne McWhir’s edition of The Last Man is first rate...Shelley herself would have been pleased!"
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
'The last man! I may well describe that solitary being's feelings, feeling myself as the last relic of a beloved race, my companions extinct before me.' Mary Shelley, Journal (May 1824). Best remembered as the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wrote The Last Man eight years later, on returning to England from Italy after her husband's death. It is the twenty-first century, and England is a republic governed by a ruling elite, one of whom, Adrian, Earl of Windsor, has introduced a Cumbrian boy to the circle. This outsider, Lionel Verney, narrates the story, a tale of complicated, tragic love, and of the gradual extermination of the human race by plague. The Last Man also functions as an intriguing roman à clef, for the saintly Adrian is a monument to Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his friend Lord Raymond is a portrait of Byron. The novel offers a vision of the future that expresses a reaction against Romanticism, as Shelley demonstrates the failure of the imagination and of art to redeem her doomed characters.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley published "The Last Man" in 1826, eight years after her classic "Frankenstein" and four years after her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley died. Of all of her other novels, "The Last Man" is clearly the one that is of more than passing interest. In her Journal in May of 1824 Shelley wrote: "The last man! Yes, I may well describe that solitary being's feelings, feeling myself as the last relic of a beloved race, my companions extinct before me." The result was one of the first novels to tell a story in which the human race is destroyed by pestilence, which we have seen in novels from Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend" and Stephen King's "The Stand," and films such as the recent "28 Days Later..." However, "The Last Man" is also an early example of a dystopian novel set in the 21st century when England is a republic being governed by a ruling elite. Adrian, Earl of Windsor (and a representation of Shelley's late husband) introduces the narrator of the tale, Lionel Verney, who is the required outsider to describe and comment upon the world of the future.
Shelley's vision of the future is essentially a reaction against Romanticism and the failure of the movement to solve the problems of the world with art and imagination. This would stand in contrast to earlier English utopian works such as Francis Bacon's "The New Atlantis," which reflected the Age of Reason's belief that science would solve any and all problems. Shelley begins the story as a romance, with Lord Raymond (presumed to be modeled on Lord Byron) winning the hand of the lovely Perdita and being elected Protector. In contrast to the dire predictions of Thomas Malthus regarding unchecked population growth resulting in mass starvation, an ideal world seems to have been created. But then the plague breaks out in Constantinople and starts spreading. This plague is grounded more in fantasy than science, with Shelley clearly relying more on Boccaccio and Defoe, for her pandemic, which is not contagious (an interesting plot choice to be sure).
The point of the plague is that it allows Shelley to show the best and the worst of human nature. When the demagogue Ryland abdicates being Lord Protector, the altruistic Adrian takes his place and makes an appeal for brotherhood, even as anarchy runs rampant in the streets and eventually the main characters are forced to flee England, which has strong parallels to the expulsion from Eden. This sets up the idea at the end of the novel that the last survivors might be able to establish an earthly paradise and rebuild the human race after the plague has disappeared. I was rather surprised that Shelley kills off her female characters because I had expectations that this would be more of a feminist work. Of course, this is because I remember who her mother was, but "The Last Man" is clearly concerned more with her late husband.
"The Last Man" was probably Mary Shelley's least successful work during her lifetime, but today, which the interest in science fiction, as well as the real world threats of biological warfare and other weapons of mass destruction, this idea of how the world ends is quite pertinent. This is clearly her most important work after "Frankenstein," although obviously we are talking about a significant gap.
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Last Man" has always been completely overshadowed by the ever-present "Frankenstein" and as a result has been largely ignored by the reading public. This is a great loss as it is in some ways as great a work as its illustrious and much filmed and parodied predecessor.
"The Last Man" was written in the period following her husband Percy Shelley's death.
Set in the twenty-first century, it was enormously influential on the development of English science-fiction, particularly on HG Wells (see "The Time Machine", "The Island of Dr Moreau" and "The Invisible Man"), Olaf Stapledon and, less obviously, Arthur C Clarke (see "Childhood's End").
Central to the book's philosophical approach is a rejection of the romanticism of Lord Byron, whom she knew well, and her late husband. It blends astute political observation, a complex tale of doomed love and obvious portraits of PB Shelley and Byron into its subtle, melancholy mix. It is beautifully written and rewards both initial reading and, even more, re-reading. This Oxford edition is well documented with an excellent introduction. The cover picture is wonderful.
"The Last Man" was written in the period following her husband Percy Shelley's death.
Set in the twenty-first century, it was enormously influential on the development of English science-fiction, particularly on HG Wells (see "The Time Machine", "The Island of Dr Moreau" and "The Invisible Man"), Olaf Stapledon and, less obviously, Arthur C Clarke (see "Childhood's End").
Central to the book's philosophical approach is a rejection of the romanticism of Lord Byron, whom she knew well, and her late husband. It blends astute political observation, a complex tale of doomed love and obvious portraits of PB Shelley and Byron into its subtle, melancholy mix. It is beautifully written and rewards both initial reading and, even more, re-reading. This Oxford edition is well documented with an excellent introduction. The cover picture is wonderful.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This novel is a combination of a `roman à clefs' and science fiction, with gothic and autobiographic elements.
In her vision of the end of the 21st century, Mary Shelley sees the Greek occupying Istanbul and England as a republic with three political parties (royalists, democrats and aristocrats). The leader of the democrats deserts his responsibilities through fear of the plague, while the intention of the head of the aristocrats (a highly idealized portrait of P.B. Shelley) is `to diminish the power of the aristocracy to effect a greater equalization of wealth and privilege and to introduce a perfect system of republican government.'
Byron (Lord Raymond) is not in the same league: `Power was the aim of all his endeavors. The selected passion was ambition.'
Her vision of mankind is pessimistic: `There was but one good and one evil in the world - life and death.'
For life, `The choice is with us; let us will it and our habitation becomes a paradise.'
But, `What is there in our nature that is for ever urging us on towards pain and misery? We are not formed for enjoyment; disappointment is the never-failing pilot of our life's bark, and ruthlessly carries us to the shoals.'
`It is a strange fact, but incontestable, that the philanthropist, who ardent in his desire to do good, who disdains other argument than truth, has less influence over men's mind than he who refuses not to adopt any means, nor diffuse any falsehood for the advancement of his cause.'
Man doesn't control his destiny and the whole of mankind is wiped out by the plague. But, even on the verge of total destruction, false prophets preach intolerance with their `pernicious doctrines of election and special grace'.
This book is brilliantly written: `He was no longer bent to the ground, like an over-nursed flower of spring that, shooting up beyond its strength, is weighed down even by its own coronal of blossoms.'
It has a few minus points: slow progression, too idealized main characters and a rather too simplistic cause of the whole destruction of mankind.
But, it remains a real discovery and a very worth-while read, with an excellent introduction by Pamela Bickley.
Many novels have the plague as subject. I recommend highly `Bassompierre' by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
In her vision of the end of the 21st century, Mary Shelley sees the Greek occupying Istanbul and England as a republic with three political parties (royalists, democrats and aristocrats). The leader of the democrats deserts his responsibilities through fear of the plague, while the intention of the head of the aristocrats (a highly idealized portrait of P.B. Shelley) is `to diminish the power of the aristocracy to effect a greater equalization of wealth and privilege and to introduce a perfect system of republican government.'
Byron (Lord Raymond) is not in the same league: `Power was the aim of all his endeavors. The selected passion was ambition.'
Her vision of mankind is pessimistic: `There was but one good and one evil in the world - life and death.'
For life, `The choice is with us; let us will it and our habitation becomes a paradise.'
But, `What is there in our nature that is for ever urging us on towards pain and misery? We are not formed for enjoyment; disappointment is the never-failing pilot of our life's bark, and ruthlessly carries us to the shoals.'
`It is a strange fact, but incontestable, that the philanthropist, who ardent in his desire to do good, who disdains other argument than truth, has less influence over men's mind than he who refuses not to adopt any means, nor diffuse any falsehood for the advancement of his cause.'
Man doesn't control his destiny and the whole of mankind is wiped out by the plague. But, even on the verge of total destruction, false prophets preach intolerance with their `pernicious doctrines of election and special grace'.
This book is brilliantly written: `He was no longer bent to the ground, like an over-nursed flower of spring that, shooting up beyond its strength, is weighed down even by its own coronal of blossoms.'
It has a few minus points: slow progression, too idealized main characters and a rather too simplistic cause of the whole destruction of mankind.
But, it remains a real discovery and a very worth-while read, with an excellent introduction by Pamela Bickley.
Many novels have the plague as subject. I recommend highly `Bassompierre' by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
grief expressed - future denied
This has the potential to be a good story, but the many long, tortuous passages speak more of Mary Shelley's grief at the loss of her husband a couple of years earlier than adding... Read more
Published 9 months ago by canoesailor
A vision of the future?
A post-apocalyptic science-fantasy (written in 1826), "The Last Man" is Shelley's howl of rage at all the deaths she had witnessed; a revenge fantasy on the straight world that she... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Geoff Sawers
Harrowing classic
It seems like I've been reading Mary Shelley's The Last Man all year. I'm not the fastest of readers but whenever I read poetry I read even slower. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Michael Finn
Not a casual read
Mary Shelley's apocalyptic fantasy was harshly reviewed in her own time, so it's not surprising that some of those contemporary criticisms re-echo today. Read more
Published 15 months ago by D. De Gruijter
A bleak philosophical apocalypse
The Last Man, the story, tells an apocalyptic tale of the coming of an inescapable plague, and humankind confronting annihilation. Read more
Published 20 months ago by LittleMoon
NOT a classic
This book was savaged when it first appeared and for good reason. It really is awful. For a novel about the end of the world it contrives to be insular, snobbish and unimaginative. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Reader
One of the first dystopic novels about the future
This novel may not be as important as Mary Shelley's most famous novel, Frankenstein, but is certainly no less fascinating. Read more
Published on 8 April 2010 by Dimostenis Yagcioglu
Moving last section, but difficult to read overall
I found this rather a chore to read. Mary Shelley is a great evocative writer. However, the dense opacity of much of the text, its, for the most part, slow pace and, especially,... Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2010 by John Hopper
Could be difficult for a modern reader but excellent nonetheless
I found this book lacking in so many ways that I'm left thinking it hard to recommend (though I do). Read more
Published on 2 April 2009 by H. Tee
Dated?
Shelley's intense and acutely observed tale of love, war, and the ignominious fate of mankind is very much a novel of its time, with themes common in 19th century literature. Read more
Published on 11 Jun 2007 by Madly Bobbington-Blythe
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